“Donald Trump was vintage Donald Trump this afternoon. He deployed his tried and true, ‘I know you are, but what am I?’ tactic, claiming Hillary Clinton lied ‘so much’ at last night’s debate. In fact, that was Trump who lied over and over in St. Louis. He spent minutes going after the fire marshal for not allowing the ‘thousands’ of people outside into his rally and bragging, ‘I know a lot about fire and fire marshals.’ Trump praised WikiLeaks (and thereby Russian hacking) over and over again. He laughably called himself a ‘blue-collar worker’ when he was born a millionaire. Trump finally declared that ‘the last 72 hours has framed what this election is all about,’ and we couldn’t agree more. He has demonstrated over and over that he would be a disaster as president.”

Last night, Mike Pence spent an hour and a half pretending like his running mate was anyone other than Donald Trump. Pence denied Trump had said a multitude of offensive statements (he has), blatantly lied about Clinton-Kaine policies and overall ignored any question asking him to answer for Trump (which is his job as VP candidate last time we checked).

Fact checkers and columnists pointed out Mike Pence’s approach of running away from his running mate–“Trump Never Said Those Things He Said.”

Washington Post Fact Checker: Fact-checking the vice-presidential debate between Kaine and Pence

“Donald Trump during his campaign has called Mexicans rapists and criminals. He’s called women slobs, pigs, dogs, disgusting. I don’t like saying that in front of my wife and my mother. He attacked an Indiana-born federal judge and said he was unqualified to hear a federal lawsuit because his parents were Mexican. He went after John McCain, a POW, and said he wasn’t hero because he’d been captured. He said African-Americans are living in hell. And he perpetrated this outrageous and bigoted lie that President Obama is not a U.S. citizen. … And we don’t think that women should be punished, as Donald Trump said they should, for making the decision to have an abortion.”

—Kaine

Trump has, indeed, said all of those things.

USA Today: Fact check: Pence vs. Kaine in the VP debate

“Pence said ‘that’s nonsense’ after Kaine claimed Trump was proposing a ‘deportation force’ to ‘go house to house’ and send away millions of immigrants who are here illegally. Trump did say that.”

Politico: 6 things Trump definitely said that Pence claimed he didn’t

Scored on accuracy, however, Pence fares far worse. The main tenet of his strategy was to deny that Trump ever said these things to begin with — despite the fact that many of the statements were both real and a part of the public record.

Washington Post: Mike Pence can’t believe Tim Kaine would insult Donald Trump by quoting him

What were those insults Kaine was leveling? Here’s what he said immediately prior:

• “Donald Trump during his campaign has called Mexicans rapists and criminals.” This is true. Trump said during his campaign announcement that when Mexico “send its people” that “[t]hey’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”

• “He’s called women slobs, pigs, dogs, disgusting. I don’t like saying that in front of my wife and my mother.” Trump called Rosie O’Donnell a slob and a pig in 2007. He called O’Donnell a degenerate. He called Arianna Huffington a dog on Twitter.

• “He attacked an Indiana-born federal judge and said he was unqualified to hear a federal lawsuit because his parents were Mexican.” This happened earlier this year.

• “He went after John McCain, a POW, and said he wasn’t a hero because he’d been captured.” This isn’t exactly what Trump said. Trump said that McCain wasn’t a hero — but if he was, it’s because he was captured.

• “He said African Americans are living in hell.” Trump said this last week.

• “And he perpetrated this outrageous and bigoted lie that President Obama is not a U.S. citizen.” Trump hinted that President Obama might not be a citizen for years, from 2011 until January of this year.

There are no insults there by Kaine about Trump. Those are things Trump said.

Huffington Post: Mike Pence To America: Trump Never Said Those Things He Said

Donald Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R), spent much of the first and only vice presidential debate Tuesday night doing his damnedest to get Americans to forget all of the offensive things Trump has said.

Pence repeatedly tried to skirt around statements Trump actually said — or simply shook his head and ignored the question.

“I’m happy to defend [Trump],” Pence said.

But Pence rarely actually defended Trump. Instead, he dodged or outright denied his running mate’s statements.

U.S. News & World Report: Pence in Fantasy Land

But the most striking facet of the evening was how much Pence tried to pretend that the man leading his ticket, former reality television star Donald Trump, is either a conventional Republican or not in the race at all.

In this alternate universe – one I think Speaker of the House Paul Ryan also frequently visits – Trump has not insulted just about everyone who isn’t a member of his family, hasn’t cozied up to Russia and hasn’t laid out plans that would do great damage to the American economy. When Pence wasn’t outright lying about what his running mate has said, he simply ignored Trump’s designs for the country entirely.

NBC News: Split Decision: How Pence Helped Pence While Kaine Helped Clinton

Fact-checking the debate: Three times when Pence denied saying something that either he or Trump had actually said (or close to it)

And there’s a very good chance that Democrats end up winning the post-debate spin war after looking at the tale of the tape. There were at least three times when Pence denied or questioned that either he or Trump said something they actually said.

Example #1

KAINE: Donald Trump during his campaign has called Mexicans rapists and criminals. He’s called women slobs, pigs, dogs, disgusting… He attacked an Indiana-born federal judge and said he was unqualified to hear a federal lawsuit because his parents were Mexican. He went after John McCain, a POW, and said he wasn’t hero because he’d been captured… And he perpetrated this outrageous and bigoted lie that President Obama is not a U.S. citizen.

[snip]

PENCE: To be honest with you, if Donald Trump had said all of the things that you’ve said he said in the way you said he said them, he still wouldn’t have a fraction of the insults that Hillary Clinton leveled when she said that half of our supporters were a basket of deplorables. It’s — she said they were irredeemable, they were not American.

