Lies, bonds and billionaires: Truth is the first casualty of Trump

In three days’ time, Donald Trump faces the possibility that some of his prized New York properties will be seized by the state’s attorney general unless he manages to post a $464 million appeal bond while he fights a fraud ruling.

So what? The deadline is bothering the Republican presidential nominee (his campaign issued a fundraising text this week reading “Keep your filthy hands off Trump Tower!”). But there’s something else that should be bothering everyone else more: his lies.

Porkies. Trump’s base accepts them. Much of America and the world tunes them out. His wealthy donors (more on them below) overlook them.

But, as Susan Glasser has pointed out in the New Yorker, voters aren’t paying enough attention to the way Trump is layering a new set of untruths, distortions and exaggerations onto the “old, familiar” lies about a rigged election. The best thing voters can do before November is simply listen to what Trump’s saying.

A recent, non-exhaustive selection from two recent rallies in Georgia and Ohio includes statements that are variously untrue, unnecessary and unhinged.

Untrue

• “When you look at the people that are being allowed to come all over the world, they’re emptying their prisons. They’re emptying their mental institutions into the United States of America.”

The most recent data suggests the world prison population has grown to over 10.9 million. “I have seen no evidence to suggest that any countries are emptying their prisons or mental institutions into the United States,” says Helen Fair, a research fellow at the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research.

• America has “more oil and gas than any country in the world… We have more than Russia, we have more than Saudi Arabia.”

The US ranks 11th in the world for oil reserves and 4th in the world for gas reserves. Russia and Saudi Arabia have much larger reserves.

• “The tax cuts that I got you [were] the biggest tax cuts in history.”

Trump’s tax cuts were the biggest corporate tax cuts in US history. They were the 8th largest overall tax cuts as a percentage of GDP.

Unnecessary

• “Millions and millions of people are pouring into our country, probably 15 or 16 million people.”

Migrant arrivals under Biden’s administration have risen to record highs, but not this high. More than 6.3 million migrants have been found crossing into the US illegally during his term. The Migration Policy Institute estimates the total number of US undocumented immigrants is 11 million.

• “Under Biden, we have a three-year inflation rate of almost 50 per cent.”

Inflation has been high during Biden’s term, but cumulative inflation on his watch is around 18 per cent.

• “Virtually 100 per cent of all jobs created under Biden have gone to foreign-born workers.

During Biden’s term, 47 – not 100 – per cent of the flows into employment have come from foreign-born workers. This number is also abnormally high, but is more reflective of proximity to full employment in the US. Employers are seeking labour wherever they can find it.

Unhinged. Make sense of this if you can: “I believe I’m doing [well], the polls are all rigged. Of course lately they have been rigged because I’m winning by so much. I always say it. Disregard that statement. I love the polls very much.”

Trump is disinformation made flesh. He’s not the first US presidential candidate to lie, but he is the first to default to make-believe. It can feel easier, when statements need so much untangling, either to take them all on trust or not trust anything.

The billionaires. Unphased by untruth, wealthy donors are preparing to host a Florida fundraiser for Trump next month, according to reports – although they seem less willing to bail him out of his legal cash crunch. His political megadonors include the hedge fund billionaire John Paulson and the hotelier Robert Bigelow, who also founded Bigelow Aerospace and funds investigations into extraterrestrial life.

What’s more. Trump will need the help – his 2024 campaign raised $15.9 million in February and had more than $37 million on hand going into March, well behind Biden’s war chest of $155 million.

More than 70 countries are holding elections this year, but much of the voting will be neither free nor fair. To track Tortoise’s election coverage, go to the Democracy 2024 page on the Tortoise website.