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Donald Trump rallies for Roy Moore, repeats falsehoods in Pensacola speech

President Donald Trump waves to supporters during a rally in Pensacola, Fla., Dec. 8, 2017, as fake snow falls after his speech. (AP) President Donald Trump waves to supporters during a rally in Pensacola, Fla., Dec. 8, 2017, as fake snow falls after his speech. (AP)

President Donald Trump waves to supporters during a rally in Pensacola, Fla., Dec. 8, 2017, as fake snow falls after his speech. (AP)

Allison Graves
By Allison Graves December 8, 2017

President Donald Trump offered a raucous retelling of his first year’s accomplishments at a campaign-style rally in Pensacola, Fla., making sure to tell voters who crossed the state line from Alabama that they should vote for Republican Roy Moore Dec. 12 to keep his agenda going.

Moore, a twice-removed Alabama Supreme Court chief justice, is in a tight race against Democrat Doug Jones after Moore was accused of sexual misconduct with a 14-year-old girl and several other teenagers when he was in his 30s.

"The future of this country cannot afford to lose a seat in the very, very close United States Senate,"  Trump said Dec. 8 at the Pensacola Bay Center, which is less than 30 miles from the Alabama border. "We need someone in that Senate seat who will vote for our Make America Great agenda … so get out and vote for Roy Moore."

Trump repeated some of his most prolific falsehoods since beating Democrat Hillary Clinton on Election Day and continued to attack the "fake news" media.

"We’re on the verge of passing that wonderful, beautiful tax cut. It’s the biggest in the history of our country."

False. The GOP tax reform plans in the House and Senate do not stack up as the largest cut ever.

The Treasury Department has published a list of the biggest tax bills between 1940 and 2012, measured not only by contemporary dollars but also by inflation-adjusted dollars and as a percentage of gross domestic product — two metrics that experts say give a sense of scale.

In dollars, at least one tax bill on the Treasury list, such as the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, is larger, and there are possibly other larger ones as well. As a percentage of GDP, there were multiple revenue acts that exceed the current tax proposals' estimates. Read more.

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PolitiFact rating logo PolitiFact Rating:
False
Says the GOP plan he supports is "the biggest tax cut in U.S. history."
a tweet
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Says Chicago has the "toughest gun laws" in the country.

Neither Trump nor his top surrogates will toss this expired claim. Pants on Fire!

There was a brief time between 2008 and 2010 -- the window during which Washington, D.C.’s handgun ban had been invalidated but Chicago’s still stood -- where this characterization of the city’s gun laws might have been true. But federal court rulings effectively undid city and state laws severely restricting gun use and ownership in the Chicago. When it comes to the concealed carry of weapons, Chicago has less authority to impose limitations than do many other large U.S. cities.

Chicago also isn't particularly tough when it comes to enforcement.

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PolitiFact rating logo PolitiFact Rating:
Pants on Fire
Chicago is "the city with the strongest gun laws in our nation."
In a press conference in South Korea.
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
Says the Keystone XL, Dakota Access pipelines will bring 48,000 jobs.

Trump reversed the Obama administration’s denial of the Keystone XL project and signed an executive action to restart construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline -- projects with fierce environmental opposition. But his total is largely based on construction jobs that will not exist once the projects are finished.

A State Department report did put the total number of Keystone XL jobs at 42,100, defined as a position filled for one year. Also, the estimate counted direct jobs involved in the pipeline’s construction and manufacturing as well as indirect jobs spurred by the impact of workers’ wages in the economy. The construction phase, with 3,900 workers hired over two years, was expected to take only one to two years. After construction, the total number of long-term jobs, primarily for maintenance, was about 50.

Says he brought back "$300 billion worth of deals" from the Asia trip.

Trump returned from his five-nation tour of Asia in November with boasts of big money for the United States. But many the deals are not as locked down as he has made it sound.

A New York Times review of deals trumpeted by the Commerce Department with China, for example, found several arrangements are based on nonbinding memorandum of understanding. So they could come together, or not. Trump also incorrectly framed verbal agreements to purchase U.S. military equipment from Japan and South Korea as unheard-of in previous years. The process takes years and, under Trump, is still in the earliest stages of decision-making.

"Hillary resisted and you know what happened? She lost the election in a landslide."

It is False that Trump won the election in a landslide. Clinton won the popular vote.

Trump’s 304 votes in the Electoral College ranks him no better than the bottom quarter of Electoral College showings in American history, and no better than the bottom one-third of the showings since the end of World War II.

"If Trump’s election was a landslide, then the word ‘landslide’ has no meaning," said University of Denver political scientist Seth Masket.

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Politifact rating logo Politifact Rating:
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Says Donald Trump's presidential victory was "an electoral landslide."
In an interview
Monday, November 14, 2016
"CNN apologized just a little while ago. They apologized. Oh, thank you, CNN. Thank you so much. You should’ve been apologizing for the last two years."

Hours ahead of the speech, CNN corrected a story that had wrongly said Donald J. Trump Jr. received an email that granted special access to WikiLeaks documents prior to the documents’ official release.

The original story said the email was sent to Trump Jr. on Sept. 4, 2016, but it was actually sent on Sept. 14, 2016, a day after the documents went public.

Trump also targeted another organization in the spotlight for a costly error about his administration. He repeated that ABC News should be sued for a stock market dip after chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross incorrectly reported that Trump had directed his former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to make contact with Russian officials during the campaign. Ross clarified on air that he really meant after the election, not during.

ABC News apologized for the mistake, and Ross was suspended for four weeks as a result.

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Donald Trump rallies for Roy Moore, repeats falsehoods in Pensacola speech