Donald Trump repeats some false statements year after year, sometimes invents stories about trivial things, and uses incorrect numbers even when the real ones would be favorable to him. These are some of the observations of Daniel Dale, the CNN journalist who has been following and fact-checking his statements for a decade.
Dale started in September 2016 when he was a correspondent in Washington for the Toronto Star. He thought it would be a short project: Trump was then a candidate whom many considered unlikely to win the presidency. Over the next four years, the journalist recorded over 8,500 false statements. Two months before the 2020 elections, he stopped verifying all of them because their number had become too large.
In an analysis published by CNN, Dale reviews what he understood from the ten years spent following Trump's statements: when false statements multiply, why some continue to be believed, and what effect they have on public debate.
Invented stories about trivial things
Dale does not claim that Trump is the only American politician who tells untruths. The difference, he writes, lies in the frequency of Trump's false statements, the variety of topics, and how easily he makes statements that can be disproven.
Some of the examples that stuck with him are devoid of political stakes. Trump claimed he had received a call from the American scouts organization, although the call never happened, and that he had been named "Man of the Year" in Michigan, although he had not received such an award. He claimed that the rooms were full, although empty seats were visible.
Many statements are then repeated dozens of times. This explains, says Dale, why he can sometimes fact-check them immediately: he has already done the research when he first heard them.
The journalist has also noticed several signs that make him pay attention to a story told by Trump. Among them are reports in which an unidentified person addresses him as "sir," stories about men crying in front of him, or about adversaries who came to ask for his help. In these stories, Trump always appears in a position of power, Dale points out.
Even the numbers invoked by the president should not be taken at face value, the journalist argues. He says he found errors in the data used by Trump about polls, inflation, investments, fuel prices, foreign policy, or crowd sizes. Sometimes, an accurate statistic would portray him in a positive light, but Trump chooses a wrong number that makes the result appear even better.
When problems arise, false statements increase
According to Dale, the periods when Trump made the most false statements coincided with difficult moments for him: the 2018 parliamentary elections, the Ukraine scandal that led to his first impeachment in Congress, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the 2020 presidential elections, which he lost.
Trump also picks up false theories launched by other people, which he sometimes seems to believe, the journalist further writes. And the fact that a statement has been fact-checked and refuted does not necessarily mean that the president will stop using it.
Dale gives the example of the claim that the United States had the highest inflation in its history during Joe Biden's term. Trump has repeatedly acknowledged being corrected for this statement, only to repeat it.
The journalist also notes a change from Trump's first term. Back then, White House collaborators rarely responded to questions about his false statements. Now, his spokespeople regularly declare him "justified," even regarding things that contradict the facts.
Why do so many unchallenged statements reach the public?
Dale says that the press also has a problem in how it covers Trump's statements. Publications that support him rarely fact-check them, and other media outlets sometimes reproduce his false statements without explaining to readers what exactly is wrong.
Part of the problem is the pace of news and the smaller number of reporters. However, the volume of Trump's statements also matters. If a politician makes a single false statement, the press can fact-check it and treat it as an important news item. When such statements appear week after week, year after year, many end up going unchallenged.
That does not mean that the public does not care. According to the journalist, polls conducted throughout Trump's political career have shown that Americans who do not consider him honest and trustworthy are roughly twice as numerous as those who do.
However, there are supporters who accept the false statements or even appreciate them. During a visit in 2017 to two Trump-friendly communities in Ohio, Dale met voters who liked that the president was challenging the Washington politicians they had come to despise. His direct, unfiltered style can give the impression of sincerity even when what he says is not true, the journalist explains.
Dale believes that some of the statements that could cost Trump the most politically are those about prices. Voters may not know the details of a military agreement or a trade policy. However, they see how much they pay when they go shopping. When Trump says that all prices are lower than at the beginning of his term or that almost all are rapidly decreasing, people can compare these statements with their own expenses.
The consequences are not just political
Dale confesses that some of Trump's lies are so bizarre or insignificant that he cannot help but laugh. However, viewed as a whole, they have done a lot of harm to the country.
He recalls the attack on January 6, 2021, on the Capitol, when Trump supporters forcibly entered the building where Congress was to confirm Joe Biden's victory. The attack followed weeks during which Trump claimed, without evidence, that the elections had been stolen from him.
Dale also believes that Trump's statements downplaying the danger of Covid-19 most likely led to loss of life.
The consequences have also affected individuals directly targeted by his statements. Journalists, judges, and people who worked on election organization have received threats and harassment, Dale points out.
"And American democracy has suffered because of all these lies," concludes the journalist.
G.P.