The record: When Trump announced his presidential bid, he said: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.” Trump did say a federal judge overseeing a lawsuit against him had a conflict of interest because of his Mexican heritage. Trump criticized McCain for being captured in war: “He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” And Trump did lead the “birther” crusade.

Example #2

KAINE: Well, this is one where we can just kind of go to the tape on it. But Governor Pence said, inarguably, Vladimir Putin is a better leader than President Obama.

PENCE: That is absolutely inaccurate.

KAINE: And — and — and I just think a guy who praises…

PENCE: He said he’s stronger — he’s been stronger on the world stage.

KAINE: No, he said leader. And if — and I’ll just say this, Governor.

PENCE: You just said better.

The record: Pence’s original quote wasn’t referring to the world stage, and he said that Putin has been a “stronger leader” than Obama. But he didn’t say “better” leader. Here’s what Pence has said: “I think it’s inarguable that Vladimir Putin has been a stronger leader in his country than Barack Obama has been in this country. And that’s going to change the day that Donald Trump becomes president.” And here’s what Trump has said on the matter: “Certainly, in that system, [Putin has] been a leader, far more than our president has been a leader.”

Example #3

PENCE: I’m very, very happy to defend Donald Trump. If he wants to take these one at a time, I’ll take them one at a time.

QUIJANO: I will give you an opportunity to do that.

KAINE: More nations should get nuclear weapons. Try to defend that.

PENCE: Don’t put words in my mouth. Well, he never said that, Senator.

The record: Back in a March debate, Trump did seem to suggest that more nations should have nuclear weapons, but he also appeared to contradict himself in the answer. The transcript:

TRUMP At some point we have to say, you know what, we’re better off if Japan protects itself against this maniac in North Korea, we’re better off, frankly, if South Korea is going to start to protect itself, we have…

COOPER: Saudi Arabia, nuclear weapons?

TRUMP: Saudi Arabia, absolutely.

COOPER: You would be fine with them having nuclear weapons?

TRUMP: No, not nuclear weapons, but they have to protect themselves or they have to pay us. Here’s the thing, with Japan, they have to pay us or we have to let them protect themselves.

COOPER: So if you said, Japan, yes, it’s fine, you get nuclear weapons, South Korea, you as well, and Saudi Arabia says we want them, too?

TRUMP: Can I be honest with you? It’s going to happen, anyway. It’s going to happen anyway. It’s only a question of time. They’re going to start having them or we have to get rid of them entirely.

And here’s what Trump said in an April 3, 2016 Fox interview:

TRUMP: So, North Korea has nukes. Japan has a problem with that. I mean, they have a big problem with that. Maybe they would in fact be better off if they defend themselves from North Korea.

WALLACE: With nukes?

TRUMP: Maybe they would be better off — including with nukes, yes, including with nukes.

PENCE’S LIE:

Mike Pence: “By lowering taxes across the board for working families, small businesses, and family farms, ending the war on coal that is hurting jobs and hurting this economy even here in Virginia, repealing Obamacare, lock stock and barrel, and repealing all of the executive orders that Barack Obama has signed that are stifling economic growth.” [Vice Presidential Debate, 10/4/16]

THE TRUTH:

The boom in the natural gas industry has impacted the coal industry. “This boom in natural gas has hammered the coal industry, which hit all-time peak in profits in 2008 — before wide-scale use of fracking made it cheaper to generate electricity using natural gas. Many U.S. coal companies also spent big in the past decade, betting on increased demand in Asia. But they have been largely unable to sell as much as they need to overseas to recoup their investments, helping tip several into bankruptcy.” [Associated Press, 8/9/16]

Energy economist: “I don’t think you can make much of a case that this is due to government regulation… It’s due to market dynamics.” “In fact, advances in extraction driven by hydraulic fracturing has led so many energy companies to pull so much natural gas out of the ground that they have flooded the market, depressing the price of natural gas and making it harder for those companies to turn a profit. In that way, they’ve been a victim of their own success. ‘They are suffering from low prices,’ said Robert Godby, an energy economist at the University of Wyoming. ‘It is not an issue of regulation.’ […] ‘I don’t think you can make much of a case that this is due to government regulation,’ Godby said. ‘It’s due to market dynamics.’” [Associated Press, 8/9/16]

Fact Check: Pence Lies That Donald Trump is Going to Slash Taxes for Working Families

PENCE’S LIE:

Mike Pence: “Donald Trump and I have a plan to get this economy moving again… and that is by lowering taxes across the board for working families, small businesses, and family farms…” [Vice Presidential Debate, 10/4/16]

THE TRUTH:

Tax Foundation: Under Donald Trump’s tax plan, the wealthiest taxpayers would see tax reductions of up to 16 percent, compared to reductions of between 0.8 percent and 1.9 percent for the bottom 80 percent. “Whether the tax cuts for middle-class families would be ‘massive’ is a matter of opinion, of course, but according to the Tax Foundation calculations under a static assumption, those in the bottom 80 percent of taxpayers would see an increase in after-tax income of between 0.8 percent and 1.9 percent. For a family making $50,000, a 1 percent increase in after-tax income would mean an extra $500, the Tax Foundation’s Alan Cole told us in an email. ‘Arguably that’s a lot. Arguably it’s not,’ he said. Gains for those in the upper-income categories would be more dramatic. Those in the top 20 percent of taxpayers would see an increase in after-tax income of between 4.4 percent and 6.5 percent (on a static basis), the Tax Foundation concluded. The largest gains — 10.2 percent to 16 percent — would come to the wealthiest 1 percent of taxpayers.” [FactCheck.org, 9/28/16]

