The Democratic convention was notable for its distinguished guests and electrifying speeches, although the latter sometimes contained some exaggerations.
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More than a month after the Republican convention, where many statements were also distorted, Democrats gathered for historic moments, including Biden’s farewell and important speeches from Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Still, here are ten claims that deserve a fact-check.
Donald Trump opposes birth control pill
Abortion access was one of the key themes of the Democratic convention and Kamala Harris did not miss the opportunity to address it in her speech. She said that if Donald Trump were to win the presidency, he would limit access to the birth control pill and medical abortion.
However, since the beginning of the election campaign, the Republican candidate has not said that he would impose these measures. For example, last Thursday, he wrote on the Truth Social network that he would not restrict access to the contraceptive pill and in vitro fertilization.
Last April, he told CNN that he would not sign a national abortion ban if re-elected in November.
The former president’s position on abortion remains unclear, however. He had already boasted in 2023 of having appointed the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, sparking a wave of bans across the country.
It is therefore difficult to predict his true intentions if he is elected, but in recent weeks he has assured that he will not limit further access to this subject.
Please note that the Project 2025a book written by conservatives about right-wing preferences for the next Republican administration, strongly opposes it.
“Woman should stay at home,” according to an excerpt from Project 2025
Speaking about the controversial book, Colorado Governor Jared Polis denounced an excerpt: “Page 451 states that the only legitimate family is that of a married father and mother, where only the father works.”
Getty Images via AFP
While he is right about the heterosexual couple transition, it is wrong to claim that only the man should keep a job, according to the book. No quote specifies that the woman should stay at home.
THE Project 2025 still causes controversy because of his comments which do not have unanimous support.
The “Good People” Hoax
Joe Biden backtracked on fake news about “good people” (fine people) during his speech Monday. “When the president (Donald Trump) was asked what he thought happened, Donald Trump said, and I quote, ‘There are very fine people on both sides.’ My goodness, that’s what he said. That’s what he said and what he meant,” he said.
This story took place in 2017, when a white nationalist protest broke out in Charlottesville, Virginia, and caused one death, injuries and widespread damage. Donald Trump, president at the time, reportedly responded by saying that there was “blame on both sides.”
“There were some very bad people in that group,” Mr. Trump said at the time, referring to the rioters. “But there were also some very good people.”
Later in the conference, however, he corrected himself to clarify that he was “not talking about neo-Nazis and white nationalists, because they need to be condemned.”
The Democratic Party was therefore accused of hiding part of the truth about this event.
More exports than imports in the United States
“We used to import products and export jobs. Today, we export American products and create American jobs,” Biden said in his speech.
Photo AFP
However, one small detail in this statement turns out to be false. Since the beginning of the year, the United States has imported more goods than it has exported, according to figures from the United States Census Bureau. This would have even caused a trade deficit of 567 billion US dollars (766 billion Canadian dollars).
Since he came to the White House, every year has ended in the negative. The year 2022 was the worst, with a deficit of 1.1 trillion US dollars.
A high number of citizens with health insurance
Recounting his exploits, Mr. Biden claimed that “more Americans have health insurance today than ever before in American history.”
His words are not entirely wrong, since the number of citizens covered peaked in 2023, at 138 million people, according to the National Health Interview Survey. However, this figure dropped to 130 million in the first quarter of the year.
Many of those citizens turned to private insurance, but the number of uninsured Americans still increased from 23.7 million to 27.1 million, according to the research institute.
The tax rate paid by billionaires is 8.2%
Joe Biden claimed during his speech on the first day of the convention that the average tax rate paid by the “thousand billionaires” in the United States was 8.2%.
Photo AFP
That percentage is actually an alternative calculation that includes unrealized capital gains. They are not considered taxable income under federal law. Without providing that context, the president would imply that he is talking about taxes on the ultra-wealthy.
As for the real percentage of taxes, this figure is not known, but several experts believe that it is much higher than one might think.
“Biden’s numbers are way too low,” Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute think tank, told CNN.
Economists at the University of California estimated that the 400 richest households paid around 23% in 2018. Although this percentage remains “too low” for some specialists, it is higher than that said by the president.
A “record” unemployment rate in January 2021
On the second day of the Democratic convention, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said the nation’s unemployment rate is at its worst in three and a half years.
“Unemployment was skyrocketing,” he said during his speech. “That was the reality that the Biden-Harris administration faced when they entered the Oval Office.”
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the unemployment rate actually hit a record high in April 2020, at 14.8%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, the situation quickly improved, with the rate dropping to 6.4% in January 2021, when Joe Biden took office.
The impact of the expanded child tax credit
“We’ve reduced child poverty by more than 40 percent through an expanded child tax credit,” Sanders said in his speech.
Photo AFP
His claim remains technically true. The American Rescue Act, which was passed by Democrats in March 2021, increased the tax credit from $2,000 to $3,600. The child poverty rate dropped to a historic 5.2% in 2021, a 46% drop from 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
However, a year later, the percentage has quickly climbed to 12.4%, which is higher than in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to information from the Bureau.
Excessive prices in grocery stores due to companies
Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey pointed to Harris’ plan to introduce laws to lower food costs. “Prices are going up because these companies are making them go up,” he said.
Getty Images via AFP
While they played a role in increasing costs in 2020-2021, a San Francisco Fed report found that they were not the primary cause of grocery inflation in 2021 and 2022.
The war in Ukraine, government spending, and disruptions caused by COVID-19 have all contributed to the U.S. economic situation in recent years.
Donald Trump Tried to Cut Social Security for Old Age
“Trump has announced a budget that cuts Social Security and Medicare every year he’s been in office,” Harris said during her speech.
She said we must not “forget that he tried to cut health insurance every year he was president.”
While it’s true that he tried to cut Social Security and Medicare, this quote from the vice president can be misleading.
In fact, the “cuts” he proposed in the 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 budgets were intended to save money and extend the program’s solvency, the Washington Post.
Also, he did not suggest changing Social Security retirement benefits; instead, he sought to make modest savings on the Social Security disability program.
Mr. Trump has reportedly admitted on several occasions that he will “not touch” Social Security and Medicare if re-elected.
The American media outlet nevertheless specifies that his attitude is rarely “persistent” and that everything could change in the event of a victory for him.
– With information from CNN and AFP
