The presidential election race ends Tuesday, so we wrote a roundup of more than 20 claims made by Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump in speeches in the past week intended to deliver their final arguments. Neck and neck in the polls, both pitch the election as a stark choice with consequences that will last generations.
In rally speeches that can last 60 minutes or more, Trump repeats many of his favored debunked claims. Using dark and vulgarrhetoric, he stirs fears over immigration, the state of the economy and what he calls the "enemy from within" — Democrats,among others. Trump's speeches often feature outlandish promises — that he will pay down the national debt and that he will cut energy prices in half in one year. He also makes claims that are speculative, such as that Russia neverwould have invaded Ukraine or that Hamas never would have attacked Israel if he had been reelected president in 2020.
Harris's speeches, before crowds as big or larger than Trump's, are shorter, with a heavy emphasis on three key themes — her conviction that Trump is dangerous and unfit for office, her belief that nationwide abortion rights must be restored and her pitch for an "opportunity society." Rather than makegrandiose promises, she highlights ideas, such as building 3 million new houses or allowing Medicare to pay for home care. She casts Trump as a danger but also belittles him, saying that "for the life of him, he cannot finish a thought. And he has called it the 'weave.' But I think we here would call it nonsense." Her speeches have a sprinkling of false or misleading claimscompared to Trump's avalanche.
To read the complete report, please click the link below.
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No, Biden didn't authorize military lethal force against protesters
The fever swamps of right-wing social media are spreading a conspiracy theory that the Biden administration just approved a directive that would allow the military to kill protesters.Robert F.KennedyJr., who has endorsed Trump, latched onto this falsehood in a social media post that criticized Harris for spreading the "inflammatory poison" that Trump (as reported by the Atlantic) allegedly said he wanted the kind of generals Adolf Hitler had.
Kennedy posted on X: "It's particularly ironic since Biden/Harris have just pushed through DOD Directive 5240.01 giving the Pentagon power — for the first time in history — to use lethal force to kill Americans on U.S. soil who protest government policies."
Kennedy's post earned about 10 million views. He didn't respond to a request for comment, but here's what we learned: Little has changed. This is mostly bureaucratic housekeeping.
To read the full fact check and learn the Pinocchio rating, click the link below.
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