Tax expert: Donald Trump’s tax plan will raise federal income taxes on more than half of U.S. single parents and one fifth of families with children. “‘Under my plan I will be reducing taxes tremendously.’ —Trump Trump’s tax plan would raise federal income taxes on more than half of America’s single parents and one-fifth of families with children, according to an analysis by Lily Batchelder, a New York University expert on tax policy who formerly worked for Obama’s National Economic Council. While the Trump campaign called it ‘pure fiction,’ the right-leaning Tax Foundation has said the group was able to replicate her findings. Kyle Pomerleau, director of federal projects at the Tax Foundation, posted on Twitter that Batchelder’s results ‘seem reasonable to me.’” [Washington Post, 9/27/16]

Fact Check: Pence Lies, Says Clinton-Kaine Support Open Borders

PENCE’S LIE:

Mike Pence: “Senator, that’s nonsense. Look, what you just heard is they have a plan for open borders, amnesty, that’s…they call it comprehensive immigration reform on Capitol Hill, we all know the routine, it’s amnesty.” [VP Debate, 10/4/16]

THE TRUTH:

PolitiFact rated the claim that “Hillary Clinton is for open borders” as “False.” ”Giuliani said, ‘Hillary Clinton is for open borders.’ Clinton supported a 2013 bill that would have invested billions in border security in addition to a path to citizenship. As a presidential candidate she has called for securing the border and targeting deportation to criminals and those who pose security threats. While her plan would make it easier for many undocumented immigrants to avoid deportation, that’s not the same as allowing a free-for-all at the border and ending enforcement. We rate this claim False.” [PolitiFact, 7/18/16]

PolitiFact said Donald Trump’s claim that Hillary Clinton’s immigration plan would “create totally open borders” was “a huge distortion” and gave the claim a rating of “False.” “Trump said Clinton’s immigration platform would ‘create totally open borders.’ This is a huge distortion of Clinton’s proposals. Clinton has praised work already done to secure the border, and she said she supported a 2013 bill that would have invested billions more in border security while creating a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants. Her plan calls for protecting the border and targeting deportation to criminals and security threats. Her plan would make it easier for many undocumented immigrants to avoid deportation, but that’s not the same as ending all enforcement. We rate this claim False.” [PolitiFact, 6/23/16]

FactCheck.org called claims Hillary Clinton supports “open borders” wrong.”  “Giuliani and Rep. Michael McCaul, the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, both wrongly claimed that Hillary Clinton supports ‘open borders.’ As we wrote when Trump himself made a similar claim, Clinton supported a Senate immigration bill that would have created a path to citizenship for those in the country illegally, but it also would have included large investments in border security. […] On her campaign website, Clinton says she would ‘focus resources on detaining and deporting those individuals who pose a violent threat to public safety.’ But the site also states that she will ‘uphold the rule of law’ and ‘protect our borders and national security.’ […] At a campaign stop in November, Clinton was even more explicit. ‘We need to secure our borders, I’m for it, I voted for it, I believe in it, and we also need to deal with the families, the workers who are here, who have made contributions, and their children,’ Clinton said in New Hampshire in November. ‘We can do more to secure our border and we should do more to deal with the 11 or 12 million people who are here, get them out of the shadows.’ That’s far short of advocating for open borders.”  [FactCheck.org, 7/19/16]

CNN’s Reality Check called it false that Hillary Clinton advocated for open borders. “‘Hillary Clinton is promising more of the same. Open borders, executive amnesty and the surge of Syrian refugees,’ said Mike McCaul, R-Texas, the chairman of the Homeland Security Commission. Clinton’s platform on immigration incorporates a pathway to citizenship and enforcing immigration laws, including deporting people who ‘pose a violent threat to public safety.’ Clinton said in November that the US needs ‘to secure our borders. I’m for it, I voted for it, I believe in it, and we also need to deal with the families, the workers who are here, who have made contributions, and their children.’ She also said in March that the US has ‘done a really good job securing the border.’ Clinton’s proposed policies and past rhetoric do not reflect open borders. That’s false.” [CNN, 7/18/16]

Fact Check: Pence lamented that the U.S. removed all troops from Iraq despite Trump’s repeated call to pull out troops

Tonight, Gov. Mike Pence lamented that we removed all of our troops from Iraq, despite his own running mate’s call to pull troops out before President Obama finished the drawdown in Iraq.

PENCE LIE:

Pence lamented that “we removed all of our troops from Iraq.” PENCE: Hillary Clinton failed to renegotiate a status of forces agreement – KAINE: No, that is incorrect. PENCE: And so we removed all of our troops from Iraq and ISIS was able to be conjured up in that vacuum and overrun vast areas. KAINE: President Bush said we would leave Iraq at the end of 2011. And Elaine, Iraq didn’t want our troops to stay and they wouldn’t give up the protection for our troops. [Vice Presidential Debate, 10/4/16]

THE TRUTH:

Donald Trump supported rapid withdrawal from Iraq as early as March 2007. “Trump criticizes the 2011 withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq, saying Obama ‘got us out the wrong way.’ But Trump supported rapid withdrawal as early as March 2007, saying the United States should ‘declare victory and leave.’ So once again Trump criticizes Obama and Clinton for taking action he advocated.” [Washington Post, 8/16/16]

2006: Donald Trump: “What you have to do is get out of Iraq. You can do it nicely. You can do it slowly. You can do it radically.” “In a 2006 CNBC interview, Trump was asked to critique Bush’s performance in the White House. Trump immediately brought up the Iraq War: ‘I would like to see our president get us out of the war [in Iraq] because the war is a total catastrophe. I would like to see President Bush get us out of Iraq, which is a total mess, a total catastrophe, and it’s not going to get any better. It’s only going to get worse. It’s a mess.’ Trump was passionate and insistent. Bush had to get the hell out of Iraq right away: ‘What you have to do is get out of Iraq. You can do it nicely. You can do it slowly. You can do it radically.’ Trump fancied the do-it-fast approach. And he noted that a US withdrawal should proceed, even though it would precipitate more violence in the region and the worst and most violent forces would benefit.” [Mother Jones, 8/16/16]

