Fact Checking Trump - Harris Debate

Published on 17 September 2024 at 13:48

The September 10, 2024 Trump - Harris debate on ABC covered topics such as the economy, crime, immigration, health care, abortion, and the 2020 election results. Since politicians miss-state facts, make things up, and take statistics out of context, I searched the internet for articles that fact checked statements by both candidates during the debate.  This blog post provides 5 such articles.

 

After the debate, Republicans and conservative news channels complained that the moderators unfairly only fact checked Trump.  Moderators performed simple fact checks on 3 Trump statements during the debate. However, the immediate fact checks were performed due to the outrageousness of Trump's statements. The two of the outrageous statements included:

 

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating, they’re eating the pets,”

--- According to Karen Graves, Springfield Strategic Engagement Manager, “In response to recent rumors alleging criminal activity by the immigrant population in our city, we wish to clarify that there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community. Additionally, there have been no verified instances of immigrants engaging in illegal activities such as squatting or littering in front of residents’ homes. Furthermore, no reports have been made regarding members of the immigrant community deliberately disrupting traffic.”

 

“[Harris’s] vice presidential pick says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine. He also says execution after birth – it’s execution, no longer abortion because the baby is born – is OK,” Trump said.

--- Infanticide (homicide) is illegal in all 50 states.

 

Trump also maintained that he won the 2020 presidential election because he received 75 million votes. However, Biden won 81 million votes and the electoral college (306 to 232).

 

Since the debate, I searched both respectable news sites and fact check sites to provide a fairly comprehensive analysis of false, misleading, lacking context, and true statements made by each candidate during the debate.

 

Below are fact check articles from 5 sites.  The most comprehensive debate reviews were performed by FactCheck.org and The New York Times.

 

Article Citations:

"Fact-checking Kamala Harris and Donald Trump's 1st presidential debate"

ABC News online

By: Leah Sarnoff and Cooper Burton

September 11, 2024, 7:08 AM

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fact-checking-kamala-harris-donald-trumps-1st-presidential/story?id=113567997

 

"Fact Checking the Harris-Trump Debate"

FactCheck.org (A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center)

By Eugene Kiely, Robert Farley, D'Angelo Gore, Lori Robertson, Jessica McDonald, Saranac Hale Spencer, Alan Jaffe, Kate Yandell, Ben Cohen, Logan Chapman, Sarah Usandivaras and Ian Fox

Posted on September 11, 2024

https://www.factcheck.org/2024/09/factchecking-the-harris-trump-debate/

 

"NPR fact-checked the Harris-Trump presidential debate. Here's what we found"

NPR / Politics

By: NPR Staff

September 11, 20241:04 AM ET

https://www.npr.org/2024/09/11/g-s1-21932/fact-check-trump-harris-presidential-debate-2024

 

"Debate Fact Check: Harris and Trump on the Economy, Immigration and Abortion"

The New York Times

By The New York Times

Sept. 10, 2024

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/09/10/us/debate-trump-harris-fact-check

 

"FACT FOCUS: A look at false and misleading claims made during Trump and Harris’ debate"

AP / AP Fact Check

By:  THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Updated 9:02 AM EDT, September 11, 2024

https://apnews.com/article/debate-harris-trump-fact-focus-abortion-crime-0e368102d38d87d708a8a497a38f4fb2

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