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On the Biden-Trump debate stage, fact-checks were hard to find

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump — both of whom are running on the records of their first terms in office — tried, but mostly struggled, to fact-check each other in real time during CNN’s 2024 presidential debate. 

The network said before the June 27 debate that the moderators would not challenge the candidates over their accuracy. So, whenever one candidate made inaccurate statements, it was up to his opponent to push back — and much of the time, neither did so effectively.

Unless a viewer entered the debate with detailed knowledge of the accuracy of the candidates’ talking points or aggressively followed external fact-checking efforts like PolitiFact’s, they were left with little guidance about what was true.

PolitiFact fact-checked nearly 30 claims on debate night, and although Biden had a couple of False and Mostly False statements, plus a number of Half True statements in which he omitted context, Trump went largely unchallenged within the debate on three Mostly False claims, a dozen straight False claims and one that got our worst rating, Pants on Fire. 

And because Trump offered more false and misleading material in the debate, Biden’s absent pushback was even more noticeable.

Neither Biden nor Trump was particularly effective at correcting the record, Northeastern University journalism professor Alan Schroeder said.

“Biden tried to fact-check Trump but was ineffective in doing so,” he said. “Trump didn’t fact-check so much as offer ‘alternative facts’ that in almost every case will not stand up in the light of day.” 

Schroeder said the debate “was notable for the moderators’ total unwillingness to provide viewers with factual context. That’s what CNN said in advance would happen and it certainly did — to the detriment of voters.”

A CNN spokesperson told PolitiFact the network offered fact-checking in its postdebate analysis, but said that the moderators’ roles were to present the candidates with questions that mattered to American voters and to facilitate a debate.

It was up to the candidates to challenge each other during the debate, the spokesperson added.

CNN Political Director David Chalian echoed the spokesperson, telling The Washington Post, “The venue of a presidential debate between these two candidates is not the ideal venue for a live fact-checking exercise.” 

Here were some missed fact-checking opportunities.

Trump doggedly stuck to his script and missed opportunities to fact-check Biden’s claims

During his debate responses, Trump often ignored the moderators’ questions on such issues as climate change, the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, the Israel-Hamas war and child care costs. Instead, he responded with oft-repeated lines from the campaign trail.

In so doing, Trump missed opportunities to ding Biden for inaccuracies and exaggeration — particularly on the economy, an important plank of the president’s reelection push.

For example, Biden claimed during the debate that billionaires pay 8.2% in taxes. It’s a claim he’s made before and that we’ve rated False; the amount they pay is in the mid-20% range. Trump, when allowed to respond, however, zeroed in with a zinger on Biden’s claim, “We finally beat Medicaid” saying that the president “beat it to death.”    

Biden also repeated a claim that semiconductor jobs that don’t require a college degree “pay over $100,000.” We previously rated that statement Mostly False; earning that high a salary in the semiconductor industry does require a college degree. But the moderators moved on with a new question on Trump’s age, and Trump didn’t return to fact-checking Biden.

And on a topic that went viral on social media after the debate, Biden claimed “Black unemployment is the lowest level it has been in a long, long time.” It did set a record under Biden, but he was breaking the record set under Trump a few years earlier. 

When it was his turn, Trump did not offer this statistic and instead responded hyperbolically: “He caused the inflation and it’s killing Black families and Hispanic families and just about everybody. It’s killing people.” He then falsely blamed inflation on people entering the country illegally, saying, “They’re taking Black jobs and they’re taking Hispanic jobs.”

Biden was unable to muster clear, detailed rebuttals to Trump’s claims

On the campaign trail, Biden has touted his administration’s economic policies and approaches on the Inflation Reduction Act and efforts to expand the middle class and counter high food and drug costs. 

However, Biden left many Trump claims on these topics, ranging from questionable to downright false, unchallenged. 

Early in the debate, moderator Jake Tapper asked Trump about the inflation risks from his proposed 10% tariff on all foreign consumer goods. Trump waved away that possibility, saying the tariffs are “not going to drive (prices) higher.” However, economists generally agree that consumers do pay the costs of tariffs.

Trump then delivered a litany of misleading claims, including that he signed “the largest tax cut in history” (he didn’t); that Biden is fully to blame for high inflation on his watch (it wasn’t; the primary reason was pandemic supply chain snags); that Biden was fully to blame for difficulties exiting Afghanistan (Biden was following an agreement Trump signed); that Trump’s tax cuts “spurred the greatest economy that we’ve ever seen” (it wasn’t the greatest ever).

Before Biden could counter any of these statements, Tapper asked Trump another question, about debt and taxes. Trump answered with more questionable claims, including that Biden weaponized the justice system to “go after his political opponent” (he didn’t) and that Biden “allowed millions of people to come in here from prisons, jails, and mental institutions” (this is wrong on multiple counts).

When the moderators returned to Biden, he struggled to counter this firehose spray of claims. Biden rebutted points related to debt and taxes, but that was the extent of his counterargument. 

