Fact-checking Trump’s CPAC speech The former president made false claims about windmills, the withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the murder rate in New York.
In a speech that he delivered on Saturday night at the Conservative Political Action Conference, former President Donald J. Trump brought back old lies and discussed the same topics.
Here are some of his claims checked for accuracy.
Sir, what? “Killings are taking place at a number like nobody’s ever seen, right in Manhattan,” TRUMP reportedly stated.
False. From 488 homicides in 2021 to 433 homicides in 2017, the number of homicides in New York decreased by approximately 11%. The city’s Police Department reported that it was the lowest level since 2019. This year, there were 30 murders in January, down from 31 in January 2022, and 26 in February, down from 36 in February 2022.
These figures also pale in comparison to the apex of New York’s criminal activity in the 1980s and 1990s, when Mr. Trump was a prominent figure in the city and it regularly recorded over 1,500 homicides per year. 2,245 homicides marked the peak in 1990.
Sir, what? TRUMP SAID
“We lost $85 billion worth of the best military hardware on the planet.”
This is overblown. After the United States withdrew all of its troops from Afghanistan in August, Mr. Trump overstated the value of military equipment seized by the Taliban.
From October 2001 to July 2021, the United States spent approximately $75 billion on Afghan security, according to quarterly Pentagon reports to Congress. That sum includes $18 billion for equipment and the amount spent on training, efforts to combat drug trafficking, and infrastructure. The majority of the $75 billion actually went toward “sustainability,” which includes things like salaries, communications, and vehicle gas.
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According to reports from CNN and other news outlets, the United States left behind approximately $7 billion worth of military equipment.
Sir, what? This is exaggerated when Trump stated, “They want windmills all over the place that ruin our fields, kill our birds, are very unreliable, and are the most expensive energy ever developed.” Although Mr. Trump has long been a vocal opponent of wind turbines, his complaints are exaggerated.
One estimate says that 328,000 birds die every year when they fly into wind farms. However, other things, both living and inanimate, pose a much greater threat. In the United States, cats kill up to four billion birds each year, fossil fuel power plants kill 14.5 million, and bird collisions with buildings kill up to 988 million.
The cost of wind power and other renewable energy sources is going down.
By 2027, the Energy Information Administration predicted that onshore wind would cost approximately $30 per megawatt-hour, which is less than the $52 for coal, $61 for nuclear, $41 for biomass, and $47 for hydroelectric power. It will continue to be more expensive than geothermal, solar, and natural gas generation.
OTHER CLAIMS Mr. Trump also reiterated a number of other claims that The New York Times had fact-checked previously:
Mr. Trump made an incorrect claim that he had “shut down” illegal border crossings. During the pandemic, the number decreased, but in the final months of his presidency, it began to rise again.)
“No other president had ever gotten anything from China, not even 10 cents,” he erroneously stated. The United States of America earned between $8 billion and $14 billion annually from duties on Chinese imports in the ten years prior to Mr. Trump’s election.)
He said that members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization were “delinquent” on payments, which was false. Bills are paid by each member nation.)
Before bringing it up as a problem and putting an end to its construction, he erroneously claimed that “no one ever heard of” the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The project was opposed by all of his predecessors.)
He said in error that the Obama administration had only given Ukraine “blankets.” It provided Ukraine with security assistance worth more than $600 million.)
He erroneously stated that he had “completed” constructing a wall along the southern border. It is still incomplete.)
He asserted that he was in charge of the “best economy in history.” Even before the coronavirus pandemic decimated the economy, Mr. Trump’s average growth was lower than that of Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan.)
