In between the vague rhetoric about making America great again during an economic policy speech on Tuesday, Donald Trump seems to have made quite a few factual errors — many of which correspondent Desi Lydic blew up on Wednesday’s The Daily Show.
"It’s time once again to fact check Donald Trump," Lydic said. "And now that I’ve had a Xanax and half a bottle of rosé, I am ready."
Here are the errors Lydic found:
- Trump claimed America is "one of the highest-taxed nations in the world." But as Lydic pointed out, "Of the world’s 34 developed economies, only three have lower taxes than America." She added, "He’s trying to sell people on something that’s totally bullshit. That’s why I give this claim one Trump University."
- Trump argued, "Our Founding Fathers understood trade much better than our current politicians. Believe me." But as Lydic pointed out, the Founding Fathers lived in a world in which trade wasn’t nearly as complicated as it is now — thanks to the Industrial Revolution, the development of much faster modes of travel and communication, and globalization. "If you have to say ‘believe me’ after every sentence, something tells me I shouldn’t believe you," Lydic quipped.
- Trump claimed, "Hillary Clinton was totally for the TPP just a short while ago. But when she saw my stance — which is totally against — she was shamed into saying she would be against it too." But Lydic said, "This one is partly true. Hillary Clinton was shamed into disavowing the TPP. But the person who shamed her wasn’t Trump. The real credit goes to Bernie Sanders. … Hillary changed her position when Bernie started challenging her from the left."
- Trump said, "I am going to withdraw the United Strates [sic] from the Trans-Pacific Partnership." To which Lydic joked, "That is false. You want to be president of the United States, not the United Strates."
- Trump claimed, "I said [Brexit] was going to happen, I felt it." But as Lydic pointed out, on June 22, just one day before the vote, Trump told Fox News, "I don't think anybody should listen to me because I haven't really focused on it very much, but my inclination would be to get out, because you know, just go it alone. … Getting out or staying in makes no difference to me. It doesn't have any impact on me; I’m just saying my inclination would be. And I also tell people, don’t go with the recommendation, because it’s a recommendation that I make. But that’s where I stand." (Trump apparently didn’t even know what Brexit was some weeks before the vote.)
"There was one part of what he said that really resonated," Lydic said, replaying one part of Trump’s comments: "I don’t think that anybody should listen to me." "Yeah," Lydic remarked, "that part is 100 percent true. Believe me."