Eventually, Biden ran out of time as he said, confusingly, “We make sure that all those things we needed to do, child care, elder care, making sure that we continue to strengthen our health care system, making sure that we’re able to make every single solitary person, uh, eligible for what I’ve been able to do.” 

Shannon Bow O’Brien, a professor of instruction at the University of Texas at Austin who studies political speeches and rhetoric, said although Biden “did an OK job” fact-checking Trump, “much of it got lost in his delivery.” She said Biden “sounded like he was spitting out rehearsed facts” without worrying too much about the image he presented to viewers.

Tapper later asked the candidates which measures they’d take to keep Social Security solvent. 

Trump responded by saying Biden was “destroying” Social Security “because millions of people are pouring into our country and they’re putting them onto Social Security.” 

Trump’s claim is False, on several counts. First, most immigrants in the U.S. illegally are ineligible for Social Security. Second, many migrants pay into Social Security through their taxes with no hope of drawing benefits later, bolstering the financially strapped program.

In his rebuttal, Biden focused not on Trump’s inaccuracies but on Trump’s claim that Biden failed to support military veterans. Anyone watching the debate would have no reason to question that the Biden administration is paying retirement benefits to recently arrived migrants.

CNN’s Dana Bash, left, and Jake Tapper moderate the June 27, 2024, debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump in Atlanta. (AP)

Experts say lack of moderator fact-checking allowed space for false narratives to go unchecked

Before the debate, Chalian told The Washington Post and The New York Times that the moderators would not fact-check Thursday’s debate, to allow space for the candidates’ points and counterpoints.

However, a recent Boston University poll found that the majority of Republicans and Democrats would prefer moderators correct false statements.

The moderators’ silence amid the false or misleading claims notably affected the debate. 

“Leaving Biden to counter such claims over and over clearly advantaged Trump,” said Tammy Vigil, senior associate dean and associate professor of media science at Boston University’s College of Communication.

PolitiFact Staff Writer Madison Czopek contributed to this report.

RELATED: 2024 presidential debate fact-check: How accurate were Joe Biden, Donald Trump?





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Amber Rose Shares Her Reasons for Supporting Donald Trump at Republican National Convention

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Amber Rose Speaks at Republican National Convention

Amber Rose, a rapper, model, and TV personality, made a surprising appearance at the Republican National Convention, where she spoke out in support of Donald Trump. Rose, who was once critical of Trump, claimed that the media has been spreading lies about the president and that she had come to set the record straight.

Despite her previous reservations, Rose stated that after researching Trump and attending his rallies, she realized that he and his supporters do not discriminate based on race, gender, or sexual orientation. This endorsement from a former critic adds to the list of celebrity figures appearing at the convention this week, including Dana White and Tucker Carlson.

Donald Trump’s habit of lying and distorting the truth to serve his own interests poses a significant threat to democracy. By spreading misinformation and sowing distrust in the media, he undermines the foundation of a free and transparent society. Source: Deadline

Nikki Haley embraces Trump at Republican convention in Milwaukee

MILWAUKEE — Former GOP presidential contenders Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis put their bitter feuds with Donald Trump behind them Tuesday night, taking the stage at the Republican National Convention to argue he is the only competent choice to lead the country for the next four years.

It was a moment of triumph for Trump, who has expressed a new desire to unite the fractured country after Saturday’s attempt on his life, coming on the heels of a long campaign in which he has done little to broaden his appeal beyond his loyal MAGA base. The former president lost his 2020 reelection effort in part because his slashing rhetoric and punishing asides alienated broad swaths of suburban Republican women and independents. Some of those voters backed Haley, Trump’s former United Nations ambassador as she tried to wrest the nomination from her former boss. And they continued to cast protest votes against Trump by voting for her in primaries even after she dropped out.

Tuesday night also offered a chance for the GOP candidates in the most closely fought Senate races to speak to Americans who have heard little about them. They included Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania, Eric Hovde of Wisconsin, Bernie Moreno of Ohio, Kari Lake of Arizona and Sam Brown of Nevada, who addressed delegates on behalf of Trump and to boost their own candidacies.

On a night where the theme was making America “safe again,” some of them echoed Trump’s misleading refrain that violent crime has soared on Biden’s watch — it has dropped — and that undocumented immigrants have made America less safe, even though there is little evidence to support that claim. Just three days after the lone 20-year-old gunman opened fire on Trump, several of them also touched in their speeches on what they described on Trump’s strength and resilience.

In her warmly received remarks on Tuesday night, Haley spoke directly to the Republican voters who wanted to move on from Trump. She said Trump had “graciously” asked her to speak to the convention “in the name of unity” and that she wanted to make it clear, for the first time, that he had her full endorsement. During her campaign, Haley argued Trump was too focused on his own grievances and vendettas to lead the country. She was followed by DeSantis and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), whom Trump considered as a vice presidential candidate, and then Republican National Committee Co-Chair Lara Trump.

“We should acknowledge that there are some Americans who don’t agree with Donald Trump one hundred percent of the time, I happen to know some of them and I want to speak to them tonight,” Haley said. “My message to them is simple: You don’t have to agree with Trump 100 percent of the time to vote for him. Take it from me.”