Fact Check: Trump-Pence Economic Plan Not Likely to Bring Down National Debt

PENCE’S LIE:

“When we get back to 3.5% to 4% growth, with Donald Trump’s plan, we’ll do. Then we are going to have the resources to meet our nation’s needs at home and abroad, and the ability to bring down the national debt.” [Vice Presidential Debate, 10/4/16]

THE TRUTH:

CRFB blog: Donald Trump’s promise of 3.5 percent economic growth is “unrealistic” and “likely unachievable.” “Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump announced significant revisions to his tax plan that would reduce its cost by about half, a change CRFB president Maya MacGuineas described as ‘moving in the right direction.’ Unfortunately, to pay for his plan, Trump relies largely on unrealistic levels of economic growth, while ruling out changes to large portions of the budget to pay for his tax plan. Trump’s campaign estimates the new tax plan will cost $4.4 trillion, about half of the $9.25 trillion that we had estimated his old plan would cost. The new plan would be paid for in part with reductions in non-defense spending but mostly by increasing economic growth to 3.5 percent annually. This rate of economic growth is likely unachievable, and unfortunately Trump has taken many alternative offsets off the table that he could use to make up the difference.” [Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, 9/16/16]

Fact Check: Mike Pence Lies about Donald Trump’s Deportation Force

PENCE’S LIE:

KAINE: These guys, and Donald Trump has said it, “Deportation Force”. They want to go house to house, school to school, business to business, and kick out 16 million people. And I cannot believe –  PENCE: That’s nonsense. That’s nonsense.  [Vice Presidential Debate, 10/4/16]

THE TRUTH: Donald Trump Strongly Supports Mass Deportation

Donald Trump: “You’re going to have a deportation force.” “You’re going to have a deportation force, and you’re going to do it humanely. And you’re going to bring the country – and frankly, the people, because you have some excellent wonderful people, some fantastic people that have been here for a long period of time.” [MSNBC’s Morning Joe, 11/11/15]

Donald Trump pushed for mass deportations. “And Mr. Trump’s plan for mass deportations — ‘They have to go,’ he said — which is supported by a sizable minority of Republican voters nationwide, has encouraged rivals to similarly push the edges on immigration.” [New York Times, 8/19/15]

Donald Trump on undocumented immigrants: “They have to go.” “Donald Trump would reverse President Obama’s executive orders on immigration and deport all undocumented immigrants from the U.S. as president, he said in an exclusive interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd. ‘We’re going to keep the families together, but they have to go,’ he said in the interview, which aired in full on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ Sunday. Pressed on what he’d do if the immigrants in question had nowhere to return to, Trump reiterated: ‘They have to go.’ ‘We will work with them. They have to go. Chuck, we either have a country, or we don’t have a country,’ he said.” [NBC News, 8/16/15]

Fact Check: Pence lied about Trump’s praise of Vladimir Putin

PENCE LIE:

KAINE: You gotta be tough on Russia, so let’s start with not praising Vladimir Putin as a great leader. Donald Trump and Mike Pence has said he is a great leader. PENCE: No, we haven’t. [Vice Presidential Debate, 10/4/16]

THE TRUTH:

Mike Pence: “I think it’s inarguable that Vladimir Putin has been a stronger leader in his country than Barack Obama has been in this country.” “Indiana Gov. Mike Pence on Thursday defended his running mate’s statement that Vladimir Putin is a stronger leader than President Barack Obama, calling it ‘inarguable.’ In a sit-down with CNN’s Dana Bash at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, the GOP vice presidential nominee said Donald Trump was speaking ‘boldly’ as did the 40th president of the United States. ‘I think it’s inarguable that Vladimir Putin has been a stronger leader in his country than Barack Obama has been in this country. And that’s going to change the day that Donald Trump becomes president,’ Pence said.” [CNN, 9/9/16]

Fact Check: Pence lies about the Clinton Foundation

PENCE LIE:

PENCE: “The Trump Foundation is a private family foundation, they give virtually every cent in the Trump Foundation to charitable causes. Less than 10 cents on the dollar in the Clinton Foundation has gone to charitable causes.” [Vice Presidential Debate, 10/4/16]

THE TRUTH:

FactCheck.org: Nearly all contributions to the Clinton Foundation are used for its charitable activities. “Fiorina and others are referring only to the amount donated by the Clinton Foundation to outside charities, ignoring the fact that most of the Clinton Foundation’s charitable work is performed in-house. One independent philanthropy watchdog did an analysis of Clinton Foundation funding and concluded that about 89 percent of its funding went to charity. Simply put, despite its name, the Clinton Foundation is not a private foundation — which typically acts as a pass-through for private donations to other charitable organizations. Rather, it is a public charity. It conducts most of its charitable activities directly.” [FactCheck.org, 6/19/15]

The Clinton Foundation earned an A rating from the American Institute of Philanthropy, which found that 89% of money raised goes directly to its charitable mission. “One group earned headlines by placing the foundation on a ‘watch list’ for potential donors, but in a new rating published Monday, the American Institute of Philanthropy’s Charity Watch gave the foundation an ‘A’ rating for financial performance. The group assessed that the foundation spent 89 percent of its 2013 expenses on charitable programs. The organization spent just 3 percent on costs associated with fundraising, Charity Watch found. Last year, the same group gave the foundation an A+. President Daniel Borochoff said the slip resulted because the foundation spent 90 percent of its expenses on programs in 2012.” [Washington Post, 4/27/15]

]]> http://correctrecord.org/video-as-violence-breaks-out-trump-calls-his-rallies-safe-and-fun/ Tue, 04 Oct 2016 22:31:58 +0000 http://correctrecord.org/?p=4369 Just hours ahead of the vice presidential debate, violence broke out once again at a Donald Trump rally. During a dark and disturbing campaign stop in Arizona, Trump supporters and a protester came to blows. Trump responded to the violence by flippantly claiming, “There is no place safer [than a Trump rally], believe me.” Things only went downhill from there. Trump singled out the press as his “enemies”, praised birther Sheriff Joe Arpaio and repeated his claim that “race riots” were breaking out across the country.

