With the Republican National Convention in full swing, fact-checkers are working overtime to correct the falsehoods presented by President Donald Trump and his allies on primetime television.
One of the President's sons, Eric Trump, made that job even more difficult with his address to viewers on Tuesday, accomplishing the formidable task of telling three lies over the course of one sentence.
Watch his full speech below.
Watch Eric Trump's Full Speech At The 2020 RNC | NBC Newswww.youtube.com
Eric Trump said:
"Biden has pledged to defund the police, and take away your cherished Second Amendment. My father on the other hand, delivered the largest tax cuts in American history"
It's a lie that Biden wants to defund the police. He's unequivocally stated this is not the case and has even—to some controversy—proposed expanding police funding for local forces while also increasing the presence of social workers and psychologists.
Back in June, Biden wrote in an op-ed for USA Today:
"While I do not believe federal dollars should go to police departments violating people's rights or turning to violence as the first resort, I do not support defunding police. The better answer is to give police departments the resources they need to implement meaningful reforms, and to condition other federal dollars on completing those reforms."
It's also a lie that Biden wants to abolish the Second Amendment, though this argument is frequently deployed against Democrats of every ideological facet.
Biden's gun control plan offers a buyback program for assault weapons, but allows Americans to keep them if they register them under the National Firearms Act. Biden's plan also emphasizes accountability for gun manufacturers without targeting legal gun ownership.
Eric Trump's claim that the President passed the largest tax cut in American history is a common talking point put forth by Republicans making the case for another four years of Donald Trump, but it's a lie as well.
According to the Washington Post, which gave the claim four Pinocchios on its fact checking scale:
:The best way to compare tax cuts (or spending plans) over time is to measure them as a percentage of the national economy. Inflation-adjusted dollars are another option, but a percentage of gross domestic product helps put the impact of the bill into context.
Trump tax cut, according to Treasury Dept. data, is nearly 0.9 percent of GDP — compared to 2.89 percent of GDP for Ronald Reagan's 1981 tax cut. Trump's tax cut is only the eighth largest — and is even smaller than two of Barack Obama's tax cuts."
People marveled at Eric Trump's ability to fit so many lies into such simple sentences.
Pretty amazing how many lies Eric Trump is able to fit in a single sentence. Biden doesn't want to defund the police, and the Trump tax cuts weren't the biggest in history, etc., etc.
— Matt O'Brien (@ObsoleteDogma) August 26, 2020
So far, Eric Trump has used more lies than verbs.
— Bryan Behar (@bryanbehar) August 26, 2020
That's a lie @erictrump, Democrats do not want to defund the police. #TrumpChaos #RNC2020
— David Weissman (@davidmweissman) August 26, 2020
There are just so many absurd falsehoods in this Eric Trump speech (I don't know if they're lies because it's entirely possibly Eric Trump has no idea what he is saying is false)....
— S.V. Dáte (@svdate) August 26, 2020
We don't need PolitiFact to tell us this Eric Trump quote is a lie: “Biden has pledged to defund the police and take away your cherished Second Amendment..." #RNC2020 pic.twitter.com/5vFFfQBVz2
— Moms Demand Action (@MomsDemand) August 26, 2020
geez Eric lies as much has his father, how can he lie on national tv, oh ya he's a trump .@cspanwj
— Vivian Shepardson (@kokoshep) August 26, 2020
Eric was selling illusions - lies, in normal folks parlance - because that's what Trumps do. https://t.co/vdgq4eq3Ti
— Michael Flowers (@MFlowersTweetz) August 26, 2020
Others called out the amount of lies throughout the whole convention.
It is truly astonishing how many lies they have fit in to this convention. https://t.co/5eTaGQV9bR
— Steve Kerrigan (@stevekerrigan) August 26, 2020
I want to run for President just so there'll be a convention where everyone lies about how great I am.
— Brent Spiner (@BrentSpiner) August 26, 2020
'Fact Checker: Another tsunami of untruths on the second night of the RNC.' - 19 standout lies https://t.co/mF36Qdcie2
— Mia Farrow (@MiaFarrow) August 26, 2020
Eric Trump is currently embroiled in a legal battle with New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is seeking a court order to enforce a subpoena for Eric Trump to answer questions under oath.