Six times Trump criticised Democrats for things he also supported

Six times Trump criticised Democrats for things he also supported

Donald Trump sends a clear message to voters: he will save them from Democratic policies that have threatened their safety, freedom, and wallets.

Here’s what he omits: sometimes he promoted those very same policies.

Here, Trump or his spokesman repeatedly criticize Democrats for policies that he personally supported during his first as president.

Promoting hiring diversity at the Federal Aviation Administration

Trump attributed his predecessors’ diversity hiring practices, including hiring people with disabilities, to the incident that occurred on January 29 between a United States Army helicopter and an American Airlines passenger jet over the Potomac River, killing 67 people. But during Trump’s first term, the same programme existed to hire people with disabilities.

What Trump said: “I changed the Obama policy (on hiring air traffic controllers) … And then Biden came in and he changed it”. (We rated that False.)

What Obama and Biden did: An Obama-era&nbsp, executive order&nbsp, issued in 2010 directed federal agencies to hire more people with disabilities. The FAA’s diversity hiring strategy included this policy.

The Obama administration began a hiring process for air traffic controllers in 2014 that considered both race and biographical factors, including work and educational background. In 2018, Trump jettisoned the use of the biographical assessment, Biden did not reinstate it.

What Trump did: The FAA in 2019 announced a programme aimed at hiring 20 people with disabilities, including from the same targeted disability list Trump recently maligned, to be air traffic controllers. The organization stated in a press release on April 11 that a key goal was to “identify specific opportunities for people with targeted disabilities, empower them, and facilitate their entry into a more diverse and inclusive workforce.”

The agency continually highlighted its diversity hiring initiatives, including its aims to hire people with disabilities, from 2013 until Trump retook office in 2025, including&nbsp, throughout Trump’s first term.

On January 21, Trump signed an executive order that eliminated diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, hiring and directed the transportation secretary and the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to “return to non-discriminatory, merit-based hiring”.

Banning TikTok

In a brief filed on December 27, 2024, US President-elect Donald Trump asks the Supreme Court to halt a law that would impose a ban on TikTok on January 20 if it is not sold by its Chinese owner, ByteDance.

Trump criticised Biden’s stance, which called for banning TikTok, in 2024. However, during his first term, Trump had attempted to outlaw the well-known video app. (We said Trump’s change in position met our definition of a&nbsp, Full Flop.)

What Trump&nbsp, said: “We love TikTok. I’m going to save TikTok. Biden wants to get rid of TikTok”.

What Biden did: Biden signed bipartisan&nbsp, legislation in April that would eventually ban TikTok unless it is sold to a US company.

What Trump did: On August 6, 2020, Trump signed Executive Order 13942, which stated that “the United States must take aggressive action against the owners of TikTok to protect our national security.” On January 20, 2024, Trump issued an executive order&nbsp, to pause the TikTok ban for 75 days.

Killing chickens

Karolina Leavitt, a press secretary for the White House, claimed that Biden’s widespread slaughter of chickens was to blame for the high egg prices.

What Leavitt said: “The US Agriculture Department and the Biden administration directed the mass killing of more than 100 million chickens, which has resulted in a shortage of chicken in this country, and hence a shortage of eggs, which is leading to the shortage.” (We rated that Half True.)

What Biden did: To stop the spread of bird flu, kill chickens and protect nearby farms, the poultry industry, and the public. A 2002 federal law, the&nbsp, Animal Health Protection Act, gives the USDA authority to depopulate herds and flocks to stop the disease’s spread.

USDA data shows 108 million egg-laying chickens died since 2022, including 13 million in 2025. How many people died from the virus or were put to death?

What Trump did: A USDA bird flu response plan was updated in May 2017 and included policy recommendations derived from Obama administration bird flu outbreaks. It stated that “infected poultry depopulation is crucial to halt virus transmission and should be prioritized.” During a March 2017 bird flu outbreak, a USDA report said, “nearly 253, 000 birds were depopulated”.

Using money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help immigrants

Trump claimed that the Biden-Harris administration had diverted money from FEMA to finance immigration, leaving the disaster agency in financial trouble as he assessed the damage caused by the hurricane in Georgia in October 2024.

What Trump said: “$1 billion was stolen from FEMA to use it for illegal migrants. … And FEMA is now busted. They don’t have any money”. (We rated that False.)

What Biden did: Congress granted money to FEMA for the&nbsp, Shelter and Services programme, which gave money to state and local governments and nonprofit organisations that provide migrants with temporary shelter, food and transportation. However, that’s separate from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund, which is used after hurricanes.

What Trump did: In 2019, the Department of Homeland Security&nbsp, said it was “reprogramming” some funds Congress had set aside. The department announced that immigration efforts would receive $ 155 million from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund.

Bureau of Prisons providing transgender care

Kamala Harris, the former vice president and Democratic presidential nominee, was attacked by Trump for her remarks regarding the transgender issue in prison. In 2019, Harris said she supported allowing gender-affirming surgery for people in federal prisons, and in 2024 said she would “follow the law”. However, a similar policy was in place during Trump’s first term in accordance with federal law.

What Trump said: Harris “supports taxpayer-funded sex changes for prisoners and illegal aliens”. (We rated that&nbsp, Mostly True.)

What Biden and Harris did: The&nbsp, Bureau of Prisons ‘ policy&nbsp, during the Biden administration let people in prison request gender-affirming surgery. We found that as of September 2024, just&nbsp, two people in federal prisons&nbsp, had&nbsp, successfully received&nbsp, these procedures.

What Trump did: Trump’s first administration also recognised the federal legal obligations to provide gender-affirming care for prisoners. The Justice Department’s 2018 budget memo, which noted the “statutory mandate to provide basic medical and mental health care” to prisoners and the possibility that “transgender offenders may require… surgery” as part of medical treatment, was highlighted by The New York Times. During Trump’s first term, the Bureau of Prisons published a transgender offender manual that made reference to “hormone or other medical treatment” being offered, but it did not specifically mention surgery.

Hurricane victims in North Carolina are receiving temporary housing from FEMA.

A person holds up a sign in North Carolina that reads
Swannanoa resident Lucy Bickers, who received assistance from FEMA after Hurricane Helene damaged her property, holds a sign in support of the government agency as she waits on the route of visiting US President Donald Trump’s motorcade in Swannanoa, North Carolina, US, on January 24, 2025]File: Jonathan Drake/Reuters]

Biden is accused of evicting hotel survivors from North Carolina. During Trump’s first administration, FEMA had comparable eligibility requirements for temporary housing.

What Trump said: “The Biden administration kicked 2, 000 displaced North Carolinians out of their temporary housing into freezing 20-degree weather”, in January. (We rated that&nbsp, Mostly False.)

What Biden did: After Hurricane Helene, FEMA gave North Carolinians who needed temporary housing lodging in hotels or motels. Every two weeks, FEMA evaluates applicants’ eligibility. If a person checks out of a hotel, skips inspections, or stays in their homes, they are no longer eligible. On January 18th, 740 families were informed that they had to leave the rooms because they were no longer eligible. To find shelter, they were given three weeks’ notice.

What Trump did: Trump’s&nbsp, first administration also had eligibility criteria for remaining in temporary housing. A February 16, 2018, FEMA news release&nbsp, about Texas hurricane victims said “criteria review” would determine who no longer qualified.

“Any sheltering option is, by design, a temporary, short-term solution, designed to be a bridge to middle and longer-term solutions”, Brock Long, the then-FEMA administrator, said at a March 2018, House Homeland Security Committee hearing.

Source: Aljazeera

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