Good luck cleaning up this mess tonight, Governor Pence.

WATCH: Violence breaks out at #Trump rally.
Trump’s response; “There is no place safer, believe me.” pic.twitter.com/CozqpAf43m

— Correct The Record (@CorrectRecord) October 4, 2016

TOP FOUR LIES IN PRESCOTT VALLEY, ARIZONA

LIE #1: Trump lies about self-funding his campaign

THE LIE: TRUMP: “These politicians, folks, don’t have a clue, and if they do they can’t do it because their donors won’t let them. Remember, I’m my donor. I’m my donor.”  [Prescott Valley, Arizona, 10/4/16]

THE TRUTH:  CNN Reality Check ruled a claim that Trump entirely self-funded his campaign as “false.” ”Trump has loaned his campaign 76% of the the $57.7 million that the campaign has received through the end of April, according to the Federal Election Commission. While he’s funded a vast majority of his campaign, he’s also taken millions from outside donors — not just funding entirely out of his own pocket. His son’s claim is false.” [CNN Reality Check, 7/19/16]

Through April, Donald Trump had received about $14 million in campaign contributions.” Although Trump has sunk a significant amount of his own money into his campaign, CNN has found that he received about $14 million in campaign contributions from 8,200 individual donors through the end of April.” [CNN Reality Check, 7/19/16]

LIE #2: Trump lies about being endorsed by ICE

THE LIE: TRUMP: “I want to thank the border patrol and ICE. Both of them gave us their endorsement. They’ve never done it to any presidential candidate before.” [Prescott Valley, Arizona, 10/4/16]

THE TRUTH: Trump incorrectly claims he was endorsed by ICE. “No, Donald Trump was not endorsed by an entire government agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He was endorsed this week by a union of ICE employees, but that’s not the same. The National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council had never endorsed a candidate for president.” [Politico, 9/26/16]

LIE #3: Trump lies about refugees being admitted to U.S. with “no way to screen them”

THE LIE: TRUMP: “Thousands of refugees are being admitted with no way to screen them.” [Prescott Valley, Arizona, 10/4/16]

THE TRUTH: PolitiFact: “Refugees are subject to the highest level of security checks of any traveler category to the United States.” “Finally, we should note that refugees are subject to the highest level of security checks of any traveler category to the United States. So it ‘makes no operational sense’ for ISIS to take advantage of the refugee program, Anne Speckhard, a counterterrorism expert at Georgetown University, told us previously. ‘Given how easy it is to send a European extremist to the U.S. via Europe, why would an ISIS guy in Syria wait the three years it takes to get refugee status?’ Speckhard said.” [PolitiFact, 6/13/16]

New York Times: “Syrians must pass many layers of security checks before being admitted to the United States, a process that can take two years or longer.”  “Syrians must pass many layers of security checks before being admitted to the United States, a process that can take two years or longer. In most cases, the refugees do not enter the United States until the very end. They are also subject to an additional layer of checks beyond those for refugees of other nationalities; after the Paris attacks, the House voted to further tighten screening procedures. Since 2011, the United States has admitted fewer than 2,000 Syrian refugees.”  [New York Times, 11/20/15]

Associated Press: Refugee vetting is “a drawn-out process that includes in-person interviews overseas and involves multiple agencies, led by Homeland Security.” “Late last year, the Obama administration for the first time disclosed details about how refugees are investigated. Officials described a drawn-out process that includes in-person interviews overseas and involves multiple agencies, led by Homeland Security. Refugees must submit to interviews before they can come, and provide biographical details about themselves — their families, friendships, social or political activities, employment, telephone numbers, email accounts and more. They also provide biometric information, including fingerprints. Syrians are subject to additional, classified controls that officials have declined to describe specifically. Refugee processing generally takes 18 months to 24 months. It can be longer for Syrians.” [Associated Press, 6/19/16]

LIE #4: Trump lies about Obama and Clinton unleashing ISIS

THE LIE: TRUMP: “We’ve unleashed ISIS. That came out of the vacuum created by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the way they got the troops out.” [Prescott Valley, Arizona, 10/4/16]

THE TRUTH: Washington Post Fact Checker said Donald Trump’s claim that ISIS rose from Hillary Clinton’s and Barack Obama’s policies was “false and facile.” “‘The rise of ISIS is the direct result of policy decisions made by President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton.’ This is false and facile. The terrorist group is the direct result of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, as we explored in our interview with Washington Post reporter Joby Warrick, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his book on the rise of the Islamic State. (Trump, of course, supported the invasion of Iraq in 2003.) At best, one could argue that actions that Obama failed to take (over Clinton’s opposition) helped contribute to the growth of ISIS.” [Washington Post, 8/16/16]

TIME: “Of course, Obama did not found ISIS and has actually led a campaign that has killed thousands of ISIS militants.” “Donald Trump accused President Obama of being the ‘founder of ISIS’ Wednesday, the latest incendiary comment from a candidate in the middle of a meltdown. Of course, Obama did not found ISIS and has actually led a campaign that has killed thousands of ISIS militants.” [TIME, 8/11/16]

MEMORANDUM

TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Brad Woodhouse, President of Correct The Record
RE: What You Need to Know About Donald Trump’s Chief Apologist, Mike Pence
DATE: October 4, 2016

Compared to the bombastic Donald Trump, many have painted vice presidential nominee Mike Pence as the voice of reason on the Republican ticket. In reality, Indiana Governor Mike Pence is as extreme as Republicans come and has emerged as the GOP’s leading apologist for Trump’s most outrageous comments and policies.

