Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Trump Bluntly Fact-Checked After Claiming Americans 'Never Had It So Good' As When He Was President

Screenshot of Donald Trump
Newsmax

While speaking in North Carolina, the ex-President tried to claim that Americans 'never had it so good' as they did at the end of his term in January of 2021—but critics beg to differ.

Speaking at an event in Asheville, North Carolina, former President Donald Trump tried to claim that Americans "never had it so good" as they did at the end of his term in January of 2021—only to be bluntly fact-checked in the process.

The speech was meant to offer a platform for Trump to discuss his economic proposals but quickly devolved into a typical Trump campaign rally characterized by lies and distortions, this time about the state of the country under his leadership.


Trump claimed:

"It was under President Trump we passed the largest tax cuts in American history, the largest regulation cuts in history. We unleashed American energy and real income surged by more than $4,200 in just a short number of months."
"You never had it so good. Now you’re not doing so well. We had the strongest economy in history. There's never been a country that had an economy like us."
"I have [Vice President Kamala Harris] and [President Joe Biden] an economic miracle and they turned it into an economic nightmare with a nation-wrecking agenda ripped out of Kamala's San Francisco liberal playbook."

You can hear what he said in the video below.

In January 2021—best known as the month when Trump's followers attacked the U.S. Capitol on the false premise the 2020 election had been stolen—the economy was not in the "good" place Trump purports it was.

Supply chain shortages were a fact of life due to COVID-19 disruptions and there were several weeks at the height of the pandemic in spring 2020 when millions of people couldn't find a single roll of toilet paper anywhere, the result at least in part of panic buying as state and local governments issued stay-at-home orders that were largely ignored by Trump's followers.

Well over 1.2 million Americans have died since the COVID-19 pandemic began during Trump's final year in office. Many of these people could have been saved had Trump's administration taken the situation seriously from the start.

In fact, January 2021 marked the deadliest month of the COVID-19 pandemic, claiming over 95,000 lives.

Trump was almost immediately fact-checked.


Of course, there's more about the country's economic condition in January 2021 that Trump did not mention.

In January 2021, just before the conclusion of Trump's term, the Labor Department disclosed that total U.S. employment had plummeted by 140,000 in December, resulting in a total of 142.6 million jobs—approximately 10 million fewer than pre-pandemic levels.

The unemployment rate surged from a 50-year low of 3.5% in February 2020 to 14.8% within two months, with over 22 million people losing their jobs. Although it later decreased to 6.7%, that figure was still 2 percentage points higher than when Trump took office.

In this regard, Trump isn't alone; he is the third consecutive Republican president to leave office with a higher unemployment rate than at the start of his term, following both President George H. W. Bush and President George W. Bush.

Additionally, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), a progressive American think tank that analyzes the impact of federal and state government budget policies, the 2017 Trump-era Tax Act was "skewed to the rich," noting that:

"Households with incomes in the top 1 percent will receive an average tax cut of more than $60,000 in 2025, compared to an average tax cut of less than $500 for households in the bottom 60 percent."

The organization said in March that the tax cuts were "expensive and eroded the U.S. revenue base," remarking that at this moment there is "simply not enough revenue given the nation’s investment needs and our commitments to Social Security and health coverage."

More from News/2024-election

Nick Cannon
Paras Griffin/BET/Getty Images

Nick Cannon Admits That Fathering 12 Children Was 'Careless' And Unintentional

Nick Cannon has been a subject of speculation for years, specifically because of his polyamorous relationships and now 12 children.

In 2022, Cannon welcomed his eleventh child, Beautiful Zeppelin, with DJ and radio personality Abby De La Rosa, and his twelfth child, Halo Marie Cannon, with model Alyssa Scott.

Keep ReadingShow less
Charlie Kirk; Malcolm X
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Pictorial Parade/Archive Photos/Getty Images

Bizarre AI Image Of Charlie Kirk Meeting Malcolm X In Heaven Has People Shaking Their Heads

An AI-generated image of late far-right activist Charlie Kirk meeting civil rights leader Malcolm X in Heaven has sparked backlash after circulating in the wake of Kirk's assassination last week.

Conservative influencer Drew Pavlou shared the image, which shows Kirk and Malcolm X shaking hands, and included the following caption:

Keep ReadingShow less
MrBeast asked Mike Tyson to punch him for clout during the Canelo–Crawford fight.
@mrbeast/Instagram

MrBeast KO'd by Tyson!

No amount of Feastables chocolate bars, or the allegedly moldy Lunchlies he co-signed with Logan Paul and KSI, could stop the internet from cackling at MrBeast volunteering his torso as target practice for Mike Tyson.

The bizarre stunt went down during Saturday’s Terence Crawford vs. Canelo Álvarez fight at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, a Netflix-streamed mega-bout that, for some reason, also came with bonus YouTuber body shots.

Keep ReadingShow less
Jane Fonda; Robert Redford; Meryl Streep
Stephane Cardinale/Corbis/Getty Images; Stephane Cardinale/Corbis/Getty Images; Raymond Hall/GC Images/Getty Images

Jane Fonda And Meryl Streep Lead Hollywood Tributes To Robert Redford After His Death At 89

The world lost an acting legend yesterday with the announcement that Robert Redford had passed away in his sleep in his home in Sundance, Utah, at the age of 89.

Redford was well-known for his performances in films like The Sundance Kid, The Way We Were, The Horse Whisperer, The Natural, and The Great Gatsby; his production of The Old Man & The Gun, American Epic, and Chicagoland; and most recently, his advocacy for sustainability and climate change.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots of Kash Patel and Cory Booker
@atrupar/X

Cory Booker Epically Shuts Down FBI Director Kash Patel During Shouting Match In Congress

New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker sparred with FBI Director Kash Patel during a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting yesterday when Patel attempted to silence Booker for speaking after his time was up, prompting Booker to repudiate Patel for his behavior throughout the proceedings.

Booker criticized Patel for mass firings of career staff that he said stripped the bureau of leadership and expertise, remarks that came as Patel also faced Republican criticism over his handling of the FBI following the assassination of far-right activist Charlie Kirk.

Keep ReadingShow less