The day after a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump delivered a speech many are calling his most repugnant yet.
In it, Trump doubled down on his proposal to ban entry of Muslims into the United States. In addition to being wildly offensive, it was also willfully inaccurate. Here’s a sampling of his playing loose with the facts:
He’s referring to congressional testimony given by James Comey in October 2015, in which the FBI director admitted that “a number of people who were of serious concern” were able to enter the United States by way of resettlement programs for refugees of the Iraq War, a project initiated by the Bush administration. “I can’t sit here and offer anybody an absolute assurance that there’s no risk associated with this,” he said, which is reasonable enough—but he also also clarified that screening procedures have “vastly improved” since those years.
In fact, the US has stringent immigrant and refugee screening procedures in place. It can take upwards of two years, requires rigorous background checks and comprehensive documentation by both the US government and the United Nations, and even then, only a fraction of the most vulnerable cases are admitted. They are then monitored by government officials for years after the fact.
A grand total of 12 Minnesotan Somalis have been charged with aiding ISIL, and many of them were born in the United States.
Uh, no. From secretary Clinton’s campaign website:
While gun ownership is part of the fabric of many law-abiding communities, too many families in America have suffered from gun violence. About 33,000 Americans are killed by guns each year. That is unacceptable. It is a rebuke to this nation we love.
That’s why Hillary supports sensible action to address gun violence, including comprehensive background checks, cracking down on illegal gun traffickers, holding dealers and manufacturers accountable when they endanger Americans, and keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and stalkers.
Not once has Clinton expressed an interest in disarming Americans wholesale or abolishing the Second Amendment.
Just last week, Trump addressed conservative evangelical Christians assembled at the Faith and Freedom Coalition summit in Washington, where he reiterated his anti-abortion politics and promised to defend “traditional marriage.”
Who can’t have it both ways?
No, she definitely doesn’t. You might be able to argue that Clinton promotes a foreign policy that cultivates radical Islamism and animosity toward the United States, but you can’t genuinely believe she wants to roll out the red carpet for terrorists.
We’re pretty sure that bankrupting the country isn’t part of her plan for immigration policy.
Perhaps the biggest lie of them all.