For years, Pence has been at the forefront of right-wing attacks on women’s health, LGBT rights and immigrants and refugees in both Washington and Indiana. So it is no surprise that since signing up for the Donald Trump campaign, Pence himself has emerged as the the chief defender and explainer of Trump’s hateful politics. Ahead of tonight’s vice presidential debate, here is what you need to know about the other half of the Republican ticket.

Cleaning up for Donald Trump

For someone who claims to be “a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order,” Pence has inexplicably defended Donald Trump’s offensive rhetoric and behavior at every turn. Pence has proven a remarkable willingness to try to dismiss, explain, or otherwise condone offensive statements and policies from his running mate and the Trump family. In the process, he has become an apologist for some of Trump’s ugliest and most poisonous rhetoric—including Birtherism, Trump’s insinuation of violence against Hillary Clinton  and Donald Trump Jr.’s infamous Skittles tweet.

• MACHADO: Ignoring the blatantly offensive nature of Trump’s comments, Pence brushed off Donald Trump’s body shaming and incendiary tweets about a “sex tape” (that doesn’t exist) regarding former Miss Universe Alicia Machado as the media being too focused on “he said this, he tweeted that.”

• RUSSIA: On Trump’s dangerous admiration of Putin’s Russia, Pence offered the head-shaking assertion that it was “inarguable” that Putin has been a stronger leader than President Obama and compared Trump’s encouragement of Russia to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails to an Abraham Lincoln quote.

• BIRTHERISM: Governor Pence defended Trump’s leading role in the birther conspiracy theory, saying Trump “brought that issue to an end this week” after Trump’s one-sentence admission and, in the same week, Trump refused to admit President Obama was born in Hawaii.

• OBAMA FOUNDED ISIS: Pence has defended Trump’s assertion that Obama founded ISIS and Trump’s support for bringing back waterboarding, saying–without proof–“enhanced interrogation saved lives.”

• ENCOURAGING VIOLENCE: Pence has tried to explain away Trump’s insinuation of violence against Clinton with his comment that “Second Amendment people” could do something about Clinton picking judges and Clinton’s secret service protection should disarm and “see what happens to her.”

• POLICE POLICIES AND GUN VIOLENCE: Pence defended Trump’s call for profiling, calling it “common sense,” claimed Trump is “on a sound constitutional footing” with his stop-and-frisk proposal (not true), and defended Trump for politicizing the shooting death of NBA player Dwyane Wade’s cousin.

• SKITTLES: He defended Donald Trump Jr.’s tweet comparing Syrian refugees to poisoned Skittles, saying he was simply using a “metaphor” and condescendingly said it was “remarkable to see the level of outrage” about the tweet.

“Nobody hates Planned Parenthood quite as much as Mike Pence.”

While Trump continues to make headlines for his disparaging, offensive comments about women, Mike Pence’s record expands upon this disrespect for women. Perhaps more than any other Republican politician in the recent past, Pence has fought to undermine women’s access to health care services on both the national level and in Indiana. In 2011, Politico even declared that  “Nobody hates Planned Parenthood quite as much as Mike Pence.”

Pence has a long history of trying to take down Planned Parenthood in his larger campaign to take away a woman’s right to choose. He has said he wants to send Roe v. Wade “to the ash heap of history where it belongs.” Pence signed into Indiana law earlier this year a bill that would ban women from seeking abortion based on a fetal diagnosis of physical or mental disability and require women to seek funerary services for a fetus, no matter if an abortion or miscarriage, at any point in time in the pregnancy. The law was blocked by a federal judge in June 2016.

In Congress, Pence was the defacto leader of efforts to defund Planned Parenthood and eliminate the Title X program, which provides family planning and reproductive health funding. In 2011, Politico wrote Mike Pence was “on a one-man crusade to deny all federal funding to [Planned Parenthood]—not just the money it gets for reproductive health and family planning services, but every penny it gets for anything.” He sponsored legislation that would make it legal for hospitals to deny abortions to pregnant women with life-threatening conditions and supported a federal ban on abortions after 20 weeks. He cosponsored a bill that would redefine certain rape cases as “forcible rape,” redefining “rape” in the case of federal funding for abortions in case of “forcible” rape only.

Enacting LGBT discrimination in the name of “religious freedom”

Donald Trump’s repeated refrain to the religious right is a promise that he will protect religious freedom by repealing the Johnson Amendment. His running mate is right in line with Trump’s extreme agenda, having already taking action in the name of “religious freedom” in 2015. Governor Mike Pence signed into law the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 2015 and with it, exacted LGBT discrimination. The widely-condemned law alienated the Republican governor’s natural allies in the business community, drew national condemnation and deeply embarrassed the Hoosier state. Throughout the scandal, Pence displayed an almost Trump-like level of disingenuousness and dishonesty. In one devastating interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, Pence refused to answer six yes-or-no questions about whether the law legalized discrimination against the LGBT community.

Pence at first said he would not support legislation to clean up the mess he made, was “knowingly disingenuous” when trying to compare Indiana’s law to those passed in other states, and finally supported a bill to “clarify” RFRA after an uproar from Indiana business and community leaders and other governors and mayors banned taxpayer-funded travel to Indiana.

Discriminating against the LGBT community was nothing new for Governor Pence. When in Congress, he cosponsored an amendment to the Constitution that would ban same-sex marriage, voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and against the Matthew Shepard Act in 2007 and 2009. During his first successful run for Congress in 2000, his campaign said “Homosexuality is incompatible with military service because the presence of homosexuals in the ranks weakens unit cohesion.”