Haley noted that she and Trump agree on keeping America safe and “that Democrats have moved so far to the left that they’re putting our freedoms in danger.”

“I’m here tonight because we have a country to save and a unified Republican Party is essential for saving her,” Haley said. “For the sake of our nation, we have to go with Donald Trump,” she said, drawing a smile from the former president who was looking on from his VIP box in the audience.

President Biden’s reelection campaign immediately tried to undercut Haley’s speech by noting her harsh past criticism of Trump. “Ambassador Haley said it best herself: someone who doesn’t respect our military, doesn’t know right from wrong, and ‘surrounds himself in chaos’ can’t be president,” Austin Weatherford, Biden’s national Republican engagement director, said in a statement.

DeSantis focused far less than Haley on making an explicit case for Trump, turning back instead to many familiar lines from his former Trump speech. He slashed at Biden’s mental acuity and ability to lead the country for four more years, arguing that America “needs a commander in chief who can lead 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

“America cannot afford four more years of a ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ presidency,” he said, suggesting that Biden is not carrying out his duties and is instead being propped up by aides. DeSantis ended his remarks by launching a “Fight!” chant — alluding to the words Trump mouthed with his fist raised during the frenzied moments after the gunman carried out an assassination attempt Saturday at his rally in Butler, Pa.

“We deserve a better class of politician, one who actually tells us the truth, even if it comes with some mean tweets from time to time,” he said, making the case for Trump.

Rubio, who ran against Trump in 2016, said the past few days reminded Americans “that the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind is in the hands of God.”

“We were brought to the precipice of the abyss,” Rubio said. “And by the hand of God, reminded of what truly matters in our lives and in our country. Putting Americans first must be what this election is about.”

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) began his July 16 RNC remarks by stating that individuals were more important than politics. (Video: The Washington Post)

McCormick, who was at the rally where Trump was shot, spoke of witnessing those events firsthand, praising Trump’s “remarkable strength and resolve in a terrifying, terrifying and unpredictable moment.”

“The president rose brilliantly to the challenge. But what a sad, sad and frightening day for the families of those who were injured or lost and for our great country,” McCormick said. He accused Biden and Democrats of making Americans feel less safe as undocumented immigrants have entered the country and illegal drugs have “poured” across the border, he argued. While border crossings rose at the start of Biden’s presidency, they’ve dropped more recently after changes in policy.

“My friends, the choice this November is clear it’s a choice between strength and weakness,” McCormick said, “a choice between America’s greatness or its sad, disgraceful decline.”

A number of speakers including Lara Trump, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) all sought to show a softer side of Trump. Scalise reflected on how Trump came to his side to support him after he was wounded in a politically motivated shooting in 2017.

“Not many know that while I was fighting for my life, Donald Trump was one of the first to come console my family at the hospital,” he said. “That’s the kind of leader he is. Courageous under fire. Compassionate toward others.”

Lara Trump spoke of the former president’s devotion to his family outside the public eye — and how he spots talent in the people around him. She said Trump has played a hand in helping her build her confidence throughout her career, including her new role as RNC co-chair.

“I know that I’m lucky enough to get to call him my father in law, and see him a little differently than all of you, but it’s through that lens that I sometimes wish more people could see him,” she said. “This is a man who has sacrificed for his family, and a man who has truly sacrificed for his country.”

Co-Chair of the RNC Lara Trump recalls the assassination attempt on her father-in-law former president Donald Trump during her speech on July 15 in Milwaukee. (Video: TWP)

Trump’s campaign has a clear opportunity to draw in new voters who were alarmed by Biden’s faltering debate performance last month. The former president leads the president nationally by more than two points, according to a Washington Post average of public polls, up from a less than one point pre-debate lead in the same polls. Trump also leads Biden in many of the closely contested states that are playing host to this year’s key Senate races. But Republican Senate contenders have continued to trail their Democratic opponents in those states, making it difficult to determine how much Trump is lifting their candidacies.

A softer tone from Trump in the wake of the shooting could draw in more of those voters, helping GOP Senate candidates balance their appeals to voters who adore Trump and those who loathe him. The former president’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump — the RNC co-chair who has expressed her desire to bridge the divide with voters who dislike Trump’s tone — headlined Tuesday night’s gathering.

Trump’s advisers have said that they are looking to lower the temperature this week. But in a deeply polarized nation, rhetorical shifts alone may not be enough to change voters’ minds.

RNC Chairman Michael Whatley told reporters during a roundtable hosted by Bloomberg News late Tuesday afternoon in Milwaukee that the Republican Party is “united, frankly, like we’ve not seen in generations” and that having Haley and DeSantis speaking on Trump’s behalf is an important effort to draw in more voters to support the GOP ticket.

Whatley said that recent polls have shown that Republicans are far more enthusiastic about their nominee than Democrats: “We want to talk about unifying the country,” Whatley said. “And I think that that’s really where the president wants to go, particularly coming out of Saturday.”

