News / Politics

Trump makes an average of 5.5 false claims a day: Fact checkers

Wednesday, 15 November 2017 10:19 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 18 November 2017 4:45 PM ]

US President Donald Trump talks on the sidelines of the 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Manila, on November 13, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Donald Trump has made over 1,600 false or misleading statements since he has become president of the United States, an average of 5.5 claims a day, according to an analysis.

The Washington Post's Fact Checker, updated Tuesday morning, has counted 1,628 false or misleading claims by President Trump in his 298 days in office.

Fact checkers found that in the last 35 days Trump has averaged closer to nine misleading or false claims a day.

If the US president continues with his current pace, he will blow past 2,000 misstatements or untruths in his first year in office.

Trump, who often communicates his thoughts via Twitter, has repeated the same false claims three or more times.

His most repeated false statement is about the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare, which Trump has declared “essentially dead” or used some variation of that claim 60 times.

Fact checkers also said that Trump has falsely taken credit for creating jobs or business investment that began during the previous administration.

Trump has said the US is the highest-taxed country in the world 31 times. That is not true, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Denmark holds that title.

The president has also falsely claimed, 19 times, that the US has the highest corporate tax rate in the world. After legal deductions and tax breaks, the US companies pay less in taxes than those in the UK, Argentina, and Japan.

Trump himself has a habit of dismissing as “fake news” any criticism of him or his policies.

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