Fact Checking the First Trump-Biden Debate
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Thursday night's debate between former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden featured no shortage of false or misleading claims.
From Trump: The former president said Biden "wants to raise your taxes by four times." It's unclear what he was referring to. He said food prices are up "quadruple" since Biden took over; the true number is about 20%. Trump also claimed that some blue states allow abortions "after birth." No state has laws permitting such a practice. Trump claimed the U.S. was "energy independent" during his administration. People disagree on what this means.
From Biden: Biden said Trump wants to "get rid of" Social Security, which is untrue. He asserted that Border Patrol endorsed him; the agency's union denied this. Biden at one point said his administration created "15,000" jobs. He likely meant to say "15 million," which is a common campaign talking point. The data supports this, but misses context; millions of the jobs added under Biden were jobs that were lost during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Other Factual Disputes: NBC News (Lean Left bias) and FactCheck.org (both Lean Left bias) suggested Trump did call veterans "suckers and losers" and didn't mention denials from Trump or others. The Daily Signal (Right) added context to Trump's claim that Biden is "paid by China" by noting how "various family members did numerous business deals in China and other countries," while outlets on the left tended to say it lacked any evidence.
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