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An update from FactCheck.org


** Even Civil Debates Need FactChecking
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The vice presidential debate between Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and Republican Sen. JD Vance was notable for its relative civility. Even so, we found lots to fact-check.

Vance and Walz disagreed not only on the issues, in particular on immigration and abortion, but also on former President Donald Trump's role in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

In all, we wrote about 19 false and misleading claims from both candidates. Here are some highlights:

Vance claimed that housing “is totally unaffordable because we brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for scarce homes.” But economists and housing experts say that the primary reason for the tight housing market is the decline in new residential construction that followed the Great Recession.

Walz falsely claimed that “their” Project 2025 will establish a registry of pregnancies, referring to what might happen under a Trump-Vance administration. The conservative document -- which the Trump campaign has disavowed -- advocates mandatory state reporting of abortions and miscarriages, but not the tracking of pregnancy in general.

Vance said that the Affordable Care Act “was doing disastrously until Donald Trump came along” and that Trump “could have destroyed the program." Instead, Vance said Trump worked in a "bipartisan way to ensure that Americans had access to affordable care.” Trump did try to destroy the ACA. In addition to trying to repeal and replace it, Trump’s administration supported a lawsuit that would have nullified the entire law.

Walz misleadingly blamed Trump’s tax cuts for "an $8 trillion increase in the national debt, the largest ever.” But trillions of that debt were due to bipartisan COVID-19 relief packages. And the debt increase so far under the Biden administration is nearly as high.

Vance said that Trump told his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, to “protest peacefully.” Vance ignored Trump’s role in mobilizing his supporters, and the tone and tenor of Trump’s defiant speech that day on the Ellipse. Trump spent most of the speech telling his supporters that the Democrats stole the election and the Republicans needed to fight back.

"If you don’t fight like hell," Trump told the crowd, "you’re not going to have a country anymore."

Read the full story, "FactChecking the Vice Presidential Debate ([link removed]) ," which is also available in Spanish ([link removed]) .

We also did some fact-checking videos from the debate, which you can find on our social media accounts, including Instagram ([link removed]) , YouTube ([link removed]) and TikTok ([link removed]) .
HOW WE KNOW
The Election Assistance Commission is a great resource for election data. In his article on military and overseas citizen voters, Deputy Managing Editor Robert Farley used the EAC's 2020 voting survey to report that nearly 890,000 overseas ballots were counted in the 2020 election, an almost 74% increase from 2016. Read more ([link removed]) .
FEATURED FACT
During former President Donald Trump’s four-year term, the total national debt went up by $7.8 trillion. So far under President Joe Biden, it has risen by $7.7 trillion, with more than three months until the end of Biden’s term. As of Oct. 2, public debt, which excludes money the government owes itself, is now at about $28.3 trillion. Read more ([link removed]) .
WORTHY OF NOTE
Science Editor Jessica McDonald appeared this week on FACTSinnated -- a podcast that focuses on combatting vaccination misconceptions, particularly vaccines for adolescents and young adults.

Asked about common COVID-19 vaccine misconceptions, Jessica talked about the relentless false claims that COVID-19 vaccines have "killed massive numbers of people."

"This is just clearly not true because if ... the vaccines were that dangerous it would be obvious in a lot of data sets" and "countries around the world would have taken action," Jessica said. "To believe this, you kind of have to think there's a huge cover-up."

A trained scientist with a Ph.D. in immunology, Jessica said there have been rare cases of myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle, and pericarditis, or inflammation of the outer lining of the heart, reported following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination, particularly among young males after a second dose. But, she added, the data show that the benefits of vaccination still outweigh the risks.

"The question becomes, 'does this risk outweigh the benefits?' And given the data that we have, the answer is no. It's still better to get vaccinated," Jessica said.

You can listen to the 19-minute podcast on Spotify ([link removed]) and Apple Podcasts ([link removed]) .
REPLY ALL

Reader: Did wages rise during the Trump administration?

FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely: We addressed this topic when former President Donald Trump's running mate, Sen. JD Vance, said at the convention, "There’s this chart that shows worker wages, and they stagnated for pretty much my entire life until President Donald J. Trump came along — workers’ wages went through the roof.”

As we wrote, ([link removed]) wage growth was solid under Trump, but it continued a trend that started years before.

For that story, we looked at the Bureau of Labor Statistics data ([link removed]) for “real” average weekly earnings, which are adjusted for inflation and measured in dollars valued at their average level in 1982-84. Real average weekly wages for production and nonsupervisory workers — who make up 81% of all private-sector workers — went up 9.6% in Trump's four years. But there was a noticeable spike in April and May 2020, during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when unemployment shot up and many lower-wage workers lost their jobs. Before the pandemic hit, average weekly earnings for production and nonsupervisory workers had gone up 3.6% under Trump.

And, as we’ve also explained before ([link removed]) , the rise under Trump extended a trend that started after the 2007-2009 recession. Over President Barack Obama’s two terms in office, real weekly earnings for rank-and-file workers rose 4%.


** Wrapping Up
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Here's what else we've got for you this week:
* "Trump, Vance Wrong About ‘Illegal Immigrant Murderers ([link removed]) ’": In campaign appearances over the weekend in the swing state of Pennsylvania, former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, falsely accused Vice President Kamala Harris of letting more than 13,000 “illegal immigrant murderers” into the United States.
* "Trump’s Misleading Warning About Overseas Voters ([link removed]) ": Former President Donald Trump claimed that Democrats are “getting ready to CHEAT” by encouraging overseas citizens to vote, falsely saying that ballots are being sent overseas “without any citizenship check or verification of identity, whatsoever,” and warning of “foreign interference.”
* "Harris Misleadingly Cites Some Economic Analyses of Her Policies and Trump’s ([link removed]) ": In recent remarks, Vice President Kamala Harris has cited several economic analyses, claiming they found her plan would “strengthen the economy” and former President Donald Trump’s plan would “weaken it.” But that’s not exactly what some of those reports said.
* "Walz’s False Project 2025 Pregnancy Monitoring Claims ([link removed]) ": Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz falsely claimed that Project 2025 calls for the tracking of “all pregnancies” and would require people “to register with a new federal agency” upon getting pregnant. The conservative playbook advocates the reporting of all miscarriages and abortions but does not stipulate the monitoring of all pregnancies.
* "Unfounded Claims Target Springfield Officials, Haitian Immigrants ([link removed]) ": Springfield, Ohio, has been the target of misinformation about its Haitian immigrant population. Conservative commentators are now falsely claiming the mayor traveled to Haiti and he and other city officials received “kick-backs” for “importing” immigrants to Springfield. The mayor told us he has never been to Haiti nor has he received any “kickbacks.”
* "Posts Misrepresent Plan for National Hurricane Center in Project 2025 ([link removed]) ": Project 2025 proposes dismantling the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Some social media posts misleadingly claim the project calls for closing the National Hurricane Center, a part of NOAA. A Heritage Foundation spokesperson said Project 2025 “does not call for eliminating the NHC,” though climate experts warned that the project’s proposals would hamper the NHC’s operations.
* "Post Misrepresents Fetterman’s Remarks About Trump Support in Pennsylvania ([link removed]) ": In an interview, Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania said some people in his state think former President Donald Trump is a “terrible person” but they say “I will still vote for him.” A social media post misrepresents Fetterman’s comments to claim he supports Trump. The senator supports Vice President Kamala Harris.

Y lo que publicamos en español ([link removed]) (English versions are accessible in each story):
* "Verificación de hechos del debate vicepresidencial ([link removed]) ": A pesar de que el debate entre el senador JD Vance y el gobernador de Minnesota, Tim Walz, fue civilizado en general, ambos discreparon repetidamente no solo sobre políticas, sino también sobre los hechos. Analizamos algunas de esas afirmaciones contrapuestas y otros errores factuales realizados por los candidatos a la vicepresidencia.

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