There are quite a few good fact checking rundowns of the address to the joint session of Congress last night, and rather than rehash all of them, I encourage you all to read at least 3 of them and get a good, high definition understanding of how misleading, erroneous, and, frankly, frightening that speech was. Here are some links:
- CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/28/politics/trump-speech-fact-check/
- The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/02/28/fact-checking-president-trumps-address-to-congress/?utm_term=.d1a58c1d3f78
- Politifact: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2017/feb/28/fact-checking-donald-trumps-address-congress/
- USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/01/fact-checking-president-trump-first-address-congress/98537824/
- CBS News: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fact-check-trumps-address-to-joint-session-of-congress/
- The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-speech-fact-check-lies-claims-joint-address-congress-jobs-immigration-pipeline-a7604861.html
- And my favorite -- a Google doc that has a SIXTY-ONE ITEM LIST of every lie he made in a 51 minute speech: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16zlkL2a3-iHpyMqCADYbI_D4pM-C49EOpmb5x60HS9o/htmlview?usp=sharing&sle=true
Now, on to the rest of the list:
- On February 27th, 2017, the Texas state legislature continued its assault on abortion by advancing a bill that would make it impossible for people to sue doctors who withhold information or lie about the formation and health of a fetus if it is suspected the person carrying it will have an abortion.
- On February 28th, 2017, in what should come as absolutely no surprise, noted racist and Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that he will not use the Department of Justice to bring suit against police departments for civil rights violations because, apparently, minorities need to know that police officers are free to "protect" their communities by not being beholden to upholding their civil rights.
- On February 28th, 2017, the AP reported that Senator Marco Rubio has been evicted from his Tampa office because the owner of the private building will not renew his lease due to the disruption to his other tenants caused by the number of constituents trying to speak to their town hall ducking Senator. Maybe you should stop trying to avoid them, Senator?
- On February 28th, 2017, DT parroted the anti-semitic talking point dear to far-right wing white supremacist internet forums and yawning abyss in an ill fitting human suit, David Duke, suggesting that the current wave of bomb threats to Jewish Community Center could be "false flag" operations perpetrated by Jews to increase sympathy for them and make DT and his supporters look bad. His statements appeared to be a direct echo of informal advisor Anthony Scaramucci, who thinks "democrats" are responsible for the bomb threats.
- On February 28th, 2017, DT said on Fox and Friends that the military "lost" Navy SEAL Ryan Owens, taking no responsibility for the man's death, or, indeed, for the operation itself. “This was a mission that was started before I got here. This was something they wanted to do,” he said. “They came to me, they explained what they wanted to do ― the generals ― who are very respected, my generals are the most respected that we’ve had in many decades, I believe. And they lost Ryan." He went on to say, “This was something that they were looking at for a long time doing, and according to [Defense Secretary Jim] Mattis it was a very successful mission. They got tremendous amounts of information.” The mission had been pushed back because there was not sufficient intelligence to execute it as far as President Barack Obama's administration was concerned, and the mission was reported to be a failure that did not yield any significant intelligence.
- Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/02/28/trump-passes-blame-for-yemen-raid-to-his-generals-they-lost-ryan/?utm_term=.76b95adc0827
- Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-blames-obama-yemen-raid-navy-seal-2017-2
- Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/yemen-seal-raid-yielded-no-significant-intelligence-say-officials-n726451
- On February 28th, 2017, city officials in Vancouver declined to attend the opening of a Trump International Hotel and Tower because, "It's got bad karma, that place," according to city council member Kerry Jang. Protesters gathered at the hotel from the early morning hours until partygoers were expected to attend. Vancouver's population is 40% immigrant.
- On February 28th, 2017, Mother Jones reported on the House Democrats' strategy to corner their republican colleagues on DT's Russia ties and financial conflicts of interest. Definitely a good read-- and if you have one of the republican reps who voted against an independent investigation, maybe call them and demand that they switch their stance (and if you have a rep who voted for an investigation, call them and tell them not to stop pushing!). I realize Mother Jones is very left leaning, but this is a well researched and sourced report.
- On February 28th, 2017, DT directed the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to basically provide him with research that justifies eliminating clean water protections implemented by President Barack Obama, in order to "promote economic growth."
- On February 28th, 2017, DT floated the idea of cutting the State Department budget by 37%. Finally, even Congressional Republicans said there was no way this budget would pass, but of course, McCain and Graham will still vote for it, even while saying loudly that they think it's disastrous.
- On February 28th, 2017, Buzzfeed reported that four mosques in the US have burned in seven weeks-- three were definitely victims of arson, and the fourth under investigation.
- On February 28th, 2017, DC Report (an as yet unchecked source-- tread carefully) reported that DT's Secretary of Commerce nominee Wilbur Ross has ties to illicit Russian finance. Wow, what a surprise.