Stoneage Ramblings

By John R. Stone

I imagine that supporters of Donald J. Trump and Vice-President Kamala Harris found things they liked about last week’s debate.

Trump was, well, Trump with his claims of his personal greatness as the only person on earth who can solve the problems the nation faces with crime, immigration and what he sees as a poor economy. Harris was more low key and mentioned a few specific ideas she had about housing, helping families and small business startups.

And, of course, both took a few personal shots at each other.

Moderators asked the questions and several times, such as when Trump got carried away with Haitians stealing people’s cats and dogs in Ohio to eat them, moderators stepped in with a fact check (city officials said it wasn’t true). Some Trump supporters complained about Harris not being fact checked. My observation is that both could have been fact checked more, but Trump was furthest from the truth most.

Of course the problem with fact checking is when to do it and no matter what happens someone is going to feel it was bias against the person they support. CNN did not fact check the candidates during the earlier debate between Trump and Joe Biden.

The lack of fact checking, however, gives the aura of truth to what is being said and that, if what is being said is not true, is a disservice to the public as well.

For example, Trump claims that the economy had never been better than under his leadership. According to the Associated Press, the president with the best stretch of economic growth was President Clinton who had four straight years of increased GDP (gross domestic product) of 4%. Trump had one year of 3% in 2018. The economy shrank 2.2% in 2020, his final year, because of the COVID pandemic.

President Joe Biden had 5.8% growth in GDP in 2021 but that has largely been attributed to recovery from the pandemic.

Trump said that Biden had the worst inflation in the history of the country. AP says that inflation peaked at 9.1% in June of 2022. The highest was 14% in 1980. Inflation has been coming down, it was 2.9% in July.

Nobody talks about the trillions of dollars dumped into the economy to avoid a recession by both Trump and Biden which economists see as a major factor in inflation.

Trump said that 21 million people have crossed the border illegally and millions are coming in monthly. Under Biden there have been 7.1 million arrests for crossing the border the AP says but officials say the actual number is lower because those numbers include repeat offenders. In July the number was 56,408. Those numbers don’t count those who escaped arrest.

Trump said that crime is “through the roof.” Actually violent crime surged during the pandemic with homicides increasing 30 percent in 2020, Trump’s final year in office. That was the largest increase since the FBI began keeping track of those numbers. Violent crime has been coming down since with a 13% decrease in 2023 and 15% through June of 2024.

The AP said that Harris’ claim that Trump said there would be a bloodbath if he wasn’t elected was wrong. The quote was out of context, he was referring to what would happen to the auto industry if his proposals for tariffs on foreign autos weren’t enacted.

There are more but I think you can see what I am talking about. A candidate for the presidency of the United States should have his or her numbers straight. Sure, they will emphasize numbers that make themselves look good, we expect that. But to make up claims and then complain about being fact checked makes no sense.

I would have appreciated hearing more policy details. Immigration is a mess and laws and funding need to change, something that must be done by Congress. What would either candidate support? And what about the 2017 tax bill that expires next year? Or the Federal budget deficit?

My guess is that there will be no more debates. But some good interviews with good reporters might fill in gaps in information that voters deserve to have filled.