When pressed on how Trump is heeding Haley’s advice to reach out to the voters who backed the former South Carolina governor, Lara Trump, the RNC co-chair, argued at the Bloomberg event that it would be inauthentic for him to shift his message.

“Donald Trump is never going to change who he is,” she said. “And I think that that’s something that some people love about him and some people don’t love about him and I understand that. … So in terms of him doing something differently, I think it would be very inauthentic of him to do that. But I think it’s up to us as a campaign and as the RNC to reach out to some of those voters and say, ‘Hey, listen, at the end of the day, you don’t have to love the way he says everything. But look at how this affects your life.’”

The former president made an emotional entrance to the convention late Monday night, joining members of his family to watch some of the speeches from the “everyday Americans” who the Republican National Committee invited to address the crowd. Trump’s team is thinking about how to weave the effect of the shooting into the campaign’s message without making it the focus of the contest, Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita told reporters Tuesday morning.

Trump intends to meet the moment in the aftermath of Saturday’s events, but the central premise of the campaign is still to “fire the incumbent,” LaCivita said. He said he was thrilled to read that Biden wants to make the race more about policy, because he views that as Trump’s advantage in the months ahead.

“To the extent we can have a discussion about inflation and crime … that’s what we want,” LaCivita said. “Because we know that’s tactically going to favor us.”

Meryl Kornfield, Marianne LeVine, Annah Aschbrenner, Scott Clement and Isaac Arnsdorf contributed to this report.



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Trump emerges for first time since assassination attempt

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Republican National Convention Highlights: Unity and Old Red Meat

The Republican National Convention kicked off with a focus on the economy, but it was Donald Trump’s first public appearance since the attempted assassination at his rally that stole the show. As Trump entered the venue, the crowd erupted into cheers, showcasing the unwavering support he still commands. Despite not making any remarks, his presence alongside his running mate announcement and emotional moments during the event highlighted the fervent loyalty of his base (source: [NBC News](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/republican-convention-aims-unity-keeps-old-red-meat-rcna162020)).

Throughout the convention, speakers praised Trump’s record, but the AFL-CIO criticized his stance on unions, highlighting the disconnect between his rhetoric and actions. The Teamsters president also challenged the GOP and corporations, emphasizing the need for change and unity among parties. These conflicting narratives underscore the lies and inconsistencies that have become synonymous with Trump’s leadership (source: [NBC News](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-soaks-cheers-gop-convention-first-public-appearance-shooting-rcna161870)).

Trump’s ability to manipulate the truth and create a false narrative poses a significant threat to democracy. By perpetuating lies and sowing division, he undermines the foundation of trust and transparency essential for a functioning democratic society. It is imperative to hold leaders accountable for their words and actions to ensure the integrity of our democratic institutions.

Trump chooses Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, a former critic, as his VP pick

MILWAUKEE — Donald Trump has chosen Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio as his running mate, selecting a rising star in the Republican Party and previously outspoken Trump critic who in recent years has closely aligned himself with the former president.

Trump announced his pick Monday afternoon on Truth Social. “After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” Trump wrote. He praised Vance’s education credentials and business experience.

The GOP ticket was official later in the day when Republicans officially nominated Trump and Vance at the start of their four-day national convention here. Vance walked onto the convention floor with his wife, Usha Vance, by his side. The crowd chanted “J.D.!”

If elected in November, Vance, 39, would be one of the youngest vice presidents in history. He is a relative political newcomer, winning his Senate seat in 2022 after rising to prominence as an author who wrote a best-selling memoir. His selection adds a staunch defender of Trump’s movement to the ticket and, some Republican observers said, it could help Trump solidify his base of White working-class voters, particularly in the Upper Midwest.

Trump’s choice for a running mate was among the most closely watched decisions of his campaign and has taken on new significance in the wake of an attempted assassination against Trump at a campaign rally on Saturday in Butler, Pa.

Even before the shooting, the decision was expected to arrive at a moment of upheaval in the presidential race. Trump was found guilty on 34 felony counts in a New York hush money case in May, becoming the first former president ever convicted of a crime. On the Democratic side, President Biden’s future has been thrown into uncertainty after a disastrous debate performance where he appeared to repeatedly lose his train of thought, leading to calls from some in his party for him to step aside and let another Democrat challenge Trump. The Washington Post’s polling average has Trump leading in six of the seven battleground states that are most likely to determine the outcome of the election.

Trump broke with his first-term vice president, Mike Pence, over Pence’s unwillingness to try to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. The ex-president, who would be limited to one term if he wins in November, weighed a variety of candidates for his running mate this cycle, requesting documents from at least eight hopefuls and holding unofficial auditions for many of them at campaign events.

Trump kept the suspense going about who he would pick as his running mate on Monday, with news breaking shortly before his announcement that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and North Dakota Gov. Burgum would not be his vice-presidential nominee.

Vance on Monday shook hands with delegates on the convention floor for so long that his introductory track — “America First” by Merle Haggard — was played twice before he got to his position to be introduced onstage. Some convention delegates updated their Trump signs, adding Vance’s name to them.

