The reviews are in from the first night of the Republican National Convention (RNC) liefest and the GOP did not disappoint. CNN called it "a parade of dishonesty," The Washington Post framed it as "a fire hose of false or misleading claims," and The New York Times said Republicans "mounted a fierce and misleading defense" of Trump's record.
Let's be real—a large part of the evening was devoted to making Trump appear human and empathetic, so if gaslighting the country is your starting point, it was bound to all be downhill from there.
And it was. CNN noted that all four nights of the Democratic National Convention combined couldn't match the number of lies spewed in one night at the RNC.
Here are a handful of GOP claims that might be pretty hilarious if a solid third of the country weren't Trump-loving cultists who believe absolutely anything he says.
5. “Raising taxes on 82% of Americans is not nice.”
Neither is lying, Ronna McDaniel, RNC chair. Joe Biden's plan to roll back Trump's tax cuts would largely fall on corporations and America's richest citizens, with the nation's top 1% of households accounting for about three-quarters of the tax increases, according to estimates by the Tax Policy Center.
But walking back a portion of the 14% tax rate cut that Republicans gave to giant corporations is expected to have some adverse impact on lower-income households. “Nearly all of the increase in tax burden for the bottom four income quintiles would be because of the indirect effects of increased corporate income taxes," writes the Tax Policy Center. McDaniel is including those indirect effects in her 82%. Biden has proposed tax credits for low- and middle-income households that would effectively offset those indirect impacts, but it would basically be a wash, according to The Washington Post.
4. “President Trump brought our economy back before, and he will bring it back again.”
That lie came direct from Trump's former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, and it has no grounding in reality. The economy was already humming when Trump took office after monthly job gains topped more than 250,000 every month in 2014, 227,000 every month in 2015, and 193,000 every month in 2016.
In 2017, job growth under Trump leveled down to 179,000 per month. In 2018, job growth ramped back up to 223,000 per month, which still underperformed Obama in 2014 and 2015. And by last year, Trump's job growth had slumped back to 175,000 per month. Trump and his allies often say Trump came into the office in the middle of the Great Recession—it's total b.s. Obama turned the economy around after George W. Bush took a wrecking ball to it.
3. "After eight years of Obama and Biden's slow growth, Trump's policies have been like rocket fuel to the economy and especially the middle class."
Don Jr. dropped that little gem and it is equally as inaccurate as the notion that Trump brought an already humming economy back from the brink. As CNN notes: "Actually, middle class income grew in the final years of the Obama administration but has stagnated under Trump." In 2018, the media household income of $63,200 was virtually flat after making steady gains in the three preceding years, according to the Census Bureau's most recent data. Here's the median income increases prior to 2018:
- 2017: 1.8%
- 2016: 3.2%
- 2015: 5.2%
All that said, the most recent high point for median income, which came in 2018, wasn't statistically different than it was in 2007 before the Great Recession took hold. So overall, the middle class hasn't gained much of anything over where it stood a decade ago. Not exactly "rocket fuel," especially since middle class gains stalled under Trump.
2. "We're taking good care of our postal workers. That I can tell you. [...] Believe me, we're not getting rid of any our postal workers, you know."
Whenever Donald Trump starts a claim with "believe me," the crap that is coming is going to be extra thick. But Trump had to offer up some gaslighting as his administration’s efforts to kneecap mail balloting have come into full view in recent weeks.
In fact, internal documents obtained by CNN showed U.S. Postal Service (USPS) managers had outlined plans to drastically cut work hours in at least one region before the Trump administration's sabotage of the agency came to light. In mid-July, managers in at least one district told staff they planned to slash about 100,000 to 124,000 work hours. In the past, cuts in work hours have often resulted in layoffs. But increased scrutiny of USPS plans have since forced Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to suspend the cuts at least until after the election, or so he says.
1. "I didn't back down from my promises, and I've kept every single one."
The clip of Donald Trump making that laughable claim ran in a convention video. Anyone remember what Trump's No. 1 and 2 promises were? (Hint: It turned into one of his most popular call-and-response chants with supporters during his 2016 campaign rallies.) That's right, he was going to "build that wall" and, who was going to pay for it? Mexico! And no, none of that happened.
Mark Sumner also has an entire post dedicated to the lies Trump and his cronies told about his abysmal handling of the pandemic that has now claimed nearly 180,000 American lives and wrecked the U.S. economy.
But bottom line, when your record of accomplishments is as pathetic as Trump’s is, there’s nothing left to run on but lying and fearmongering.
