I have seen or read transcripts of every Trump speech since late 2016. I have listed thousands and thousands of his false claims.
I have never seen him lie more thoroughly and so badly than he did at the White House on Thursday evening.
Here is a solution:
Election theft?
Trump accused his unnamed opponents of “trying to steal an election” and “trying to prevent an election.”
Facts first: This is completely unsubstantiated. This is the electoral system. Trump’s opponents did not try to steal it. Election officials are counting the votes legally cast.
Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia
Trump said he had “won” the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia, citing his substantial early tracks in the vote count there.
Facts first: This is incorrect. Taking the lead before all the votes are counted is not obviously a win – according to CNN predictions Trump has lost Wisconsin and Michigan. During his speech, he was also in trouble in Pennsylvania as votes were counted from democratically-leaning areas, and his margin in Georgia continued to decline rapidly.
Mail-in voting
Trump called the mail-in vote “a corrupt system” and later said that “the biggest corruption and fraud is going on.”
The fairness of the number, Part 1
Trump began his speech by saying, “If you count the legal votes, I will win easily. If you count the illegal votes, they may try to steal the election from us.”
Facts first: This is wrong again. Trump was on the verge of defeat as the legal vote continued to be counted. There is no basis for his view that “illegal votes” are counted, and of course such votes are not the reason he is in trouble for voting.
The fairness of numbers, Part 2
Trump said, “We won a lot of important places everywhere, and our numbers started to miraculously go out. …” He added, “They want to find out how many votes they need, and then they know they can find them. Will find … “
Facts first: There is no basis for Trump’s notion that any bad deeds have narrowed down some of his means or that someone is manipulating the turnout. In some states his tracks have shrunk because absolutely formal postal votes were counted. As more Democrats chose to vote by mail than Republicans, the order of the number of these states lost Trump over time.
In other states, such as Florida, where postal votes were counted earlier than individual votes, Trump actually progressed overall over time – as in Arizona, he was too close to call at the time he spoke.
The fairness of numbers, part 3
Trump said, “In many swing states, counting was stopped for hours on election night, the results were suspended from key locations run by Democrats, and only then appeared. And they certainly appeared, all of which had the name Biden, or almost everything, I think, all of them.” It’s a bit weird, it’s Biden’s.
Facts first: Trump’s novelty is unsubstantiated. Different states counted their votes at different speeds, but there is no basis for saying that the results were undoubtedly “suspended” – some districts and states always take a while to count and report – or that there was something dubious about Python’s dominance in some states later in the count. Again, Biden’s gains were the result of a formal postal vote count.
It is not true that the “all” or “almost all” postal votes counted on Wednesdays or Thursdays are for Biden. Biden handled Trump on these ballots, but Trump received tens of thousands of votes from postal voters in places like Pennsylvania and Michigan.
The fairness of numbers, part 4
“It’s amazing that those mail-in ballots are unilateral,” Trump said.
Facts first: There is no doubt that more Biden voters chose to vote by mail than Trump voters: Biden encouraged his supporters to do so, while Trump relentlessly denigrated post-voting as fraudulent and unsafe.
Democrats and Number
“Only a handful of states have yet to decide on a presidential race. The voting machine in those states is run by Democrats in all cases,” Trump said. He later added that “the electoral machine in Georgia is run by Democrats.”
Facts first: This is incorrect. Georgia’s top election official, Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger, is a Republican. Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Chekhovsky was no exception, and the race was close at the time.
There is no evidence that Democratic election officials in other states have done anything wrong. Only local districts actually count the votes.
Votes and Election Day?
Trump declared that “no illegal voting” should be allowed after election day, suggesting that such illegal voting was taking place.
Facts first: Not voted after election day; Votes are counted after election day as usual. Some states accept postal votes received after election day if postmarked after or before election day.
“Unsolicited” ballots
Trump said states have sent tens of thousands of “unsolicited” votes without any verification. He mentions the states that sent a ballot without the need for a specific request for each eligible registered voter.
Detroit and Philadelphia
“Detroit and Philadelphia, known as the two worst political places anywhere in our country, cannot easily be held responsible for engineering the outcome of a presidential race, the most important presidential race,” Trump said.
Facts first: There is no basis for Trump’s assertion that Detroit and Philadelphia made no mistake in this election, much less that they are “decision engineering”. Their local districts were counting votes just like any other local district.
Election observers in Detroit
“Our campaign has been denied permission to observe any numbers in Detroit,” Trump said.
Greer said he saw two people being kicked out, one a Republican who refused to wear a mask over his nose and an undecided contact for causing trouble while wearing a Halloween mask. But none of Trump’s observers are allowed.
Closed windows
Trump said, “A major center for counting ballots in Detroit had windows covered again with large cardboard cards, so they wanted to protect and prevent the counting area. No one wanted to see the numbers, even if they were spectators who were supposed to be there.”
Facts first: This is false: Republican referendum challenges were already inside the facility in Detroit when some windows were closed Wednesday after additional Republicans arrived at the scene.
Garcia said in a statement: “Some – but not all – windows were closed because polling workers sitting outside the center were concerned about photography and their work. Hundreds of challenges from both parties were on the Central Counting Board throughout the afternoon and evening; dozens of reporters were in the room at all times, and those outside the center could be seen further away from counting board workspaces through the windows. “
A pipeline explodes in Georgia
“In Georgia, a pipe exploded in a remote area completely unrelated to the location of what was happening, and they stopped counting for four hours,” Trump said.
The issue caused a four-hour delay. Officials said none of the ballots were damaged.
The fairness of the referendum
Trump offered some reasonable criticism of the erroneous nature of the referendum. But he said he was trying to “suppress” his supporters, saying “pollsters deliberately misunderstood it.”
Facts first: This is unsubstantiated. Trump was right that some polls had deviated, but there was no evidence that opinion polls had tried to be wrong – to themselves considerable public embarrassment.
The position of the Senate
Trump said, “We had the Senate twice as many seats as the Democrats.”
Facts first: It was unclear at the time whether Republicans would hold the Senate – because one race in Georgia was going to the polls in January, and other Georgia races could go to the polls. (Some additional Senate races in other states, in which Republicans took the lead, have not yet been called by the media.)
CNN’s Tara Subramaniam contributed to this article.