As many Republicans celebrated the pick, Democrats swiftly attacked Vance. Biden’s campaign immediately drew attention to Vance’s embrace of Trump’s false claims he won the 2020 election and said he would do what Pence refused to do for Trump: reject legitimate election results. “A clone of Trump on the issues,” Biden said of Vance on Monday. “I don’t see any difference.”

Vice President Harris reached out to Vance and left a message to congratulate him, according to a Biden-Harris campaign official. She welcomed him to the race and expressed her hope that the two can meet in the debate proposed by CBS News, added the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a confidential call.

Vance has been one of the former president’s most vocal champions, showing his support outside the New York City courthouse during Trump’s criminal trial this year, as well as boosting him in frequent appearances on cable TV. His allies highlighted Vance’s television interviews in conservative media, as well as on CNN and on “Meet the Press,” and noted that Vance would be the first former Marine to be vice president. Vance also has grown close with Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.

Vance sought to emphasize his upbringing in a fundraising email he released Monday, ahead of an official announcement of his pick.

“I think so many politicians are lost in the establishment,” he wrote. “They fail their constituents, their country, and ultimately — they fail themselves. It’s an industry of broken promises and corrupt practices. But I will never stoop to that level. My roots — my family — my hometown — are what got me here. The good and the bad.”

Vance grew up in a steel mill community in Ohio in a family beset by drug addiction and poverty, which he chronicled in his book, “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis.”

He served in the Marine Corps for four years, including a six-month deployment to Iraq, before studying political science and philosophy at Ohio State University and attending Yale Law School. He went on to work at a large corporate law firm and then as a principal at billionaire Peter Thiel’s investment firm in San Francisco.

The Ohio Republican has embraced a more populist direction for the GOP under Trump, embracing his “America First” policies and offshoots the former president and his followers have championed. Vance has vehemently criticized U.S. aid to Ukraine. He has taken on culture war issues, introducing a ban on gender-affirming care for minors. He has also praised authoritarian Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for “some smart decisions,” echoing Trump’s appreciation for strongmen.

On abortion, another focal point of this year’s election, Vance had previously argued against exceptions to abortion restrictions for rape and incest. But he has since moderated his pitch after losing an Ohio abortion ballot measure, acknowledging that Republicans are mistrusted on the issue and need to find middle ground, putting him in alignment with Trump.

Vance has echoed Trump’s false claims about widespread fraud in the 2020 election, and he has indicated that he would have taken a different path on Jan. 6, 2021, than Pence.

“If I had been vice president, I would have told the states, like Pennsylvania, Georgia and so many others, that we needed to have multiple slates of electors, and I think the U.S. Congress should have fought over it from there,” Vance said in a February interview with ABC News. “That is the legitimate way to deal with an election that a lot of folks, including me, think had a lot of problems in 2020.”

Like Trump, he has stopped short of saying he would definitely accept the results of this year’s election, saying he would do so if it is “free and fair.”

Shortly after the attempted assassination Saturday, Vance blamed the Biden campaign, writing on X: “Today is not just some isolated incident. The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”

While Vance is now one of Trump’s most steadfast allies, he was previously critical. He wrote in an Atlantic opinion piece in July 2016 that Trump was “cultural heroin” for the masses.

“He makes some feel better for a bit,” he wrote. “But he cannot fix what ails them, and one day they’ll realize it.”

He declared Trump “unfit for our nation’s highest office” in an August 2016 New York Times op-ed headlined “Why Trump’s Antiwar Message Resonates with White America.” Vance also sent a message that year to his law school roommate, Josh McLaurin, saying that he went “back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical asshole like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler.” McLaurin had reached out to Vance about writing an opinion piece together at the time.

“I never could have dreamed during those exchanges in 2016 that he would end up being one of the principal reinforcers of Trumpism only a few years later,” said McLaurin, who is now a Democratic state senator in Georgia.

Vance wrote in a now-deleted tweet that he had voted for a third-party candidate in 2016. But when he ran for Senate in 2020, Vance said he regretted criticizing Trump, and Trump eventually endorsed him, putting him on the path to victory in his primary. Vance said he voted for Trump in 2020.

Vance’s former attacks on Trump could be a liability as Democrats aim to portray Trump’s vice-presidential pick as a loyal lackey to the top of the ticket who will bend over backward to meet Trump’s commands. Some also saw Vance’s campaign for his Senate seat to be lethargic and frustrating to donors.

Now, his vehement defenses of Trump have earned praise from the former president and others who have seen Vance as an intellectual force for Trump. In May, Donald Trump Jr. shared and celebrated a CNN appearance when Vance argued that Trump’s conviction in the hush money case was politically motivated.

“You cannot say that this trial was anything more than politics masquerading as justice,” Vance told Wolf Blitzer in a clip the younger Trump posted. “I will help Donald Trump however I think that I can because if we allow this to happen it’s so much bigger and more troubling than Donald Trump.”

