Patton: Does Donald Trump Lie?

In politics, lies and exaggerations are as common as dandelions in my front yard. Donald Trump calls Hillary Clinton "Lyin Hillary'." Turnabout is fair play, however. We might ask, "Does Donald Trump lie?"

Fact checks are becoming more common in political coverage, so statements by candidates are being double-checked by the media to determine whether or not they are true. That's a very good thing because the truth can easily become lost in the buckets of baloney continuously ground out by politicians.

On June 22, Trump gave a major speech attacking Hillary Clinton. This speech was fact checked by CNN (6/22/2016) and PolitiFact (6/22/2016), two reliable media outlets. Their analyses were thorough, lengthy, objective, and fact based. I have attempted to summarize the findings of both organizations to give an overall picture of Trump's truthfulness. The statements investigated are not just those aimed at Hillary, but rather measured the accuracy of all claims made by Trump during that speech.

CNN rated statements (a) true, (b) mostly true, (c) true, but misleading, (d) false, or (e) (it's too) complicated (to make a judgment). An example of a true but misleading comment would be Trump's claim that major corporations are selling out America's middle class by shipping jobs overseas. That's true as far as it goes, but CNN notes, "A CNN investigation shows that Trump and his businesses offshored jobs to a number of countries, including Bangladesh, Indonesia. and even China."

CNN rated 23 statements made by Trump. Six were judged to be "true", none were "mostly true," four were "true, but misleading," one was too complicated to judge, and fully 12 were just plain "false." Trump's claims might be further categorized two ways: (a) either by using the most lenient criteria (giving Trump credit for both "true" and "true, but misleading" claims) or (b) by giving him credit only for "true" statements. In either case, most of the things Trump said were false.

Was CNN a biased observer? Was it being unfair to Trump? Let's take a look at the fact check by PolitiFact to see if it differs from the one by CNN.

PolitiFact used a slightly different rating system. Trump's remarks were rated (a) "true," (b) "half true, mostly true or true, but misleading" (c) "mixed or unclear," (d) "false", or (e) "pants on fire lie". A total of 27 statements were rated. Six were judged to be "true," six were "half, mostly or true but misleading," two were "mixed or unclear, " 11 were "false," and two were "pants on fire lies."

Being generous to Trump, claims he made that were "true," "half true, mostly true, or true, but misleading," as judged by PolitiFact were combined. The total was compared with the sum of the negative categories added together ("false" and "pants on fire lies"). Trump made more false statements than correct ones.

Thus, both the CNN and the PolitiFact fact checks show Trump misstating the truth most of the time. "PolitiFact even awarded Trump their 'Lie of the Year Award.' 'In considering our annual Lie of the Year, we found our only real contenders were Trump's (lies) . . . '" (Tina Nguyen, Vanity Fair, 6/22/2016).

What were Trump's most egregious misstatements during his speech? Trump: "We are, by the way, the highest taxed nation in the world. Please remember that." PoltiFact's response; "We've given Trump three False ratings for this claim. Whether you're looking at tax burden as a percentage of GDP or per capita or specifying corporate tax revenue, the United States is nowhere near the top. Please remember that."

Trump: "Our military has been 'totally depleted.'" PolitiFact's response: "While military spending has decreased, the United States' defense budget is larger than the next seven to eight countries combined."

Trump: "There's no way to screen who (immigrants) are, what they are, what they believe, where they come from." PolitiFact's response: "We rated an earlier claim from Trump like this - there is 'no system to vet' refugees - False. There are concerns about information gaps, but a way to screen refugees does exist and has existed since 1980.

"It involves multiple federal intelligence and security agencies as well as the United Nations. Refugee-vetting typically takes one to two years and includes numerous rounds of security checks."

So you can believe the old saying "Don't believe everything you hear," particularly when Donald Trump says it.

Gary Patton is the author of two books, Selling Mt. Washington, a political satire, and Outtastatahs: Newcomers' Adventures in New Hampshire, a work of regional humor.