Trump's many mangled comments on tradeListening to President Trump talk about trade can be a disorienting experience, so we wanted to give readers a field guide to some of the...
| |  | | Democracy Dies in Darkness | | | | | | | | | | The truth behind the rhetoric | | | | | | Trump's many mangled comments on trade Listening to President Trump talk about trade can be a disorienting experience, so we wanted to give readers a field guide to some of the tortured claims in Trump's repertoire. The president tends to get worked up over the fact that the United States has a trade deficit with some countries. But he incorrectly argues, again and again, that the United States is "losing money" as a result. We are going to keep explaining this until we are blue in the face but countries do not "lose" money on trade deficits. What is actually happening is U.S. consumers are choosing to buy more from some countries than U.S. businesses are selling in those countries. Alas, Trump makes faulty trade claims so often they appear to be catching on in the White House. We also fact-checked one of his trade advisers, Peter Navarro, who claimed that the United States has the lowest trade barriers in the world. They're not as low as he suggests. |  | | 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. | | Facts and fears in the net neutrality debate Imagine the Internet slowing down so much, you're forced to read this newsletter one word at a time and then wait a few hours for the cat GIFs to load. This dreary, GIF-less world could become reality if the FCC proceeds with its plan to roll back net neutrality rules imposed under President Barack Obama, according to Senate Democrats and other advocates. We took a look at these claims and found them to be overheated. Companies like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon have the ability and the incentive to start slowing down traffic or charging more for faster speeds. But they have no plans to do so. For now, there's scant evidence that slower speeds are on the way as a result of the new FCC rules. So the Democrats earned Three Pinocchios. | | | A sequel to our note about the cat GIFs: We made a splash last week with a note addressing the "Cat GIF Situation." To recap, we get emails every week both in favor and against the cat GIFs. But we had been silent on this controversy — this 800-pound cat in the room — for years. Well, it turns out readers are not as divided as we thought over our friendly pixelated felines. We're pleased to report that the verdict in our email inbox was 24-2 in favor of the cat GIFs. (We didn't even ask readers to vote, but that's the power of democracy.) "The cat GIFs give us something to smile about," one reader wrote. "To soften the blow, if you will." Another wrote, "They help lower my hackles as I read the emails." On the other paw, one reader wrote, "I find them distracting when I'm trying to read and have to scroll so that they are off the screen." The other cat detractor wrote to us in pig latin, "Ix-nay on the ats-cay. But enjoy Fact Checker immensely!" | | Scroll down for this week's Pinocchio roundup. —Salvador Rizzo | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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