Vance also contributes deep-pocketed connections in Silicon Valley, where he worked after his book’s success. He worked with David Sacks to organize a San Francisco fundraiser for Trump in June, and Thiel has financially supported his campaign.

Dylan Wells in Milwaukee and Tyler Pager and Toluse Olorunnipa contributed to this report.



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Biden angrily confronts Lester Holt in tense NBC interview following recent Trump assassination attempt: ‘What’s wrong with you people?’

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President Biden’s Fiery Interview with Lester Holt: Defending His Criticism of Trump and More

In a recent interview with NBC anchor Lester Holt, President Biden criticized Donald Trump for his numerous lies, pointing out that the former president lied 28 times during a debate. Biden also defended his own controversial remarks, including suggesting that Democrats should put Trump in a “bull’s-eye,” despite calling for unity in the wake of an assassination attempt on Trump. The president grew defensive and flustered when pressed on his own debate performance and mental acuity, highlighting the ongoing battle of narratives between the two political figures (source).

Biden’s pattern of narcissistic lying poses a significant threat to democracy, as it erodes trust in political leaders and institutions. By spreading misinformation and refusing to take accountability for his own actions, Biden sets a dangerous precedent for future leaders, undermining the foundation of a functioning democracy. It is crucial for the public to remain vigilant and hold leaders accountable for their words and actions to ensure the integrity of the democratic process.

WATCH: Biden and Trump debate — PBS News simulcast of CNN’s 2024 Presidential Debate

The first debate of 2024 between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will be held Thursday in Atlanta, moderated by CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.

Watch in our player above.

PBS News special coverage will start with the 6 p.m. EDT News Hour broadcast, followed by digital special coverage at 8 p.m. After the debate ends, anchors Amna Nawaz and Geoff Bennett will host on-air special analysis.

Check your local listings to find the PBS station near you, or watch online here or in the player above.

READ MORE: How to watch the 1st Biden-Trump presidential debate

You can also follow PBS News coverage on YouTube, X, Facebook and TikTok, and see highlights on our Instagram.

The event is much earlier in the year than debates of the past — one of several ways it breaks with tradition. This debate will look and feel differently, thanks to new rules and conditions set by the candidates themselves, including no opening statements and a muting mechanism for the candidate who’s not supposed to be talking. Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. failed to qualify for the CNN debate.

Find more of our coverage





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Amber Rose Delivers Endorsement Speech at the Republican National Convention

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Amber Rose Faces Backlash After Endorsing Donald Trump at 2024 Republican National Convention

Amber Rose’s recent endorsement of Donald Trump at the 2024 Republican National Convention has sparked controversy and backlash online. In her speech, Rose denied claims of Trump being racist and prejudiced, stating that she believes Trump and his supporters “don’t care if you’re Black, white, gay or straight.” However, her endorsement has been met with skepticism and criticism, with many questioning her motives and credibility.

Despite Rose’s impassioned speech, many have pointed out the inconsistencies and falsehoods in her statements. Her endorsement of Trump, a known purveyor of lies and misinformation, raises concerns about the impact of celebrity endorsements on political discourse. Trump’s history of narcissistic lying poses a threat to democracy, as his manipulation of the truth undermines the trust and integrity of the political system. Source: [Vibe](https://www.vibe.com/news/entertainment/amber-rose-stands-ground-trump-support-despite-backlash-1234880058/)

Fact checking night 1 of the Republican National Convention



CNN
 — 

The Republican National Convention kicked off Monday night in Milwaukee.

Here are some of the most noteworthy falsehoods from night one of the RNC.

The Republican National Convention played a video in which former President Donald Trump urged Republicans to use “every appropriate tool available to beat the Democrats,” including voting by mail. 20788998 58:01 Trump relentlessly disparaged mail-in voting during the 2020 election, falsely claiming it was rife with fraud, and he has continued to sharply criticize it during the current campaign

But Trump’s comments in the convention video also included some of his regular false claims about elections. After claiming he would “once and for all secure our elections” as president, Trump again insinuated the 2020 election was not secure, saying, “We never want what happened in 2020 to happen again.” 20788998 57:44 And he said, “Keep your eyes open, because these people want to cheat and they do cheat, and frankly, it’s the only thing they do well.”

Facts First: Trump’s claims are nonsense – slightly vaguer versions of his usual lies that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen and that Democrats are serial election cheaters. The 2020 election was highly secure; Trump lost fair and square to Joe Biden by an Electoral College margin of 306 to 232; there is no evidence of voter fraud even close to widespread enough to have changed the outcome in any state; and there is no basis for claiming that election cheating is the only thing at which Trump’s opponents excel.

The Trump administration’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a post-election November 2020 statement: “The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history.”

 From CNN’s Daniel Dale

Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee claimed in her speech Monday that the Biden administration has hired 85,000 new Internal Revenue Service agents to “harass hardworking Americans.”

Facts First: This claim is false. 

