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

Screenshots from @david.scott.203's TikTok video
@david.scott.203/TikTok

Mom-To-Be Sparks Heated Debate After Delaying Flight With Elaborate Pregnancy Announcement

We might all be able to agree that the prospect of having a baby can be an exciting thing, and making a pregnancy announcement is something to celebrate over—but is the announcement always worth the wait?

That was the question TikTokers were left asking after TikToker @david.scott.203 posted a video of a pregnancy announcement that might have gone on for a little too long.

Keep ReadingShow less
Allison Williams; Kelly Clarkson
The Kelly Clarkson Show/YouTube

Kelly Clarkson Hilariously Reacts After Getting Called Out For Glancing At Allison Williams' Forehead Botox

New podcasts are popping up all over the place, and some are definitely more important and life-affirming than others. While visiting the Kelly Clarkson Show, Allison Williams opened up to Clarkson around her recent projects, including starting a podcast and why it was so important to her.

While pregnant, M3GAN's Williams noted that she and her friends became a "lifeline [and a] landline" for each other, and she realized that she could offer a similar experience for listeners.

Keep ReadingShow less
Michael Cera; Tom Cruise
Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images; Manuel Velasquez/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures

Michael Cera Hilariously Reveals How Tom Cruise Once Called Him Out For Talking On Set

Actor Michael Cera opened up about the moment he once shared with the legendary Tom Cruise—something of a mentorship moment, if you will, though not one Cera likely expected.

During a visit to The Louis Theroux Podcast to discuss his new film The Phoenician Scheme, Cera was reminded of the time in 2010 when he filmed a bit for the MTV Movie Awards with Cruise.

Keep ReadingShow less
Marge Simpson
20th Television Animation

Yes, Marge Simpson Died In 'The Simpsons' Season Finale—But She's Not Gone For Good

The Simpsons is an icon of animation that first appeared as shorts between bits on The Tracey Ullman Show, beginning on April 19, 1987. Dan Castellaneta and Julie Kavner, cast members from Ullman's eponymous sketch comedy show, were asked to lend their voices to keep costs down for the fledgling Fox television network.

In December of 1989, the dysfunctional family got their own show and quickly bolstered viewership for the first U.S.-based network to challenge the original three of ABC, CBS, and NBC.

Keep ReadingShow less
Dr. Mehmet Oz
Fox News

Dr. Oz Slammed After His 'Credit Card' Health Care Analogy Goes Completely Off The Rails

Snake oil salesman Dr. Mehmet Oz—now the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services—was criticized after he tried to discuss U.S. health insurance providers' pledge to speed up the prior authorization process by oddly comparing it to a "credit card," underscoring just how much he doesn't understand the job he currently holds.

Earlier this week, major U.S. health insurers—including Cigna, Aetna, Humana, and UnitedHealthcare—announced a set of reforms aimed at simplifying the often frustrating prior authorization process for patients and providers.

Keep ReadingShow less