'Biden's Numbers' as He Runs for Reelection 

Every three months, we post "Biden's Numbers" --  a quarterly review of how the United States is faring since President Joe Biden took office. 

This time, our report came two days after the president made it official: He's running for reelection.

Incumbents are judged on their records, and this article provides the latest authoritative data on such topics as employment, inflation, health insurance and immigration.

The number of people with jobs has increased dramatically since Biden took office, far surpassing pre-pandemic levels. Manufacturing jobs, in particular, are rising briskly. 

Inflation, too, has increased significantly under Biden, although it has slowed dramatically in recent months. As of March, the Consumer Price Index had increased 14.9% during Biden's first 26 months in office.

As of the third quarter of 2022, the number of uninsured Americans has declined by about 4.2 million, as estimated by the National Health Interview Survey. 

The apprehensions of people trying to enter the country illegally through the southwest border are up 342% for the past 12 months, compared with President Donald Trump’s last year in office. That's despite a significant reduction in apprehensions in January and February.

For more about these and other topics, read the full story, "Biden's Numbers, April Update."

Reader: Did former President Trump ever say the US Constitution should be suspended or terminated? If so, when and where did it occur?

FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely: On his Truth Social platform, Trump said this on Dec. 3: “So, with the revelation of MASSIVE & WIDESPREAD FRAUD & DECEPTION in working closely with Big Tech Companies, the DNC, & the Democrat Party, do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution. Our great 'Founders' did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!”

There is no evidence of “massive fraud,” as we have written many times.

Two days later, Trump denied what he wrote. Again on Truth Social, he wrote: “The Fake News is actually trying to convince the American People that I said I wanted to ‘terminate’ the Constitution. This is simply more DISINFORMATION & LIES. … What I said was that when there is 'MASSIVE & WIDESPREAD FRAUD & DECEPTION,' as has been irrefutably proven in the 2020 Presidential Election, steps must be immediately taken to RIGHT THE WRONG. Only FOOLS would disagree with that and accept STOLEN ELECTIONS. MAGA!”

The Wall Street Journal editorial board summed up his two statements this way: “In reality, there’s little distinction: The Constitution contains no provision for mulligan presidential elections, so what Mr. Trump is talking about is impossible under the parchment written by the Founders. But if he doesn’t grasp why he’s being called the constitutional Terminator, he should reread what he wrote two days earlier.”

Wrapping Up

Here's what else we've got for you this week:

• "FactChecking Biden’s Reelection Remarks": President Joe Biden announced on April 25 that he would run for reelection in the 2024 campaign. In his video announcement and a speech later that day to a union group, Biden repeated several claims we’ve fact-checked before.
• "Masking Has Minimal Effects on Respiratory System, Does Not Cause Long COVID": Long COVID is a collection of health problems caused by COVID-19 that remain or appear following the initial infection. It is implausible that face masks cause long COVID, contrary to claims made online. Mask use can temporarily cause discomfort, but physiological effects are not biologically meaningful. 
• "Warming Beyond 1.5 C Harmful, But Not a Point of No Return, as Biden Claims": It's increasingly likely that the planet will reach 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, of warming, probably within the next two decades. But while that level of warming comes with a variety of dangerous effects, it's not a point of no return, scientists say, and it doesn't mean "we're done," as President Joe Biden has claimed. 
• "Posts Mislead on Rules for Guns at NRA Convention, Utah GOP Event": The three-day National Rifle Association convention in Indianapolis allowed attendees to carry firearms, except for a two-hour period when former President Donald Trump and other leaders spoke in a hall secured by the Secret Service. Yet, social media posts from a Democratic advocacy group misleadingly claimed that “guns were BANNED at the NRA convention.”

• "No hay pruebas de que las vacunas estén relacionadas con un exceso de muertes, contrariamente a lo que se afirma en internet": 
  Las vacunas contra el COVID-19 reducen sustancialmente el riesgo de morir por COVID-19, y los efectos secundarios graves son muy poco frecuentes. El exceso de muertes entre adultos en edad laboral en 2021 y 2022 se debió al COVID-19 y a otros factores, no a las vacunas. Afirmaciones de que las vacunas causan discapacidades y daños económicos a gran escala se basan en un razonamiento equivocado.