55 days before the US presidential election, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump meet in a TV duel. Who tells the truth, who exaggerates, who lies?
Around two months before the US election, the two US presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump had a heated exchange of blows in their first TV duel. In Philadelphia, they accused each other of running the country down, of having no plan for urgent problems, and of spreading lies.
A careful look at the statements:
Trump’s claim: He had “virtually no inflation” during his time in office. President Biden and Kamala Harris, on the other hand, have the highest inflation in US history.
Evaluation: That’s wrong.
Facts: In the period since the consumer price index was introduced, the highest inflation rate was 20.49 percent in 1917.
Inflation was lower when Trump was in office than it is today, but it existed: about eight percent cumulatively for his presidency (versus 19 percent under President Biden so far) and 1.4 percent year-over-year in the final month of his term versus the current 2.9 percent.
Trump’s claim: The ex-president said the Democrats’ policies allow the life of a baby to be taken in the ninth month.
Evaluation: That’s wrong.
Facts: Intentionally killing a newborn baby is considered infanticide and is illegal throughout the United States. Abortion rights are currently regulated by the states. While some make abortions nearly impossible, some allow abortions until the fetus is viable. So usually until around the 24th week of pregnancy. According to this, abortions are only permitted in cases where the life or health of the mother is in danger. Harris promised that if she won the election, she would have the right to abortion enshrined in law.
Harris’ claim: She said Trump would claim climate change was made up.
Evaluation: That’s right.
Facts: Since his candidacy, Donald Trump has not been an advocate of climate change and has regularly questioned the existence of man-made climate change. In 2012, he claimed that the concept of global warming was invented by the Chinese to harm the competitiveness of American industry. During the election campaign, he promised to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.
Are Donald Trump and Kamala Harris right?
Trump’s claim: “I had more votes than any Republican in history. Even by far than any president.”
Evaluation: That’s wrong.
Facts: Although Trump won the 2016 presidential election against Hilary Clinton, his Democratic rival was ahead of Trump nationwide with more than 2.8 million of those votes. Ultimately, he won with the deciding votes of the Electoral College electors.
The President and Vice President of the USA are elected by a so-called Electoral College, the composition of which is determined by the election results in the states. To put it very simply, the person who wins the most (most populous) states becomes the US head of state.
Harris’ claim: Trump left behind the worst unemployment since the Great Depression.
Evaluation: Lack of context.
Facts: Harris complained that she had to clean up Trump’s mess because he had left the country in a disastrous state in 2021: the greatest unemployment since the “Great Depression”, the worst healthcare epidemic, the worst attack on American democracy.
In April 2020, while Trump was still in office, the unemployment rate reached a high of 14.8 percent – in fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this was the highest level since the Great Depression.
However, when Trump left office in January 2021, unemployment fell to 6.4 percent as the economy began to recover.