Test driving Trump’s Muslim ban in Indiana

It’s no surprise Pence is “very supportive” of Trump’s proposed ban of Muslims from coming to the U.S. In 2015, Governor Pence announced he was suspending the resettlement of all Syrian refugees in Indiana. Religious leaders defied the Governor. The Archbishop of Indianapolis, Joseph Tobin, met with the Pence to hear his concerns but defied his ban, declaring Catholic Charities would welcome a family of four from Syria anyway. This ban was challenged in court by the ACLU and blocked by a federal judge on the grounds that it “clearly discriminates” against Syrian refugees.

Pence honed his anti-immigrant agenda while serving in Congress. He said it was “wrong” to oppose Arizona’s “papers, please” immigration law, sponsored legislation that would end birthright citizenship, opposed a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, and sponsored a bill to declare English the official language of the United States. He even introduced an immigration plan that would push undocumented immigrants to “self-deport.”

BONUS: Bringing Pravda to the Plains

Trump disparages members of the media nearly every day, whether through going after certain newspapers or networks or encouraging rally attendees to boo reporters covering his events. This concerning lack of respect for a free and open press is something Governor Pence can relate to. In 2015, Governor Pence tried to launch a state-run news service in Indiana that earned the nickname “Pravda on the Plains.” His state-run taxpayer-funded news outlet was going to produce pre-written news stories and even break news about the Pence administration. Not surprisingly, Pence was forced to drop the project after planning documents were leaked to the Indianapolis Star.

TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Brad Woodhouse, President of Correct The Record
RE: What You Need to Know About Donald Trump’s Chief Apologist, Mike Pence
DATE: October 4, 2016

Compared to the bombastic Donald Trump, many have painted vice presidential nominee Mike Pence as the voice of reason on the Republican ticket. In reality, Indiana Governor Mike Pence is as extreme as Republicans come and has emerged as the GOP’s leading apologist for Trump’s most outrageous comments and policies.

For years, Pence has been at the forefront of right-wing attacks on women’s health, LGBT rights and immigrants and refugees in both Washington and Indiana. So it is no surprise that since signing up for the Donald Trump campaign, Pence himself has emerged as the the chief defender and explainer of Trump’s hateful politics. Ahead of tonight’s vice presidential debate, here is what you need to know about the other half of the Republican ticket.

Cleaning up for Donald Trump

For someone who claims to be “a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order,” Pence has inexplicably defended Donald Trump’s offensive rhetoric and behavior at every turn. Pence has proven a remarkable willingness to try to dismiss, explain, or otherwise condone offensive statements and policies from his running mate and the Trump family. In the process, he has become an apologist for some of Trump’s ugliest and most poisonous rhetoric—including Birtherism, Trump’s insinuation of violence against Hillary Clinton  and Donald Trump Jr.’s infamous Skittles tweet.

• MACHADO: Ignoring the blatantly offensive nature of Trump’s comments, Pence brushed off Donald Trump’s body shaming and incendiary tweets about a “sex tape” (that doesn’t exist) regarding former Miss Universe Alicia Machado as the media being too focused on “he said this, he tweeted that.”

• RUSSIA: On Trump’s dangerous admiration of Putin’s Russia, Pence offered the head-shaking assertion that it was “inarguable” that Putin has been a stronger leader than President Obama and compared Trump’s encouragement of Russia to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails to an Abraham Lincoln quote.

• BIRTHERISM: Governor Pence defended Trump’s leading role in the birther conspiracy theory, saying Trump “brought that issue to an end this week” after Trump’s one-sentence admission and, in the same week, Trump refused to admit President Obama was born in Hawaii.

• OBAMA FOUNDED ISIS: Pence has defended Trump’s assertion that Obama founded ISIS and Trump’s support for bringing back waterboarding, saying–without proof–“enhanced interrogation saved lives.”

• ENCOURAGING VIOLENCE: Pence has tried to explain away Trump’s insinuation of violence against Clinton with his comment that “Second Amendment people” could do something about Clinton picking judges and Clinton’s secret service protection should disarm and “see what happens to her.”

• POLICE POLICIES AND GUN VIOLENCE: Pence defended Trump’s call for profiling, calling it “common sense,” claimed Trump is “on a sound constitutional footing” with his stop-and-frisk proposal (not true), and defended Trump for politicizing the shooting death of NBA player Dwyane Wade’s cousin.

• SKITTLES: He defended Donald Trump Jr.’s tweet comparing Syrian refugees to poisoned Skittles, saying he was simply using a “metaphor” and condescendingly said it was “remarkable to see the level of outrage” about the tweet.

“Nobody hates Planned Parenthood quite as much as Mike Pence.”

While Trump continues to make headlines for his disparaging, offensive comments about women, Mike Pence’s record expands upon this disrespect for women. Perhaps more than any other Republican politician in the recent past, Pence has fought to undermine women’s access to health care services on both the national level and in Indiana. In 2011, Politico even declared that  “Nobody hates Planned Parenthood quite as much as Mike Pence.”

Pence has a long history of trying to take down Planned Parenthood in his larger campaign to take away a woman’s right to choose. He has said he wants to send Roe v. Wade “to the ash heap of history where it belongs.” Pence signed into Indiana law earlier this year a bill that would ban women from seeking abortion based on a fetal diagnosis of physical or mental disability and require women to seek funerary services for a fetus, no matter if an abortion or miscarriage, at any point in time in the pregnancy. The law was blocked by a federal judge in June 2016.

In Congress, Pence was the defacto leader of efforts to defund Planned Parenthood and eliminate the Title X program, which provides family planning and reproductive health funding. In 2011, Politico wrote Mike Pence was “on a one-man crusade to deny all federal funding to [Planned Parenthood]—not just the money it gets for reproductive health and family planning services, but every penny it gets for anything.” He sponsored legislation that would make it legal for hospitals to deny abortions to pregnant women with life-threatening conditions and supported a federal ban on abortions after 20 weeks. He cosponsored a bill that would redefine certain rape cases as “forcible rape,” redefining “rape” in the case of federal funding for abortions in case of “forcible” rape only.

