Donald Trump’s speech in Warren, Michigan, which marked his 100th year as president, sounded similar to something the former US president has always enjoyed: a traditional campaign rally.
During the April 29 speech, Trump touted a record number of executive orders, efforts to slash the federal workforce and deportations of migrants in the US illegally, spotlighted in a video showing deportees being booked into a high-security El Salvador prison.
Trump also turned to themes that fueled his campaign rallies and made people look up familiar faces. I missed you, guys. I missed the campaign”, he said. Trump frequently referred to his predecessor, former president Joe Biden, including once asking, “Sleepy Joe” or “Crooked Joe?”
Trump repeatedly criticized the surveys, calling them “fake,” and saying that if the polls were accurate, his approval ratings would “be in the 60s or 70s.”
Five polls released in the run-up to Trump’s 100th day – from CBS News, CNN, The New York Times/Siena, ABC News/Washington Post and NPR/PBS/Marist – found Trump’s approval ratings between 42 percent and 45 percent.
We fact-checked a number of Trump’s statements here.
Trump claimed to have “restored free speech,” but his actions reveal something entirely different.
Trump said, “I banned all government censorship and restored free speech in America. Speech is free in our country. Trump’s administration has repeatedly taken legal action against individuals and groups who use their free speech, including students, universities, and journalists who took part in student activism in support of Israel’s occupation of Gaza.
“President Trump has certainly not brought back free speech in America”, said Nico Perrino, executive vice president of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, an organisation that defends free speech for people and groups on both sides of the political spectrum.
According to the report, “we have seen some of the most significant threats to free speech in recent memory since Inauguration Day.”
In cases where The Associated Press’ journalists were prevented from attending White House events because the publication didn’t refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America,” several judges have also stated or written in rulings that the administration has violated free speech.
A federal judge ruled in the AP’s favour, saying, “The AP’s exclusion has been contrary to the First Amendment”, and instructing the government to stop “continuing down that unlawful path”.
Trump claims that the number of illegal border crossings is the lowest ever.
Trump remarked, “We’ve broken records for the lowest number of illegal border crossings ever recorded.”
This needs context. Only since 2000 have monthly border data been collected.
In the first few months of the Trump administration, immigration to the US southern border has decreased significantly.
Immigration officials encountered migrants at the southern border about 8, 300 times in February and about 7, 200 times in March. Since Border Patrol began collecting monthly data, those border encounters represent the lowest number of undocumented immigrants crossing the border each month between ports of entry. During the COVID-19 pandemic during Trump’s first term, officials recorded 11, 000 encounters in April 2020, the lowest ever.
Before 2000, data was reported annually. We divided that data by 12 to obtain the monthly average. Between 1961 and 1968, average monthly apprehensions were below 6, 100 based on those calculations.
Wholesale egg prices have fallen, but consumers haven’t experienced relief yet
According to Trump, egg prices have fallen by 87 percent on his watch, which is a consumer concern in recent months. This is partially accurate: although not as much as Trump claims, retail prices have not yet been affected by the decline.
During the Biden administration, more than 100 million egg-laying chickens died from bird flu or were killed to stop the virus’s spread. Presidents of both political parties routinely use flock-culling to combat bird flu. However, the preventative measures introduced by Biden caused price increases and egg shortages. That continued into the Trump presidency.
On February 21, a dozen eggs’ wholesale price reached a record high of $ 8.07. Since then, it has decreased by 61 percent to $ 3.15.
However, the most recent data for retail prices – what consumers pay at the store – showed a dozen eggs cost $6.23 in March. The April figures may indicate a drop in retail prices, but the data has not yet been released.
Gas prices have decreased, but not as much as Trump claims.
In Michigan, and on several previous occasions, Trump said gas is selling for $1.98 per gallon (3.8 litres) in some states. This is untrue.
When he said this April 22, we discovered that the national average was about $ 3.14 per gallon, while the lowest statewide price was $ 2.66. Data from the federal government and the American Automobile Association shows no significant shift since then.
No gas station, out of roughly 150 000 nationally, sold it for $ 1.98 per gallon, according to GasBuddy.com data from April 23.
Trump promotes auto investments, but they may take some time to bear fruit.
With one exception, the White House’s , auto-related announcements , were investment reallocations at existing facilities, not plants being built. Plans can change over time, or the production at an existing plant may change completely.