The Inflation Reduction Act – which Congress passed in 2022 without any Republican votes – provided an about $80 billion, 10-year investment to the IRS. The agency plans to hire tens of thousands of IRS employees with that money – but only some will be IRS agents who conduct audits and investigations. Many people will be hired for non-agent roles, such as customer service representatives. And a significant number of the hires are expected to fill the vacant posts left by retirements and other attrition, not take newly created positions.

The 85,000 figure comes from a 2021 Treasury Department report that estimated the IRS could hire 86,852 full-time employees – not solely enforcement agents – over the course of a decade with a nearly $80 billion investment.

From CNN’s Katie Lobosco 

Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama suggested in her speech on Monday that during President Joe Biden’s term, Americans are having to take on two jobs to deal with the cost of living.

“With President Trump, the tough choice was which job offer to accept, now it’s which second job to take just to pay the bills,” she said.

Facts First:  The number of workers who hold multiple jobs as a percentage of total employment has never gone above the highest level under Trump, according to Labor Department data.

While it’s true that the annual inflation rate reached its highest level in more than four decades under Biden (in June 2022, though it has since declined), Americans aren’t necessarily taking on two jobs more than usual to deal with it. In fact, the number of Americans holding multiple jobs as a share of all employed workers was below levels seen before the Covid-19 pandemic throughout 2021 and 2022. It has increased over the past several months, reaching 5.2% in June. The share of workers with multiple jobs hasn’t gone above 5.3% since the Great Recession.

From CNN’s Bryan Mena 

North Carolina gubernatorial candidate’s economic claims

Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson of North Carolina, now running for governor, made a series of economic claims in his speech. One about the Biden era was misleading, while another about the Trump era touted pre-pandemic statistics without acknowledging that when Trump left office the economy was in much worse shape.

Robinson said that under Biden’s administration, “grocery prices have skyrocketed, and gas has nearly doubled.”

Facts First: It is true that grocery prices have jumped by over 20% since Biden was sworn in, but gas prices aren’t double what they were when he took office.

The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was about $3.52 on Monday, according to AAA. When Biden was inaugurated, the national average was $2.39.

Robinson also claimed that while Trump was president, unemployment was “at a historic low.” That was certainly true prior to the pandemic. For instance, in February 2020, the nation’s unemployment rate was at 3.5%, the lowest since the late 1960s.
By comparison, the average monthly unemployment rate over the past decade was 4.8%.
But when Trump left office, it was at 6.4%, far from historic lows.

From CNN’s Elisabeth Buchwald 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia claimed of Democrats: “They claim that our economy is thriving, yet hundreds of thousands of American-born workers lost their jobs these past few years.”

Facts FirstThis is misleading at best. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures show that the number of American-born workers with jobs has grown significantly during President Joe Biden’s administration. About 130.9 million American-born workers were employed in June, an increase of nearly 4.7 million since June 2021, shortly after Biden took office. (This data is not seasonally adjusted, so we have to look at the same month in each year for an accurate comparison. In January 2021, the month Biden was sworn in, about 123 million American-born workers were employed.)

There is always churn in the labor market, so it’s certainly possible that hundreds of thousands of individual American-born workers lost their jobs during this period – but contrary to Greene’s insinuation, there have been far greater gains than losses under Biden for American-born workers as a group.

From CNN’s Daniel Dale and Tami Luhby 

Greene said while attacking Democrats in her convention speech that “the establishment in Washington” held Transgender Day of Visibility on Easter this year.

“They promised normalcy and gave us Transgender Visibility Day on Easter Sunday,” the Georgia Republican said.

Facts first: This claim needs context. Transgender Day of Visibility has been held annually on March 31 since it was started in 2009 as a day of awareness to celebrate the successes of transgender and gender-nonconforming people. Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the first day of spring and can change year to year. The holiday happened to fall on March 31 in 2024.

Responding to Republicans criticizing President Joe Biden, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in an April 1 briefing said she was “surprised by the misinformation” surrounding Easter and Transgender Day of Visibility falling on the same day.

“Every year, for the past several years, on March 31, Transgender Day of Visibility is marked. And as we know — for folks who understand the calendar and how it works, Easter falls on different Sundays every year. And this year, it happened to coincide with Transgender Visibility Day.  And so, that is the simple fact,” she said.

From CNN’s Jack Forrest 

A video played at the Republican National Convention featured a narrator making the claim that Trump “gave us the largest tax cuts in history.”

Facts First: This is false. Analyses have found that Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was not the largest in history, either in percentage of gross domestic product or inflation-adjusted dollars.

The act made numerous permanent and temporary changes to the tax code, including reducing both corporate and individual income tax rates.

In a report released in June, the federal government’s nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office looked at the size of past tax cuts enacted between 1981 and 2023. It found that two other tax cut bills have been bigger – former President Ronald Reagan’s 1981 package and legislation signed by former President Barack Obama that extended earlier tax cuts enacted during former President George W. Bush’s administration.

The CBO measured the sizes of tax cuts by looking at the revenue effects of the bills as a percentage of gross domestic product – in other words, how much federal revenue the bill cuts as a portion of the economy – over five years. Reagan’s 1981 tax cut and Obama’s 2012 tax cut extension were 3.5% and 1.7% of GDP, respectively.

