Donald Trump, the man leading the Republican presidential race, has never been a stickler for accuracy.
In fact, the business mogul delivered so many whoppers this year that PolitiFact, the Pulitzer-prize winning fact-checking service overseen by the editors of the Tampa Bay Times, didn’t even bother trying to find that one Trump lie for its annual “Lie of the Year” selection, and instead rolled them into one big trophy.
“It’s the trope on Trump: He’s authentic, a straight-talker, less scripted than traditional politicians. That’s because Donald Trump doesn’t let facts slow him down,” the publication wrote.
The former reality TV host stunned reporters during his presidential announcement earlier this year when he proclaimed that Mexico is sending its “rapists” and criminals into the country.
But while data on immigrants and crime are incomplete, a range of studies show there is no evidence immigrants commit more crimes than native-born Americans.
Even statements about the economy, arguably his strong-suit, have come into question.
In September, Trump declared that the unemployment rate could be as high as 42 percent. But even the highest alternative unemployment-rate measures were at 14.8 percent.
Despite his promise that his tax plan would “grow the American economy at a level that it hasn’t seen for decades,” experts say it would actually cost a staggering $12 trillion over 10 years.
In November, Trump angered “Black Lives Matter” activists when he tweeted a chart of racist and inaccurate crime statistics that essentially suggested African-Americans were responsible for a majority of violent crimes committed against white people in America.
But the FBI, which gathers official crime statistics for the U.S., said its latest numbers show 82 percent of murders involving white victims were actually committed by other white people.
During the Fox Business Republican presidential debate in November, Trump claimed he would be good at negotiating with Vladimir Putin, because the two were “stablemates” during a taping of “60 Minutes.”
But after a quick check, reporters found that Trump and Putin weren’t even in the same country at the time. “60 Minutes” host Charlie Rose traveled to Moscow for a two-hour interview with Putin while Scott Pelley interviewed Trump in his New York penthouse.
But perhaps Trump’s biggest lie this year, the one that had everyone talking, was his repeated claim that he saw “thousands” of people cheering in New Jersey after the September 11 attacks.
Not one news outlet could find a single story in their massive archives to corroborate Trump’s statement. But that didn’t stop Trump from doubling down on those claims in an interview with ABC’s “This Week,” telling George Stephanopoulos, “It was well covered at the time.”
You can watch TheWrap’s compilation of Trump’s biggest lies of 2015 in the video above. Also, watch Trump’s most outrageous insults of 2015 below.