U.S president Donald Trump has made 20,000 false or misleading claims since he took the office on January 20, 2017, the Washington Post reported on July 14.
The paper’s Fact Checker column pointed out Trump hit the milestone on July 9, a day on which he delivered 62 such claims, bringing the total to 20,055.
It said that Trump made untrue statements on various domestic and international topics.
Over the last 14 months, such events included comments on his impeachment procedures, the COVID-19 pandemic and the police killing of African-American George Floyd. Trump has averaged 23 false or misleading claims a day.
The paper also highlighted that the president has expressed about 1,200 lies and misleading claims about COVID-19, many of which are connected to the testing capacity of the United States. Trump often claims the America has the best record on testing around the world, while its experts say testing in the U.S. is far behind the size of its outbreak.
The paper started its database during the president’s first 100 days in office. Its staff have then gone through every statement made by him at press conferences and rallies, TV appearances and on social media.
In the first 100 days, the Post’s Fact Checker recorded 492 false or misleading claims made by Trump, which means he made these fake claims nearly five times a day. Since then, the recorders notes “the tsunami of untruths just keeps looming larger and larger.”
The Post noted that the president often distorts facts, such as by saying: “The current state of the U.S. economy is the best in the history of the country.” In addition, Trump also regularly announced “building a wall on the border with Mexico” and “the largest tax cut in American history.” However, they are not the case.
The Washington Post is one of the largest and most influential newspapers in the United States. In 2013, it was acquired by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos for 250 million U.S dollars. The paper often criticizes the Trump administration’s actions, which angered the U.S. president, accusing the newspaper of publishing “fake news.”
