Trump makes 6 false statements during his "social media summit"

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Trump spoke at length about what he had falsely suggested as a deliberate attempt by social media companies to prevent him from gaining subscribers, saying that "a lot of bad things were happening."

Trump said it took him a "small number of days" to win 100,000 new subscribers, but it now takes "10 times longer", though, he said, his personal brand is "much hotter" "That she was only gaining followers more quickly.

"People come to me:" Sir, we want to follow you; they do not leave us, "said Trump.He added later:" I have millions of people, so many people that I would not believe, but I know we've been stuck. People come up to me and say, "Sir, I can not have you, I can not follow you."

The facts first: There is no evidence that Twitter or other social media companies have made it difficult to follow Trump.

We obviously can not check what some people could have said in private to Trump to follow him on social networks, but the follow is not complicated: simply create an account, search his name and click on one button. .

If Trump does not win followers as quickly as before, it's because fewer people are now trying to follow him. (At the time of his speech, he had 61.9 million followers on Twitter.) He had less than 13 million a week before his election and less than 23 million at the time of his inauguration, according to Factba.se, who traces Trump related events, data.)

Last year, Twitter removed subscribers to Trump, but it was part of a large purge of alleged fake accounts. The purge has also removed followers from the accounts of many other famous people. Trump lost about 300,000 followers, much less than Barack Obama (more than 2 million) and the Dalai Lama (about 375,000), according to a New York Times count.

When Trump began accusing Twitter last year of malicious behavior during the purge, Twitter issued a statement stating that "many important accounts have seen the number of followers drop." He explained that he had removed "fake accounts and those who adopted malicious behavior" in order to improve the health of the service.

Female unemployment

Trump extolled the low unemployment rate for women by saying, "I think women, Kellyanne (Conway), are the best in 75 years – the best unemployment rate in 75 years."

The facts first: Trump has slightly exaggerated. Women's unemployment rate for June is 3.6%, a tick higher than 3.4% in April and 3.5% in May. These are excellent numbers, but it has been 66 years since the rate of women is as low as 75. Before the presidency of Trump, this rate had fallen to 3.6% in October 1953.

Census

While arguing that he should be allowed to include a citizenship issue in the US Census of 2020, Trump said the census survey could ask people about the number of beds and toilets they had but not on the fact that they are citizens or not.

"They go through the houses, they go up, they ring the bell, they talk to people, how many toilets do they have, how many offices do they have, how many beds, what is their roof made of?" Trump said. "The only thing we can not ask for, is" Are you a citizen of the United States? "

The facts first: Trump incorrectly suggests that the decennial census asks households how many toilets there are in a house. It could refer to additional Census Bureau surveys, which ask questions about the living conditions of a small sample of households. If so, he is always wrong, because these inquiries raise questions of citizenship.

The decennial census – which counts the US population every ten years and is governed by the Constitution – was administered for the last time in 2010. This census did not include questions about plumbing, bedrooms and bathrooms. offices. Instead, the decennial census focuses on issues such as age and race and the number of occupants in a household.

Trump could refer to other surveys sent by the Census Bureau, such as the American Community Survey, which are sent to only a fraction of households, or about 3.54 million addresses each year.

One of the main functions of the ACS, according to the Census Bureau, is to collect "data to determine the distribution of more than $ 675 billion in federal and state funds each year." The 2019 version of this survey includes questions about the education levels and employment status of people living on the property, as well as about computer access to the property, the number of bedrooms, access to hot and cold water and much more.

But the ACS also includes questions about citizenship. "Is this person a citizen of the United States?" this year's version asks. So, Trump is wrong to suggest that even though you can ask these more specific questions about living conditions, you can not ask about citizenship status.

On the details, Trump's argument lacks facts, and on its widest point, it's blatantly wrong: the decennial census has not asked about the number of bathrooms, bedrooms, etc.

401 (k) s

Trump touted a new record set by the Dow Jones Industrial Average and then said how much the 401 (k) retirement plans had gone up.

"I do not know if you know it, but we just hit 27,000 on the Dow … the highest in history, for those of you who like the stock market but the stock market means jobs.I consider it as jobs, and I consider it as 401 (k) s … And people with 401 (k) s, they are up 72% and 67%, and the wife or husband, whoever is responsible, the other says a genius, you are an excellent financial investor, darling, you are up 77% this year. "

The facts first: These percentages overestimate the gains on the US stock markets.

It is possible that some people have 401 (k) s that are up 77% over the year or since Trump was elected, but the stock markets themselves are not as up. At the close of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 16%, the S & P 500 20% and the Nasdaq 24%.

The gains are greater if you return to Trump's polling day, as the president often does: 48% for the Dow, 40% for the S & P, 58% for the Nasdaq. Yet none of them reaches 77%.

Crowd, first part

Trump asserted that there were thousands of people outside his June campaign launch meeting in Orlando, in addition to the large crowd inside.

"We had some kind of opening rally in Orlando, Florida, we had 109,000, maybe more, who wanted to come in. We were doing everything we could to keep people from coming. We had a stadium with 21,000 seats, then on the basketball court there was a lot more than that, it was packed, and we had a similar number on the outside. "

The facts first: There was nowhere near 21,000 people outside the rally while Trump was talking. And the arena had a capacity of 20,000 people that night, not much more than 21,000 people.

The Orlando Sentinel, who refuted a previous version of Trump's statement about the crowd "on the outside," indicated that the overflow area outside Amway's center was "practically empty," said Trump, with only "a few dozen people in the detention area." The newspaper reported: "About an hour before the president's speech, the long lines around Amway were gone and people could easily get to the salon until the start of the rally."

The city of Orlando, owner of the arena, has published an official account of 19,792 people, a figure barely below the 20,000 announced by a spokesman for the city, reportedly reported the Sentinel.

Trump also incorrectly claimed that tens of thousands of people were stuck on the margins of various other campaign events, many of which had already been debunked.

Trump then looked at the number of people present when Joe Biden announced his candidacy earlier this year.

Crowd, Part 2

"You look at Biden, they say he had 600 people, it was not 600, it was 150. It was 150."

The facts first: Independent observers reported that Joe Biden had actually welcomed 600 people during his first public event after announcing his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the presidency.

The Atlantic said that reporters occupied 100 of the 600 positions in a union hall in Pittsburgh, but that it is still 500 non-journalists and not 150.

Democrats and the border wall

Trump accused Democrats of hypocrisy for their opposition to the border wall project.

"For example, on the wall: Chuck Schumer was totally in favor of a wall, is not it Liz (Cheney)? Totally in favor. Everyone: Hillary, everyone. They were all in favor of a wall a few years ago. "

The facts first: Some Democrats, not all, voted in 2006 to approve a fence that, according to Trump himself, was very different from the wall he wanted.

This is not true that "everyone" of the Democratic Party has even supported this closure. Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi voted against. In the Senate, 26 Democrats (including Schumer and Clinton) voted yes, 17 voted no.

The law, called the Secure Fence Act, was to authorize a 700-kilometer fence at the Mexican border. Trump himself declared during the 2016 campaign that this fence was not comparable to the giant concrete wall that he proposed: "It was such a small wall, it was such a wall, "he told Fox News.

This story has been updated.

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