Former President Barack Obama on Tuesday contrasted Vice President Kamala Harris’ career in public service with former President Donald Trump’s record as a political candidate and in the Oval Office.
On the second night of the Democratic National Convention, Obama; his wife, Michelle Obama; and other Democratic officials focused largely on Harris’ biography, Trump’s flaws and voter turnout. The speakers largely hewed close to the facts, but repeated a few attacks on Trump that were inaccurate or omitted context.
Fact-checking Joe Biden’s speech and more on Day 1 of the DNC
Here’s a look.
What was said
“Within two months of taking office, our government did respond. We passed the American Rescue Plan, which provided $1,400 for every man, woman and child in the working class. We extended and expanded benefits for the unemployed.” — Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
This needs context. Sanders spoke at length comparing the responses of the Trump administration and the Biden-Harris administration. He has a point that as president, Trump downplayed the potential impact of the coronavirus and his administration was criticized for a halting and unsteady response, while the Biden-Harris administration took a more forceful approach. But Sanders omitted from his remarks that Trump signed into law a stimulus package in March 2020 that included $1,200 checks and unemployment benefits.
What was said
“Take it from an actual billionaire, Trump is rich in only one thing: Stupidity.” — Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois
This lacks evidence. While Trump’s exact net worth is unknown, Forbes and Bloomberg estimate that he is currently a billionaire.
A judge ruled in February in a civil fraud case brought by New York’s attorney general that Trump had inflated his net worth, and Trump has long exaggerated his wealth by falsely claiming to be a self-made billionaire.
He fell off Forbes’ annual list of America’s richest 400 people in 2021 and 2023, and as of Tuesday night, he was not on Bloomberg’s list of the world’s richest people. But he is nonetheless a billionaire, with a net worth of $4.3 billion as of Tuesday, according to Forbes, and, as of March, $6.5 billion, according to Bloomberg. That is due, in part, to his 114 million shares in the parent company of Truth Social, his social media site. As of Tuesday, the company’s stock was trading at $21.42.
What was said
“Donald told us to inject bleach.” — Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois
This is exaggerated. In April 2020, at a news conference shortly after the coronavirus pandemic took hold in the United States, Trump publicly mused about the efficacy of disinfectants and light as possible treatments, prompting uproar and confusion. He did not literally instruct people to inject bleach, but raised the suggestion as an “interesting” concept to test out.
At the news conference, a member of Trump’s coronavirus task force said that the virus died under direct sunlight and that applying bleach in indoor spaces would kill the virus in five minutes and that isopropyl alcohol would kill it in 30 seconds.
Trump responded: “Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light — and I think you said that that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it. And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you’re going to test that too.”
“And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute,” he added. “One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that.”
What was said
“Donald Trump and JD Vance want to dismantle our health care system, repeal the Affordable Care Act and eliminate protections for preexisting conditions.” — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico
This is exaggerated. Trump campaigned in 2016 on repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, but Republicans in Congress never succeeded.
Though Trump continues to criticize the health care law as an expensive “disaster,” his statements this campaign have been more ambiguous. And he has said he would retain protections for patients with preexisting conditions.
“I’m not running to terminate the ACA,” Trump wrote on social media in March, adding that he would make the health care law “much, much, much better for far less money.” He echoed that message in a video in April.
Trump has not released any specific details on what this would entail. On his campaign website, he pledged to protect “patients with preexisting conditions,” though this promise is at odds with his record.
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