No, President Trump hasn’t ‘done more by far’ than Obama to fight ISIS. The president has frequently repeated some variation of his claim that his administration,...
| |  | | Democracy Dies in Darkness | | | | | | | | | | The truth behind the rhetoric | | | | | | No, President Trump hasn't 'done more by far' than Obama to fight ISIS. The president has frequently repeated some variation of his claim that his administration, "has done more against ISIS in nine months than the previous administration [did] during its whole administration — by far, by far." His latest victory lap came after the fall of Raqqa, the group's de facto capital in Syria. The Islamic State reached its height of control in late 2014 when militants controlled an estimated 35,000 square miles of land. By the time Trump took office, their territory had fallen to 23,000 square miles; as of June of this year, the Islamic State's control shrunk to 14,000 square miles. The Trump administration has liberated land at a faster rate than the Obama administration, the White House says. But much of this territory is empty desert. The plans to retake the key cities of Mosul and Raqqa were developed and launched under Obama. Experts do credit Trump with some tactical shifts that may have stepped up the tempo, but the number of civilian deaths has soared as a result, according to official figures. Other metrics, such as air power, provide a better measure of an administration's effort, experts said. Under Trump, coalition forces have only flown 23 percent of the total sorties and dropped 36 percent of the air munitions used. A president taking credit for a successful outcome started by his predecessor is a time-honored tradition. That still does not make it right. Trump's braggadocio earns him Three Pinocchios. |  | | | Enjoy this newsletter? Forward it to someone else who'd like it! If this e-mail was forwarded to you, sign up here for the weekly newsletter. Hear something fact-checkable? Send it here, we'll check it out. The U.S. may have the largest reduction in carbon emissions but it is still the largest emitter EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt trotted out the United States' progress on carbon emissions saying, "we have reduced our CO2 footprint by over 18 percent, almost 20 percent, from 2000 to 2014." He continued saying the U.S. is leading "the world" where countries like China and India don't "have to take any steps with CO2 reductions until the year 2030." According to the EPA, since 2000 overall energy-related CO2 emissions have only fallen 7.5 percent. Pruitt is referring to the average per capita decrease instead of the overall decrease, without actually making that clear. With respect to China and India, Pruitt's compares their overall decreases in carbon emissions to per capita decreases in the United States. Stepping back and looking at the per capita production of carbon in all three countries, the United States produced more than double the emissions of China and eight times more than India. (The Fact Checker has previously awarded Pruitt Four Pinocchios for similar claims.) The United States may have had the largest per capita decrease in carbon emissions, but it is still one of the largest per capita emitters. Pruitt twists the data to bill the U.S. as a global leader in combating climate change — even as he's vocal about cutting emissions regulations. The EPA administrator's rhetoric earns him Three Pinocchios. |  | | | We're always looking for fact-check suggestions. You can also reach us via email, Twitter (@GlennKesslerWP, @mmkelly22, @nikki_lew or use #FactCheckThis), or Facebook (Fact Checker). Read about our rating scale here, and sign up here for our weekly Fact Checker newsletter. Scroll down for this week's Pinocchio roundup. –Meg Kelly | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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