NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

Trump vs Clinton: A debate fact-check cheat sheet

By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post·
25 Sep, 2016 11:11 PM7 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will face off tomorrow in the first presidential debate. Photos / Washington Post and Bloomberg

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will face off tomorrow in the first presidential debate. Photos / Washington Post and Bloomberg

Presidential candidates rarely come to the debates with fresh facts. Instead, they rely on claims that have been scattered in their stump speeches for many months - claims that have already been investigated.

So here's a quick guide to old favourites viewers will likely hear during the presidential debates that start tomorrow.

The list is longer for Donald Trump because, frankly, he has been exceptionally fact-challenged in this campaign.

Debate moderators, please clip and save.

DONALD TRUMP

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Iraq

"I was totally against the war in Iraq."

False, false, false. We have carefully documented how Trump supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Libya

"Clinton caused all these problems with her stupid policies. Look at what she did with Libya."

Trump conveniently forgets that he also supported intervention in Libya, specifically advocating the aim of removing leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Isis

Discover more

World

First debate pivotal for Clinton, Trump

26 Sep 06:10 AM
World

Russia-US Relations take chilly plunge

04 Oct 04:00 PM

"The rise of Isis is the direct result of policy decisions made by Obama and Clinton."

This is false. The terrorist group emerged as a direct result of the US invasion of Iraq.

"Obama took everybody out of Iraq. And really, ISIS was formed."

Trump apparently has forgotten that he also called for the immediate withdrawal of US troops.

Economy

"92 million Americans are not part of the economy, a silent nation of jobless Americans."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

This is a phony statistic. Trump is counting retirees, students, stay-at-home parents and the disabled - people who say they are not seeking jobs.

"Since President Obama came into office, another 2 million Hispanics have joined the ranks of those in poverty."

From the start, this was a cherry-picked, false factoid. But Trump keeps saying it even though new census data now shows that nearly one million Hispanics have been lifted out of poverty under Obama.

"Fifty-eight per cent of African-American youth is unemployed."

Another false fact. Trump basically triples the official rate by counting students and people in training programmes as "unemployed" even though they are not seeking jobs.

Immigrants

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Our veterans, in many cases, are being treated worse than illegal immigrants."

Ridiculous on every level. Yet Trump keeps saying it, despite his campaign's inability to provide any credible evidence.

"Since 2013 alone, the Obama Administration has allowed 300,000 criminal aliens to return back into United States communities."

Some fuzzy maths is at work here. The official estimate of "criminal aliens" released is about ¼ of Trump's number, which lumps together people not considered criminal aliens.

"Your crime numbers are so crazy, they're going through the roof" because of illegal immigration.

Totally false. There is no evidence this is the case.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Illegal immigration costs our country more than US$113 billion a year."

This is a figure from a group that wants to dramatically reduce legal immigration. Caveat emptor.

"Hillary Clinton plans to admit 620,000 Syrian refugees."

There is no such plan. This is a made-up figure.

"People are pouring in, pouring in, and they're doing tremendous damage if you look at the crime, if you look at the economy."

This is doubly wrong. Illegal immigration flows are at their lowest level in two decades. And there is no documented correlation between illegal immigration and crime.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Health

"Over 300,000 veterans died waiting for care."

Trump often repeats a misreported figure in the media, based on a government report about inadequate records-keeping. No one really knows the figure, but it's not this high.

Iran

"Hillary Clinton started talks to give US$400 million, in cash, to Iran."

Clinton had nothing to do with this transaction, part of a settlement of long-standing claims dating from the 1979 Iran Revolution. (Critics have charged the payment was tied to the release of hostages.)

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Trade

"Nafta was signed by Bill Clinton."

Nope, the North American Free Trade Agreement was negotiated and signed by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican, though Bill Clinton was an avid supporter and got congressional approval.

Birtherism

"You know who started the birther movement? Hillary Clinton."

Another ridiculous claim - and ironic, given that Trump is the most famous birther of all.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Nato

"Nato is unfair, economically, to the United States. We pay a disproportionate share."