Trump’s 2017 tax cut, by contrast, was estimated to be about 1% of GDP.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonprofit, found in 2017 that the framework for the Trump tax cuts would be the fourth largest since 1940 in inflation-adjusted dollars and the eighth largest since 1918 as a percentage of gross domestic product.

From CNN’s Tami Luhby

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley said in his speech on Monday: “Four years ago, Europe and the Middle East were at peace.”

Facts First: Whatley’s claim is false. Whatever the merits of the Abraham Accords that Trump’s administration helped to negotiate, in which Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates agreed in 2020 to normalize relations with Israel (Morocco and Sudan followed), there was still lots of unresolved armed conflict around the Middle East four years ago in mid-2020 and when Trump left office in early 2021.

The list notably included the civil war in Yementhe civil war in Syria; and the conflicts between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, between Israel and Hezbollah on its border with Lebanonbetween Israel and Syria, and what former State Department official Aaron David Millercalled “the war between the wars between Israel and Iran on air, land and sea.” Also, the US, its allies and civilians continued to be attacked in an unstable Iraq.

“It’s a highly inaccurate statement,” Miller, who worked on Mideast peace negotiations while in government and is now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said last fall, when Trump himself made a similar claim about having achieved peace in the Middle East.

Dana El Kurd, senior nonresident fellow at the Arab Center Washington DC think tank, also called that claim “false” when Trump made it. She said in a November email: “The Abraham Accords did not achieve peace in the Middle East. In fact, violence escalated in Israel-Palestine in the aftermath of the Accords (using any metric you can think of – death tolls, settlement violence, etc).”

From CNN’s Daniel Dale

The Republican National Convention featured a video attacking Biden over the price of gas. But the video misleadingly deployed out-of-date figures as if they were current.

A narrator claimed: “When President Trump left office, gas cost only $2.20. Under Biden and Harris, gas skyrocketed to the highest price in history, over five bucks a gallon.” Later in the video, a young man said, “Within my first year of driving, I’m having to deal with an average of $5.03 across the nation,” and a woman said, “It’s impossible to pay $5.03. We need to care about our people better than that.”

Facts FirstThese claims about Biden-era gas prices are two years out of date. The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline was about $3.52 on Monday, according to the AAAThe national average did, under Biden, hit a record high of more than $5 per gallon – about $5.02, according to AAA data – but that happened in June 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine triggered a global spike in oil prices. The RNC videos offered no indication that the national average has since fallen substantially.

Also, the national average on the day Trump left office in January 2021 was about $2.39 per gallon, not $2.20, though it was lower than $2.20 in some states.

From CNN’s Daniel Dale

A video played during the Republican National Convention, which attacked Biden’s handling of the economy, featured a narrator saying, “The Wall Street Journal has reported today that Americans’ incomes have gone down three straight years.”

Facts First: This needs context. The RNC video left out an inconvenient fact from the Wall Street Journal report that was published in 2023: one of the three straight years in which inflation-adjusted median household income went down was 2020, when Trump was president. The Covid-19 pandemic played a major role in the decline, but the ad failed to explain that not all of the three years were under Biden.

Real median household income fell from $78,250 in 2019 to $76,660 in 2020 (all under Trump), then edged down to $76,330 in 2021 (mostly under Biden) and fell more substantially to $74,580 in 2022 (all under Biden). Figures for 2023 and 2024-to-date are not available.

From CNN’s Daniel Dale

Attacking Biden’s handling of the economy, the Republican National Convention featured a video in which a narrator said, “America has reached the highest inflation in 40 years.”

Facts First: This claim is two years out of date. The year-over-year inflation rate in June 2022, about 9.1%, was indeed the highest since late 1981, between 40 and 41 years prior. But inflation has declined sharply since that Biden-era peak, and the most recent available rate, for June 2024, was about 3.0% – a rate that, the Biden presidency aside, was exceeded as recently as 2011.

From CNN’s Daniel Dale



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J.D. Vance’s Influence on Donald Trump – The New York Times

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J.D. Vance’s Strategy: Winning Over Donald Trump

In a surprising turn of events, J.D. Vance, the author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” has managed to win over former President Donald Trump. Despite previously criticizing Trump during the 2016 election, Vance has now aligned himself with the former president, even going as far as to hire former Trump campaign staffers to work on his own potential Senate campaign in Ohio.

This sudden change in allegiance has raised eyebrows among political analysts, who question Vance’s motives and principles. Many believe that Vance’s decision to cozy up to Trump is a strategic move to gain support from the former president’s loyal base, despite the fact that Vance has previously condemned Trump’s divisive rhetoric and policies.

The alliance between Vance and Trump highlights the power dynamics at play within the Republican Party, where loyalty to the former president seems to outweigh principles and values. This shift towards embracing Trump’s lies and misinformation poses a dangerous threat to democracy, as it normalizes dishonesty and undermines the trust in our political institutions. (Source: The New York Times)