According to experts, some businesses may make public announcements to win over Trump even though they initially had intentions to do so.
Greig Mordue, a McMaster University manufacturing policy professor, said carmakers such as Hyundai, Honda and Stellantis are likely preparing to accelerate already decided launches to adapt to political realities. According to Mordue, “Those launches can be viewed as “wins” for Trump.
Trump: “We’re cutting billions and billions of dollars in waste, fraud, and abuse.”
The federal government has cut costs under Trump, but he has not proven that he cut billions in fraud.
The website for the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, claims that it saved $ 160 billion, less than Elon Musk, the effort’s billionaire, had promised to cut.
According to the Partnership for Public Service, DOGE has cost the government about $135 billion. Its goal is to improve the federal government. The organisation based that figure on $270bn in annual workforce compensation and then estimated that layoffs, buyouts, hiring freezes and other changes reduced productivity by 50 percent. The costs associated with defending lawsuits are not included in the figures.
Trump and Musk have repeatedly claimed to have found “fraud,” but primarily cited projects that they disagree on ideologically, such as those promoting climate change or diversity.
An expiration of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts could be a large hit to taxpayers
Trump claimed that if Democrats win this bill, the tax rate would increase by 58 percent. Democrats oppose Trump’s tax cuts for households making less than $400, 000, but only for those earning more than that, which would increase the tax cuts in Trump’s 2017 tax bill.
Trump is correct that if Congress doesn’t pass an extension, taxpayers would take a big hit. The most significant tax increase in American history will result from Representative Mike Lawler’s statement, which is largely true.
According to some estimates, allowing the tax cuts to expire would lead to the most significant tax increase in terms of dollar amount in history, an estimated $4.6 trillion in revenue growth over the course of the tenet, including interest, from fiscal year 2025 to 2034.
Trump asked: ‘ Who the hell would work at home? ‘ What are our current knowledge of remote workers?
According to US Census Bureau data from 2023, about two-thirds of home-based workers were white and had a median age of 43.5%.
Women represented 52.3 percent of people who worked from home and men 47.7 percent. According to the New York Times, mothers with young children are more likely than mothers without children or mothers with older children to work remotely.
Trump identifies the wrong lawmaker who made the impeachment proposal.
Early in his remarks, Trump said, “This country has gone crazy. And they did it once more today. John James, a man I’ve never heard of. Is he a congressman? This person? He said, “Do you know, ladies and gentlemen, I’m going to start Donald Trump’s impeachment”
A Michigan lawmaker this week , proposed impeaching Trump, but it wasn’t Republican Representative John James. Shri Thanedar, the representative of the Democratic Party, was in charge.
In an effort to succeed Democrat Gretchen Whitmer, James is attempting to win the governor’s race in Michigan.
Brian Pannebecker, a Trump supporter who the president asked to address the crowd, correctly identified Thanedar as the lawmaker proposing impeachment.
And Trump made the correct identification of James by saying, “Fortunately, we have good people in Congress, like Congressman John James over here,” in his later speech.
Trump claimed that he had “returned” Columbus Day. Did it ever go away?
Trump remarked, “Just yesterday, I brought back Columbus Day in America.”
His April 28 Truth Social and Post-Say speech stated that he is “hereby reinstating Columbus Day in the same manner, dates, and locations as it has for many decades before”!
Trump appears to be referencing a 2021 proclamation in which Biden acknowledged the “significant sacrifices made by Native peoples to this country – and recognise their many ongoing contributions to our Nation”.
However, there hasn’t changed about the federal holiday under Biden, despite some states acknowledging Indigenous Peoples Day on October 1st instead of or in addition to Columbus Day. It continues to be a holiday in the federal government. Biden issued a Columbus Day , proclamation in 2024.
Trump: “We find out who was the real president.”
We fact-checked Trump’s similar statement about Biden using autopens to sign pardons.
The Constitution doesn’t require that pardons be signed directly by the president, the use of a mechanical device for signatures is not prohibited.
Biden wasn’t the first US president to use an autopen. Barack Obama, John F. Kennedy, and Thomas Jefferson used mechanized signing devices or autopens.
When we , asked the White House in March , whether Trump ever used an autopen, a spokesperson pointed to Trump’s comments, when he said, “I never use it. We could use it as an example to send a young person a letter because it’s nice. … but it is scandalous to sign pardons and other agreements that (Biden) signed with an autopen.
Source: Aljazeera
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