Trump is mixing apples and oranges here. The United States projects military might across the globe, so defence budgets cannot be easily compared with the European countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

Obama

"Obama went on an apology tour."

Trump resurrects a GOP golden-oldie from the 2012 campaign. There was no apology tour.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I think it's very sad when Obama lands in Saudi Arabia, and he lands in Cuba, and there aren't high officials to even greet him. This is the first time in the history of Air Force One."

It appears to be news to Trump, but the airport ceremony is an unimportant part of the trip. Presidents are frequently not greeted by their counterparts when they arrive in an overseas airport.

Trump

"I built a business after my father gave me a small loan of a million dollars."

This is a fable. Trump benefited from millions of dollars in loans from his father, as well as his father's connections in New York real state and local government. His father also saved him from almost certain financial ruin in 1990.

"Trump University got an A rating from the Better Business Bureau."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Actually, the BBB rated Trump University a D-minus, its second lowest grade.

"Vladimir Putin said I'm a genius."

No. The Russian President only said Trump was a "colourful" figure.

HILLARY CLINTON

Emails

"Everything I did was permitted."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Nope, it was not permitted. She also did not comply with the requirement to turn over business-related emails before she left government service.

"Classified material has a header which says 'top secret,' 'secret,' 'confidential.' None of the emails sent or received by me had such a header."

Clinton often relies on legalistic wording when talking about the email controversy. The reality is that there do not need to be any markings for an email to contain classified information.

Economy

"We now have 15 million new jobs that have been created in the last 7 1/2 years."

This is wrong. Clinton only counts back 6½ years to get this number. The real number for Obama's presidency is 10.5 million jobs.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Pay

"The average CEO makes about 300 times what the average worker makes."

Clinton sometimes bungles this talking point. This version would be especially wrong. The "300" figure comes from the pay ratio of top corporate chief executives to workers at their companies; it is not a comparison of all CEOs and all workers.

Tax

"Hedge fund managers pay a lower tax rate than truck drivers or nurses."

This a hyper-technical factoid. Clinton is talking about the tax paid on every additional dollar of earnings, known as the marginal tax rate. She's barely right on nurses, wrong on truck drivers. But the effective tax rate - a more important number - is higher for hedge fund managers.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Insurance

"I worked with Democrats and Republicans to create the Children's Health Insurance Programme."

Clinton overstates her backstage role in the creation of Chip. She didn't work directly with Republicans.

Social security

George W. Bush's "plan was to give the Social Security Trust Fund to Wall Street."

Democrats love to bring up the long-dead GOP plan for Social Security, falsely deriding it as "privatisation". But it was really only a modest, voluntary programme.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Veterans

"I will not let the Department of Veterans Affairs be privatised."

Neither will Trump, though Clinton likes to pretend he does.

Guns

"We have to pass a law prohibiting people on the terrorist watch list from being able to buy a gun in the United States of America."

The proposed legislation actually wouldn't ban such purchases automatically.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Democrats

"The economy does better when you have a Democrat in the White House."

Clinton is citing an actual study. But the study said this was mostly due to "good luck," not policy choices by Democratic presidents.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from World

World

'Terrible lie': Defence counters claims in mushroom murder trial

18 Jun 08:02 AM
World

Three Australians facing death penalty in Bali murder case

18 Jun 07:16 AM
World

Death toll from major Russian strike on Kyiv rises to 21, more than 130 injured

18 Jun 06:15 AM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from World

'Terrible lie': Defence counters claims in mushroom murder trial

'Terrible lie': Defence counters claims in mushroom murder trial

18 Jun 08:02 AM

Barrister says prosecutors focused on messages to undermine Erin Patterson's family ties.

Three Australians facing death penalty in Bali murder case

Three Australians facing death penalty in Bali murder case

18 Jun 07:16 AM
Death toll from major Russian strike on Kyiv rises to 21, more than 130 injured

Death toll from major Russian strike on Kyiv rises to 21, more than 130 injured

18 Jun 06:15 AM
Milestone move: Taiwan's submarine programme advances amid challenges

Milestone move: Taiwan's submarine programme advances amid challenges

18 Jun 04:23 AM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP