Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida introduced his presidential bid on Wednesday evening in a livestream on Twitter that was once not on time via technical difficulties and peppered with now and again deceptive claims.
Here’s a truth test of a few of his claims.
What WAS Said
“Biden’s also politicized the military and caused recruiting to plummet.”
This lacks proof.
Military leaders have lately warned that a number of branches of the defense force are suffering to fulfill recruiting goals, however the causes they’ve cited have little to do with President Biden. Namely, many more youthful Americans merely fail to qualify.
A 2020 Pentagon study
discovered that simply 23 p.c of 17- to 24-year-olds can meet provider requirements, with many failing the army’s front tests or health and psychological assessments. That charge reduced via six proportion issues from the former find out about in 2017.
Army leaders addressed recruiting problems in
a congressional hearing in April
, noting that the problem has been ongoing.
“The difficult recruiting landscape we face didn’t happen in a year, and it’s going to take us more than a year to turn this around,” stated Christine Wormuth, the secretary of the military.
Ms. Wormuth additionally famous {that a} Pentagon survey of two,400 folks ages 16 to twenty-eight had requested about hindrances to enlisting. Respondents cited worry of harm and demise as the highest fear whilst cultural and political problems — “wokeness in the military or the Covid vaccine mandate, for example — those were relatively low on the list of barriers to service,” she stated.
What WAS Said
“In Florida, our crime rate is at a 50-year low. You look at the top 25 cities for crime in America, Florida does not rank amongst the top 25.”
This is in large part true.
The state’s crime charge did fall to a 50-year low in 2021, however Mr. DeSantis omits a large caveat: Many regulation enforcement companies within the state switched to another reporting method and the knowledge is provisional and incomplete in lots of instances,
The Tampa Bay Times reported
.
Data from simply 59 p.c of Florida companies overlaying 57.5 p.c of the inhabitants was once used for the state’s overall combination crime charge in 2021. That mirrors a national pattern: Across the rustic,
nearly 40 percent of law enforcement agencies failed
to record 2021 crime information as a result of the brand new method.
No Florida town ranked close to the highest for violent crime charge compiled via
private companies
and
news
outlets. But it’s price noting the Federal Bureau of Investigation and felony justice professionals have additionally lengthy suggested towards evaluating