Former President Donald Trump is littering his public remarks with fictional stories.
On Top of the totally fictional story of black immigrants eating their neighbors cats and dogs here are some more totally fictional stories Trump made up in the last month, does he believe these are real things that happened? or does he just not care at all if he lies making things up at will?
1 Harris and the military draft
At a rally in Las Vegas last week, TrumpĀ claimedĀ his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, is talking about forcing Americans to serve in the military: āSheās already talking about bringing back the draft. She wants to bring back the draft, and draft your child, and put them in a war that should never have happened.ā Thatās absolute bunk. Harris isĀ not talking at allĀ about bringing back the draft.
2 Harrisā CNN interview
TrumpĀ claimedĀ during a Fox News event in Pennsylvania in early September that Harris āhad notesā to assist her during the television interview she did with CNN in late August. He even performed an impression in which he portrayed Harris supposedly looking down at these notes. SheĀ didnāt actually have any notes.
3 Transgender children and schools
At an event held by a conservative group in late August, Trump claimed that schools are sending children for gender-affirming surgeries without their parentsā knowledge. HeĀ said, āThe transgender thing is incredible. Think of it. Your kid goes to school and comes home a few days later with an operation. The school decides whatās going to happen with your child.ā Trumpās campaign subsequently made clear to CNN that it couldĀ not find a single exampleĀ of such a thing having happened anywhere in the United States. Parental consent is required for gender-affirming operations; schools have not performed or approved these surgeries for minors behind their parentsā backs. Even after Trumpās campaign demonstrated that it couldnāt substantiate the story, heĀ repeated itĀ days later at a Wisconsin rally in early September.
4 Harris and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
TrumpĀ toldĀ a vivid story on Fox News in late August about how President Joe Biden supposedly sent Harris to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2022 in an effort to prevent an invasion of Ukraine. Trump claimed Harris was sent āto see Putin in Russia three days before the attack. She went. She said ā she gave her case. He attacked three days later. He attacked three days later. He laughed at her. He thought she was a joke.ā TrumpĀ also told a version of the story at the September debate. But this story, too, isĀ wholly false. Biden never sent Harris to negotiate with Putin ā in fact, the KremlinĀ said in JulyĀ that Harris and Putin have never spoken ā and Harris did not travel to Russia just prior to the invasion. Rather, HarrisĀ traveled to a conference in GermanyĀ to meet with US allies, includingĀ Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky.
5 Harrisā identity
TrumpĀ claimedĀ at a convention of Black journalists in late July that Harris used to āonlyā promote her Indian heritage, then āall of a suddenā made a āturnā and ābecame a Black person.ā Defending the claim, TrumpĀ reiteratedĀ at the September debate that Harris had āput outā at some point that āshe was not Black.ā None of that is true. Harris ā who wasĀ raised in a Black communityĀ andĀ graduated from a historically Black universityĀ ā has embraced her Black identityĀ since her youth. While she has also fondly discussed her South Asian heritage, she never āput outā that she wasnāt Black.
6 Harrisā 2020 primary performance
Trump hasĀ repeatedlyĀ claimedĀ during the last monthĀ thatĀ Harris was so unpopular when she previously ran for the presidency, in 2019, that she was the very first candidate to drop out of the crowded Democratic primary. āShe was one of 22 people that ran. She was the first one to quit,ā he said at a Pennsylvania rally in late August. Not even close. In fact, 13 other Democratic candidates dropped out of the race before Harris did ā includingĀ theĀ sittingĀ or former governors ofĀ Washington,Ā MontanaĀ andĀ Colorado; theĀ sittingĀ mayor of New York City;Ā andĀ sittingĀ orĀ formerĀ members of the House of Representatives andĀ Senate.
7 Opinions of Roe v. Wade
Facing heavy criticism from Harris and others for appointing three of the Supreme Court justices who overturned the Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision in 2022, Trump concocted a tale that thisĀ unpopularĀ decision fulfilled the wishes of āeverybodyā ā including āevery Democrat.ā āEvery Democrat, every Republican, everybody wanted Roe v. Wade terminated and brought back to the states,ā TrumpĀ saidĀ on Fox News in late August. This isĀ not even remotely accurate. Roe was consistently supported by a majority of the American public, and it was overwhelmingly popular among Democrats ā with 80% support or better among Democrats in many polls.
8 Elections in California
At a September press conference in California, TrumpĀ claimedĀ that āif I ran with an honest vote counter in California I would win California, but the votes are not counted honestly.ā He had delivered an even more colorful version of the claim in an interview in late August,Ā saying, āIf Jesus came down and was the vote counter, I would win California, okay?ā More rubbish. The votes are counted honestly in California, as they are in every other state; Trump loses California because it is an overwhelmingly Democratic state that has not chosen a Republican presidential candidate since 1988. He lost the state in 2020, fair and square, byĀ more five million votes and more than 29 percentage points.
9 A āMan of the Yearā award in Michigan
Since 2016, Trump has told a lie that he was named āMan of the Yearā in Michigan before he entered politics. Media outlets including CNN have repeatedly noted that Trump never got such an award and that the awardĀ doesnāt even appear to exist. But Trump claimed at a Michigan event on Tuesday that he has now been vindicated. āThe press said, āOh, it never happened.ā Well, then it did happen. They found out where it was,ā Trump said. āBut it was like 15 years ago, a beautiful area, but nobody remembered it; nobody remembered it all. All of a sudden, like through a miracle, they found out it did exist.ā Thatās a lie on top of a lie.Ā The media has not discovered proof that Trump got a Michigan Man of the Year award. His campaign didnāt respond Wednesday to a request to explain what he was talking about.
10 Migrants, prisons and āthe Congoā
For months, Trump has told a story about how āthe Congoā has deliberately emptied prisons to somehow get its criminals to come to the United States as migrants. āMany prisoners let go from the Congo in Africa, rough prisoners,ā heĀ saidĀ at an August event in Arizona. At an August rally in Pennsylvania the week after, heĀ said, āIn the Congo, in Africa: 22 people deposited into our country. āWhere do you come from?ā āThe Congo.ā āWhere in the Congo?ā āJail.āā But Trump has presented zero evidence that āthe Congoā has actually emptied any prisons for migration purposes. Representatives for the governments of both the Democratic Republic of Congo and the neighboring Republic of Congo haveĀ told CNNĀ on the record that the claim is fiction, experts on the two countries say they have seen no evidence it is true, and Trumpās campaign has ignored requests to offer any substantiation.
11 The jobs revision
After the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics announced in August that its annual revision of jobs dataĀ foundĀ that the economy added about 818,000 fewer jobs than initially reported for the 12 months ending in March, TrumpĀ told a storyĀ about how the government had been planning to announce this downward revision āafter November 5th,ā Election Day, but was forced to do so before the election because of āa whistleblowerā ā āa patriot leaker.ā Another fabrication. The Bureau of Labor StatisticsĀ regularly releasesĀ the preliminary revised data in August, and it hadĀ disclosedĀ the precise date of this particular data release ā August 21 ā weeks in advance. William Beach, a conservative economist who wasĀ appointed by TrumpĀ to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics,Ā wroteĀ on social media: āFor those who think the big revision to the BLS jobs numbers āleakedā and was meant to come out after the election, remember that BLS always announces its draft revisions in August and announced this yearās date, August 21, many months ago. It is important to check your facts.ā
