GOP

3:20

“What he did with energy is unbelievable because energy went up so much. Gasoline, $5, $6 a gallon, that that’s what caused inflation.”

This is slightly exaggerated. The average retail price of gasoline spiked at $5.032 a gallon in June 2022, according to EIA, not $6 — although of course it was higher in individual markets such as California. Fuel prices shot up in 2022 largely because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, adding to inflationary pressures caused by the pandemic.

3:27

“Now it’s all over the place. But you have 29 percent total inflation.”

Another exaggerated figure. The consumer price index calculator on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics website shows that $100 in January 2021, when Biden took office, would have the same buying power at $117.62 in October. That’s an increase of 18 percent.

3:32

“Now, when it holds up, because the economy is starting to slow down very substantially. So when it holds up, he’s saying, well, we don’t have too much inflation. But he doesn’t talk about all of the inflation that you’ve had to suffer over the last three years.”

The Federal Reserve has boosted interest rates to the highest level in 22 years to bring down inflation. But the economy, contrary to many expectations, has not slowed substantially, as Trump claims. The U.S. economy created 199,000 jobs in November, and the unemployment rate fell to 3.7 percent, the BLS said last week.

3:57

“Now, we will have numbers like you’ve never seen. We have a thing in Alaska called ANWR [Arctic National Wildlife Refuge]. Ronald Reagan tried to get it approved. Everybody, Bush, maybe a little bit. You know, he didn’t work as hard. But we have we have ANWR in Alaska, the biggest anywhere in the world, including probably Saudi Arabia.”

This is false. On the basis of geology, the U.S. Geological Survey in 2016 projected that there could be anywhere from 11.6 billion to 31.5 billion barrels of oil in the ANWR field. The Ghawar field in Saudi Arabia, which has been producing oil since the 1950s, had 58 billion barrels left in reserves as of the end of 2018. At least 10 oil fields now in operation are estimated to have more than 20 billion barrels of oil, the midpoint of the USGS survey. (George W. Bush sought drilling in the Arctic refuge, but Democrats repeatedly blocked congressional approval.)

4:04

“I got it approved. I was so proud of it. They ended it in the first week. They ended it. We will get it back.”

This is exaggerated. The Biden administration suspended oil and gas leases in the Arctic refuge four months after Biden took office, citing problems with the environmental review process. Trump had offered the leases in his remaining weeks in office, but few companies were interested. “The Jan. 6 sale of 11 tracts in the refuge on just over 550,000 acres netted roughly $14.4 million, a tiny fraction of what Republicans initially predicted it would yield,” The Washington Post reported. “Only two of the bids were competitive, so nearly all of the drilling rights on the land sold for the minimum price of $25 an acre.”

4:27

“But we have more than anybody. We have more wealth than anybody, but we don’t use it. And then guys like [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis and guys like many of the Democrats, but guys like DeSantis and to a lesser extent, Nikki Haley, they want to play around with your Social Security. You don’t have to touch Social Security. We have money laying in the ground, far greater than anything we can do by hurting senior citizens with their Social Security.”

We’ve demonstrated that this is false. Oil revenue would not make up the difference in Social Security. CFRB estimates that revenue from oil and gas leases would need to be about 27 times larger to cover Social Security’s actuarial deficit. If benefits are not changed, the fiscal imbalance in Social Security can be solved only by raising payroll taxes or boosting the income level subject to tax — nonstarters for Republicans — or financing it out of other government revenue, which would further increase the national debt.

4:55

“Ron DeSantis wanted to bring up — on Social Security. Now, of course, he says, well, I wouldn’t. But, you know, one thing I learned about politicians, I’ve known them. I’ve dealt with them on the other side for a long time. Their first thought is always the thought that they go to. He wanted to raise the minimum age to the age on Social Security to 70. That’s a big increase. But he also wanted to raise it to 75. If that happened, people would be devastated.”

This is false. DeSantis, a rival for the GOP presidential nomination, never supported raising the retirement age to 75. In 2013, 2014 and 2015, DeSantis, as a member of Congress, supported budget plans drawn up by a conservative group of House members that called for raising the retirement age for younger workers to 70. Running for president, however, DeSantis has rejected that idea. Asked by Fox News in March about the possibility of raising the retirement age to 70, DeSantis replied: “We are not going to mess with Social Security as Republicans.”

Trump attacks DeSantis for the shift, saying he should be judged on his original proposal. But Trump also once called for raising the retirement age to 70 — just like DeSantis.

In a 2000 book, “The America We Deserve,” published when Trump sought the presidential nomination of the Reform Party, Trump made an emphatic case for a higher retirement age.

“A firm limit at age seventy makes sense for people now under forty,” Trump wrote. “We’re living longer. We’re working longer. New medicines are extending healthy human life. Besides, how many times will you really want to take that trailer to the Grand Canyon? The way the workweek is going, it will probably be down to about twenty-five hours by then anyway. This is a sacrifice I think we all can make.”

5:00

“We have such incredible wealth under our feet.”

The clip ends with Trump yet again reiterating this false talking point.

Trump makes 24 false or misleading claims in 5 minutes on Hannity show - The Washington Post