Fact or Fiction: Sept. 16, 2024

Every day, blatant lies are told by politicians, spread on social media and retold by so-called “news” networks – and too often these lies go unchecked.

Arguably, this has led to Americans in 2024 being the most purposefully misled population in U.S. history. After all, it’s impossible to know every relevant fact off the top of our heads, meanwhile the age of social media has made it easier than ever to spread lies.

So, in an effort to combat this epidemic of misinformation, here is a list of false and/or misleading claims both sides of the political spectrum have made this election cycle:

Misleading Claim: “We didn’t lose one person in 18 months. And then they took over that disaster, the withdrawal of Afghanistan.”

Claim made by:

Donald Trump and the Trump campaign.

Context:

Following a visit by Donald Trump to Arlington National Cemetery, a campaign video was posted to social media claiming there were zero American deaths in Afghanistan for the 18 months before Joe Biden took office. That video has been viewed nearly 12 million times.

Trump himself has also repeated the claim several times in his rally speeches. At a rally in North Carolina on August 21, Trump said, “We had no soldiers killed for 18 months while I was there because they knew – don’t play around with our soldiers.”

The Truth:

In the 18 months before Biden took office, 12 American military personnel lost their lives in Afghanistan due to hostile actions. The last two Americans who died under the Trump administration were killed on February 8, 2020.

Following those two deaths, 18 months passed before any other fatalities occurred due to a hostile act, then 13 Americans were killed by a suicide bomber during the U.S. Military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan – this is likely where Trump got the figure of 18 months from.

However, 11 of those months were under the Trump administration, while seven were under the Biden administration.

Sources:

• Pew Research Center

• U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Casualty

Analysis System

• The Washington Post

Misleading Claim: “And all the while he intends to enact what, in effect, is a national sales tax? Call it a Trump tax that would raise prices on middle class families by almost $4,000 a year.”

Claim made by:

Kamala Harris

Context:

This statement is directly from the speech Kamala Harris made at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday, Aug. 22, and she has made similar statements at several rally speeches since.

The Truth:

In this statement, Harris is referring to Trump’s plan to increase tariffs, not an actual sales tax. The $4,000 per family figure she uses comes from an estimate of what his tariff plans would cost everyday Americans.

However, that estimate comes from a left-leaning group that supports Harris for President, called the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

Economists do expect tariff increases to cause higher prices, but the estimate Harris refers to is on the high side.

Trump’s tariff increases during his first term were kept in place by Biden, who also added additional tariffs on China regarding electric vehicles. On average, those Trump–Biden tariffs are estimated by the Tax Foundation to have amounted to an annual tax increase on U.S. households of $625.

Trump is now promising to increase tariffs even more in a second term, and estimates vary on how much those tariffs would impact consumers.

Sources:

• TaxFoundation.org

• NPR.org

• The Washington Post

Misleading Claim: As Vice President, Kamala Harris “crippled domestic oil & gas production, driving gas prices up over 30%”

Claim made by:

The Trump Campaign

Context:

This message has been repeatedly spread on fliers from the Trump Campaign in the mailboxes of swing state voters, and similar versions of this statement have been made on social media.

The Truth:

In 2023, the United States of America produced more crude oil than any nation has ever produced in the history of the world, at 12.9 million barrels per day. This broke the previous record set under Trump’s administration in 2019 of 12.3 million.

Additionally, 2023 marked the sixth year in a row that the U.S. has led the world in oil production. The U.S. is also energy independent under the Biden-Harris administration, as it was under the Trump administration (since 2019).

And according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2024 is looking like it could be even more productive, with the U.S. having produced more barrels per day in five of the first six months of 2024, than during the same period in 2023.

Simply put, the crude oil industry in America has never been more productive, so to say Harris “crippled” domestic oil production is frankly absurd.

Meanwhile, fuel prices were unusually low when Trump left office due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which shut down economies and travel around the world. With demand for fuel suddenly at an all-time low, oil companies began to decrease their production. Then, demand for fuel soared when economies re-opened, and it took time for oil companies to increase production again – leading to higher gasoline prices around the world. The war in Ukraine also increased fuel prices considerably in 2022 as heavy sanctions were levied against Russia, a major oil-producing country.

U.S. presidents are often given too much credit for the price of fuel, whether they’re high or low. Those prices are largely impacted by the price of crude oil, which is set on global markets and largely based on worldwide supply and demand.

Therefore, it’s inaccurate to say the vice president is at fault for the global increase in fuel prices since 2020, just as it’s inaccurate to blame Trump for the massive job losses America suffered in 2020.

Sources:

• Factcheck.org

• U.S. Energy Information Administration

• The Washington Post

 Editor's Note: This column was created and written before the presidential debate on Tuesday, Sept. 10, during which several more lies were told by both candidates.

If you have feedback about this column or would like us to fact check any other statements made by politicians at the national or state level send your comments or questions to us by email at [email protected].