AP FACT CHECK: Trump on hurricane and political winds
Trump wrongly stated that the hurricane moved across land with blazing speed, which stopped a terrible situation from becoming even worse because the storm didn't linger. He also at least mildly exaggerated the ferocity of the storm's winds.
His rhetorical record in times of calamity has been spotty.
Trump described last year's Hurricane Maria as a Category 5 storm when it hit
The political winds swirled, too, over the past week, as Trump rallied hard for
A look at some of his recent statements:
HURRICANE
TRUMP: "The only thing we can say about Michael with certainty is that it was so fast, it went through like a bullet, but it was a devastating bullet. It was complete." — remarks Thursday at a meeting about human trafficking.
TRUMP: "The one good thing we can say, we were just discussing, is that it was the fastest hurricane anybody's seen. It just was speedy. If it wasn't, there'd be absolutely nothing left." — remarks Thursday during signing of a bill to reduce sea pollution.
THE FACTS: No bullet here. Michael moved across land at a relatively normal pace.
Michael moved at 13 mph to 17 mph for most of Wednesday, then sped up to as high as 23 mph on Thursday.
Atmospheric scientist
"Very average forward speed," agreed meteorologist
TRUMP: "It was winds about as big as we've ever seen in history. We've never had anything like this." — remarks Thursday at human-trafficking meeting.
TRUMP: "Some of those winds reached almost 200 miles an hour, which is unheard of. People are saying it's the third most powerful that they've seen hit our country anywhere." — remarks Thursday during bill signing.
TRUMP: "The level of power, people have not seen: the 170-, 180-mile-an-hour winds. At one point, it reached almost 200 miles an hour. So we haven't seen that before. And I guess you have two or three cases where maybe there might have been slightly stronger wind. But this is in history." —
THE FACTS: This part is right: Michael was the third most powerful storm to hit the
Michael's top measured sustained winds were 155 mph and that's from a plane, while the ground top wind speed measured was 129 mph. During the storm, a top wind gust of 130 mph was recorded at a
Gusts can be 25 percent higher than maximum sustained speeds, Klotzbach said, a prospect that would still leave winds considerably short of 200 mph on the ground.
Masters says the highest wind gust measured in a
Only four reliably recorded wind gusts of 200 mph or greater have been recorded in world history, he said. The world record wind gust is 253 mph at
TRUMP: "What happened to the Kavanaugh family violates every notion of fairness, decency, and due process. ...I must state that you, sir, under historic scrutiny, were proven innocent." — remarks Monday at swearing-in of
THE FACTS: There's no proof of innocence or of guilt. The presumption of innocence does not equate to proof.
It's true that a supplemental
One of Kavanaugh's accusers,
Senate Majority Leader
'OPEN BORDERS BILL'
TRUMP: "Every single Democrat in the
THE FACTS: It's not called the "open borders" bill. More on point, nothing in the text directs borders to be more porous than now.
Democratic Sen.
The bill seeks to limit family separations by barring federal agents and officers from removing a child from a parent within 100 miles of
While Trump charges that the bill would spur "open borders" and change immigration law, nothing in the legislation would prohibit the removal or detention of immigrants who arrive in the
TRUMP: "I have directed the
THE FACTS: In pointing to a "terrible shooting wave," Trump suggests an intolerable crime situation in
PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS
TRUMP: "As a candidate, I promised that we would protect coverage for patients with pre-existing conditions and create new health care insurance options that would lower premiums. I have kept that promise." — op-ed column published Wednesday in
TRUMP: "If you listen to my speeches, pre-existing conditions, I'm saying it's being covered 100 percent and
THE FACTS: It's a stretch for Trump to claim he is protecting health coverage for patients with pre-existing medical conditions, or that
Government lawyers said in legal filings in June that they will no longer defend key parts of the Affordable Care Acr, including provisions that guarantee access to health insurance regardless of any medical conditions. Attorney General
The decision was a rare departure from the
The Trump administration said it won't defend the provision shielding people with medical conditions from being denied coverage or charged higher premiums.
The health overhaul requires insurers to take all applicants, regardless of medical history, and patients with health problems pay the same standard premiums as healthy ones. Bills supported last year by Trump and congressional
MEDICARE
TRUMP: "The
THE FACTS: He paints a speculative doomsday scenario that may capture some negative consequences of Democratic plans while ignoring the upside.
America's health care system is a hybrid, with employers, federal, state, and local governments, and individuals sharing the cost. Under "Medicare for All," the federal government would take the reins. Seniors are being promised more health care from the government, not less.
The plan by Sen.
The idea is also known as "single-payer," because the government would pay nearly all the bills and set rates for hospitals and doctors — and for all patients, not just the elderly.
"Medicare for All" would also eliminate or reduce costs now directly paid by seniors themselves.
Retirees would no longer have to fork over premiums for supplemental private insurance to cover gaps in Medicare. There would be no deductibles. Copayments for most care would be eliminated. The same benefits would accrue to privately insured people. With almost no out-of-pocket costs, people would probably seek more health care services.
And there lies a potential problem.
Single-payer would also dial back what hospitals and doctors now get paid for their privately insured patients, to a level based on Medicare rates. Medicare generally pays less than private insurance. The combination of greater demand for services and new limits on reimbursement would put a squeeze on the health care system.
But would it "inevitably lead" to "massive rationing" as described by Trump?
Maybe. Academic experts critical of single-payer have been much more guarded, though.
"It is impossible to say precisely how much the confluence of these factors would reduce individuals' timely access to health care services, but some such access problems almost certainly must arise," wrote
Other experts and Sanders himself say that would not happen because single-payer would take costs out of the system by eliminating insurers as the middlemen and using government's clout to bring down drug prices.
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EDITOR'S NOTE _ A look at the veracity of claims by political figures
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