BY MELISSA GOLDIN
President Donald Trump stepped again into the presidency this week shifting shortly to set a brand new agenda, however from his inaugural deal with persevering with by means of a flurry of govt actions, press conferences and interviews Trump relied on an array of false and deceptive data to assist his case.
Right here’s a better have a look at the information.
Trump misrepresents election outcomes
CLAIM: Chatting with attendees on the World Financial Discussion board in Davos on Thursday, Trump mentioned he received by tens of millions of votes within the 2024 election, which gave him “a massive mandate from the American people, like hasn’t been seen in many years.”
THE FACTS: Trump’s margin of victory within the 2024 election was not as giant as he makes it appear. He received the electoral vote 312 to 226, together with all seven swing states. The favored vote, nonetheless, was far nearer, with Trump receiving 49.9% of the vote with 77,303,573 votes solid to Harris’ 75,019,257 votes (48.4%), based on AP Vote Solid. That’s a distinction of two,284,316 votes. In 2020, Joe Biden defeated Trump by greater than 7 million votes.
THE FACTS: That’s false. Former Vice President Kamala Harris received the 18 to 29 age group by 4 proportion factors, 51% to 47%; and the 30 to 44 age group 50% to 47%, based on AP VoteCast, a survey of greater than 120,000 voters within the November election.
Trump received voters over 45 towards Harris, with 52% supporting him. Barely fewer than half, 47%, voted for Harris.
Like all surveys, AP VoteCast outcomes aren’t an official rely of how younger folks voted, as a substitute offering an estimate that’s topic to sampling error. Nonetheless, different survey estimates additionally present no sign that helps Trump’s claims.
California water insurance policies misrepresented round wildfires
THE FACTS: About 40 p.c of Los Angeles metropolis water comes from state-controlled initiatives linked to northern California, the place the Delta smelt fish stay, and the state has restricted the water it delivers this 12 months. But the southern California reservoirs these canals assist feed are at above-average ranges for this time of 12 months.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has sufficient water in storage to satisfy roughly three years of water demand, mentioned Deven Upadhyay, the company’s interim basic supervisor.
“We can deliver what our agencies need,” he mentioned.
Some fireplace hydrants in Los Angeles ran dry in early efforts to battle the fires, prompting a swirl of criticism on social media, together with from Trump.
However state water provides are to not blame for hydrants operating dry and a key reservoir close to Pacific Palisades that was not stuffed. The issue with the hydrants was that they have been overstressed, and the Santa Ynez Reservoir was empty as a result of it was present process upkeep.
Two complicated programs of dams and canals channel rain and snowmelt from the mountains in northern California and route it south. Each transport water by means of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, an estuary that gives crucial habitat to fish and wildlife together with salmon and the delta smelt.
The delta connects inland waterways to the Pacific, and preserving a certain quantity of water flowing by means of helps assist fish populations and the waterway itself.
Jan. 6 assaults on police downplayed
CLAIM: Requested by Hannity why he pardoned Jan. 6 rioters who attacked police on the Capitol, Trump mentioned, “They were treated like the worst criminals in history. And you know what they were there for? They were protesting the vote because they knew the election was rigged and they were protesting the vote.” He famous that a few of the rioters engaged with police, “but they were very minor incidents.”
THE FACTS: Rioters on the Capitol engaged in hand-to-hand fight with police and most of the rioters have been carrying weapons, together with firearms, knives, brass knuckle gloves, a pitchfork, a hatchet, a sledgehammer and a bow. Additionally they used makeshift weapons, reminiscent of flagpoles, a desk leg, a hockey stick and a crutch, to assault officers. One officer was crushed in a doorframe and one other suffered a coronary heart assault after a rioter pressed a stun gun towards his neck and repeatedly shocked him. One rioter was charged with climbing scaffolding and firing a gun within the air in the course of the melee.
The rioters broke by means of home windows and doorways, ransacking the Capitol and briefly occupying the Senate chamber. Senators had evacuated minutes earlier. Additionally they tried to interrupt into the Home chamber, breaking glass home windows and beating on the doorways. However police held them off with weapons drawn.
About 1,100 of the rioters had been sentenced, with roughly two-thirds of them receiving a time period of imprisonment starting from a couple of days to 22 years, earlier than Trump on Tuesday pardoned, commuted the jail sentences or vowed to dismiss the instances of all of the 1,500-plus folks charged with crimes within the riot. Roughly one-quarter had been charged with assault or bodily violence.
It’s true, nonetheless, that a whole bunch of people that went into the Capitol however didn’t assault police or injury the constructing have been charged solely with misdemeanors.
Inflated immigration numbers
CLAIM: Trump mentioned throughout his interview with Hannity that it “was a gross miscarriage of common sense” to let 21 million enter the U.S. illegally.
THE FACTS: That determine is very inflated. U.S. Customs and Border Safety stories greater than 10.8 million arrests for unlawful crossings from Mexico from January 2021 by means of December 2024.
That’s arrests, not folks. Underneath pandemic-era asylum restrictions, many individuals crossed greater than as soon as till they succeeded as a result of there have been no authorized penalties for getting turned again to Mexico. So the variety of folks is decrease than the variety of arrests.
Based on the Division of Homeland Safety’s newest accessible estimate, no less than 11 million folks have been dwelling illegally within the U.S. as of January 2022, 79% of whom entered earlier than January 2010.
FEMA didn’t finish non permanent housing help for Helene survivors
CLAIM: “The government wouldn’t do it any longer, which is ridiculous,” Trump mentioned throughout a go to to North Carolina on Friday, referencing non permanent housing in motels offered to survivors of Hurricane Helene by the Federal Emergency Administration Company.
THE FACTS: FEMA remains to be paying for survivors to remain quickly in motels by means of its Transitional Sheltering Help program.
“I want to be clear, this program is not ending for Western North Carolina,” Brett Howard, federal coordinating officer, mentioned in a press release on Monday. “We understand the great need survivors have at the time and this program will last as long as necessary.”
The company critiques the eligibility of households in this system each two weeks to make sure they nonetheless meet the necessities for receiving non permanent housing in motels. Households deemed ineligible can petition the choice.
As a part of its most up-to-date evaluation, FEMA discovered that out of two,700 households it checked in on, roughly 740 have been not eligible for the Momentary Sheltering Help program, based on Monday’s assertion.
Survivors are actually given three weeks discover earlier than they need to try of their resort room, quite than seven days, “due to the extenuating circumstances in Western North Carolina,” the assertion reads.
“The length of eligibility for an individual survivor will be based on their individual circumstances,” Howard added. “FEMA staff are working daily with survivors and on their cases to help them find permanent housing solutions.”
