Amid sweltering temperatures in front of an audience that was visibly exhausted by the heat and humidity, Donald Trump delivered a meandering, 70-minute acceptance speech on the last night of the 2020 Republican National Convention. And as is frequently the case with Trump’s public remarks, it was riddled with factually untrue assertions.
The speech, like much of the convention a wholly unprecedented violation of norms and several laws, was held on the south lawn of the White House to an audience of hundreds of people. Throughout, Trump did things like accuse Democrats of outright treason, and repeat claims about the coronavirus pandemic that have been debunked as recently as this week.
Almost immediately after it was over, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow cut in to give a rapid-fire series of corrections on as much as she could fit in before a panel discussion. Rather than belabor the point, we’ll just list them for you here:
“There are not any approved, effective life-saving therapies for coronavirus right now. There’s a lot of hope, but there is no proven efficacy for convalescent plasma for any other therapy despite what the President said tonight.”
“We also don’t have the best testing system in the world. We have a disastrously failed testing system. We also have, bluntly, the largest and deadliest coronavirus epidemic in the entire world. We have 4% of the world’s population, and 25% of the world’s deaths. When the President said tonight we have pioneered the fatality rate, he said that wrong. He was blundering there but he might have been correct in that blunder.”
“Joe Biden does not support abortion at the time of birth.”
“The New York Police Department has not endorsed Donald Trump’s reelection.”
“There have not been 300 new miles of wall built. According to Homeland Security, his Homeland Security Department, this summer it was more like three miles of wall built.”
“It was Barack Obama who signed the Veteran’s Choice Act.”
“Our troops are not coming home. There are more US troops overseas now than when he took office. He has not ended any of these wars that he supposedly vowed to end.”
“Joe Biden has not promised to abolish the production of energy in the United States.”
“Joe Biden will not bulldoze the suburbs.”
“This talk about pre-existing conditions in terms of whether or not people can get healthcare, the Republican Party and the Trump administration explicitly is in court right now fighting to abolish the protections for people with pre-existing conditions that were part of the Affordable Care Act. That’s gonna be in front of the Supreme Court exactly one week after the election on Nov. 10th. They are fighting to abolish protections for people with pre-existing conditions.”
“Also last but not least, the president said tonight that ‘for those of you who still drive, have you looked at your gasoline bill? Have you noticed how low it is?’ For those of us who actually drive, you don’t get a bill for your gasoline. That’s not how it works, nobody mails you a bill.
That looks like a lot, but Maddow’s fact check didn’t even scratch the surface. See for yourself here. And watch the whole clip at the top of the page, or below:
Update: Apollo 11 data confirms it was 6 million pounds. Trump’s statement about this was factually correct.
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