Analysis Finds One Trump Inaccuracy Every 5 Minutes
Politico, Washington Post separately question claims
By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff
Posted Mar 14, 2016 4:43 AM CDT
newser.com
(NEWSER) – Donald Trump might have two media targets in his sights soon: A Washington Post investigation suggests that when Trump spends time on the campaign trail slamming greedy American firms for sending US jobs overseas, he is either a recent convert to the cause or a hypocrite. A Politico analysis, meanwhile, finds that Trump spouts a "misstatement" of some sort every five minutes in speeches. The Post spoke to people involved in a 2004 deal for Trump-branded clothing, one of the first of many similar deals. Trump was personally involved in the negotiations and at no point expressed any preference for having merchandise manufactured in the US, insiders say. The deal went to a firm that operates in dozens of countries, and Trump-branded items are now made in countries such as China and Bangladesh. A Harvard professor analyzed Trump products available online and found that many are made outside the US, with 628 of 838 Ivanka Trump products coming from overseas. "I don't decry what he and his daughter do," the professor tells the Post. "But at the same time, for him to claim that this is somehow immoral and go after companies that have relocated manufacturing when he has done the same puts him in conflict with his own rhetoric." As for Politico, it put 4.6 hours of Trump speeches from last week through its fact-checking process and found more than 60 inaccuracies it considers "mischaracterizations, exaggerations, or simply false." Those include his claims that the US has a "$500 billion a year trade deficit with China"—a figure that Politico says is $134 billion too high—and his boasts that he never settles lawsuits or takes money from donors. It also takes issue with several of Trump's statements about his standing in the polls, including a boast that he's "winning every poll with the Hispanics," when, in fact, a major one in February found that 8 in 10 Hispanic voters viewed him unfavorably. (Bernie Sanders says Trump is a "pathological liar.") |