Enacting LGBT discrimination in the name of “religious freedom”

Donald Trump’s repeated refrain to the religious right is a promise that he will protect religious freedom by repealing the Johnson Amendment. His running mate is right in line with Trump’s extreme agenda, having already taking action in the name of “religious freedom” in 2015. Governor Mike Pence signed into law the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 2015 and with it, exacted LGBT discrimination. The widely-condemned law alienated the Republican governor’s natural allies in the business community, drew national condemnation and deeply embarrassed the Hoosier state. Throughout the scandal, Pence displayed an almost Trump-like level of disingenuousness and dishonesty. In one devastating interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, Pence refused to answer six yes-or-no questions about whether the law legalized discrimination against the LGBT community.

Pence at first said he would not support legislation to clean up the mess he made, was “knowingly disingenuous” when trying to compare Indiana’s law to those passed in other states, and finally supported a bill to “clarify” RFRA after an uproar from Indiana business and community leaders and other governors and mayors banned taxpayer-funded travel to Indiana.

Discriminating against the LGBT community was nothing new for Governor Pence. When in Congress, he cosponsored an amendment to the Constitution that would ban same-sex marriage, voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and against the Matthew Shepard Act in 2007 and 2009. During his first successful run for Congress in 2000, his campaign said “Homosexuality is incompatible with military service because the presence of homosexuals in the ranks weakens unit cohesion.”

Test driving Trump’s Muslim ban in Indiana

It’s no surprise Pence is “very supportive” of Trump’s proposed ban of Muslims from coming to the U.S. In 2015, Governor Pence announced he was suspending the resettlement of all Syrian refugees in Indiana. Religious leaders defied the Governor. The Archbishop of Indianapolis, Joseph Tobin, met with the Pence to hear his concerns but defied his ban, declaring Catholic Charities would welcome a family of four from Syria anyway. This ban was challenged in court by the ACLU and blocked by a federal judge on the grounds that it “clearly discriminates” against Syrian refugees.

Pence honed his anti-immigrant agenda while serving in Congress. He said it was “wrong” to oppose Arizona’s “papers, please” immigration law, sponsored legislation that would end birthright citizenship, opposed a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, and sponsored a bill to declare English the official language of the United States. He even introduced an immigration plan that would push undocumented immigrants to “self-deport.”

BONUS: Bringing Pravda to the Plains

Trump disparages members of the media nearly every day, whether through going after certain newspapers or networks or encouraging rally attendees to boo reporters covering his events. This concerning lack of respect for a free and open press is something Governor Pence can relate to. In 2015, Governor Pence tried to launch a state-run news service in Indiana that earned the nickname “Pravda on the Plains.” His state-run taxpayer-funded news outlet was going to produce pre-written news stories and even break news about the Pence administration. Not surprisingly, Pence was forced to drop the project after planning documents were leaked to the Indianapolis Star.

After having what may have been the “worst week in modern presidential campaign history,” things have only gotten worse for Donald Trump. Two days after The New York Times published a devastating exposé on the fact that Trump lost $916 million in 1995 and could have avoided paying income taxes for almost two decades, a new report continued to expose Trump’s despicable record in business.

In a shocking story published this morning, The Associated Press revealed that Trump repeatedly “rated female contestants by the size of their breasts and talked about which ones he’d like to have sex with” on the set of The Apprentice. With 36 days until Election Day, the Trump campaign is in a downward spiral. As noted on CNN this morning, Trump’s latest round of controversies “threaten to drain the Republican nominee of something he can’t afford: time.”

With 36 days until Election Day, the Trump campaign is in a downward spiral. As noted on CNN this morning, Trump’s latest round of controversies “threaten to drain the Republican nominee of something he can’t afford: time.”

NEW TRUMP STORIES OUT TODAY:

AP: How Trump’s ‘Apprentice’ moved from capitalism to sexism

The Boston Globe: ‘Apprentice’ insiders say Donald Trump demeaned, objectified women

The Week: Former cast and crew of The Apprentice say Donald Trump was a sexist lout on set

Vox: I’m from Atlantic City. I’ve seen how Donald Trump’s false promises devastate a community.

New Yorker: DONALD TRUMP, AMERICAN OLIGARCH

CNN: Trump running out of time as controversies pile up

New York Times: Donald Trump Seeks Route Out of the Glare

TRUMP’S TAX REVELATIONS:

Washington Post: Trump hopes to revive campaign after tax discovery caps a week of ‘self-sabotage’

Denver Post: Donald Trump tax revelation punctuates week of political challenges

Washington Post: Following Trump tax revelations, voters in Toledo question his business acumen

Wall Street Journal: Donald Trump’s Tax Numbers Sharpen Focus on Treatment of Losses

Salon: Donald Trump’s no good, very bad week: “Economic genius” revealed as tax scammer who lost $916 million in a boom market

MSNBC: Why Donald Trump’s new tax revelations are so damaging

New York Times: How Donald Trump Turned the Tax Code Into a Giant Tax Shelter

New York Times: Donald Trump and His Allies Struggle to Move Past Tax Revelation

New York Times Opinion: Trump’s Tax (Avoidance) Plan

TRUMP’S “WORST WEEK”:

NBC News: Analysis: Trump May Have Had the Worst Week in Presidential Campaign History

New York Magazine: Trump Finishes His Very Bad Week by Driving His Trainwreck Off a Cliff

Washington Post: The Fix: Donald Trump’s massively epic meltdown shouldn’t really surprise anyone

Wall Street Journal: Donald Trump’s Rough Week Vexes GOP

NBC News: Donald Trump Has Had a Brutal Seven Days

Bloomberg: Republicans Wonder If Trump Can Recover From ‘Worst Week’