CNN’s “State of the Union” and FactCheck.org this week review three claims that President Donald Trump made at a campaign rally in Kentucky.
Speaking in Richmond, Kentucky on Oct. 13, the president said he was putting coal miners “back to work like never before.” As we wrote in “Trump’s Numbers,” not many miners have regained jobs.
Since January 2017, the U.S. economy has added 1,900 coals jobs — a fraction of the 35,700 coal mining jobs that disappeared during the Obama years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
And the increase in jobs under Trump isn’t “like never before,” as the president said. During a similar 20-month time span in 2007 and 2008, when George W. Bush was president, the U.S. economy added 6,100 coal jobs — more than three times the pace at which those jobs are being created under Trump.
In the video, CNN’s Jake Tapper also reviews Trump’s claim that, “We, unlike the Democrats, will protect Medicare and protect Social Security.” That’s misleading. The finances of both programs have worsened since Trump took office.
As we have written, the latest Medicare trustees report says the Medicare Part A trust fund, which covers payments to hospitals, will run out of money by 2026, three years earlier than projected just last year. That’s partly because the tax cut law that Trump signed last year will reduce Medicare revenues and increase expenses. The tax law also had a negative effect on Social Security. The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund is scheduled to run out of funds in 2034 — one year earlier than expected.
Lastly, Tapper reviews Trump’s repeated false claim about winning 52 percent of the women’s vote in 2016. Actually, it was 41 percent.
FactCheck.org and CNN’s “State of the Union” have been collaborating on fact-checking videos since September 2015. All of the fact-checking videos can be found on FactCheck.org.
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