ABC News has compiled all of PolitiFact’s fact-checking that came about all through the first Republican debate Wednesday evening for the 2024 election.
The two-hour tournament used to be hosted by means of Fox News Channel, with hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum moderating.
Eight applicants certified for a place on the level: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former Vice President Mike Pence, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.
Noticeably absent from the debate used to be former President Donald Trump, who as a substitute launched a pretaped interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Carlson’s X account as the debate were given underway.
PolitiFact does not fact-check each candidate’s declare however makes a speciality of “claims that are particularly interesting, in the news or obviously potentially wrong,” mentioned Aaron Sharockman, PolitiFact’s govt director.
Fact-checking DeSantis’ declare: “We kept our state free and open”
DeSantis revels in his document of snubbing public well being suggestions to curb the unfold of COVID-19. But he in large part omits the closures of colleges and companies that took place underneath his watch.
Seven states didn’t factor stay-at-home orders to their citizens, however now not Florida.
On April 1, 2020, DeSantis issued an govt order directing all Florida citizens to “limit their movements and personal interactions outside of their home.” The order expired April 30, 2020, and Florida started a phased reopening in May.
Though he carved out an exception for spiritual products and services and a few leisure actions, DeSantis did not exempt in-person school room instruction. DeSantis’ Department of Education issued a March 13 advice that Florida colleges shut their amenities for a longer spring smash ahead of lengthening the closure thru the finish of the college yr in early June.
Schools reopened in consumer in August 2020.
Fact-checking Vivek Ramaswamy’s declare: “The climate change agenda is a hoax.”
This is fake.
More than 97% of the global’s local weather scientists and a majority of home and world medical organizations agree that human job is inflicting Earth to heat, inflicting long-term shifts in temperatures and climate patterns, which is referred to as local weather exchange.
Increased ranges of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, from human job motive the Earth to heat by means of blockading warmth from escaping the surroundings and radiating it again towards Earth’s floor. Changes to the Earth’s local weather have led to hotter temperatures, a emerging sea stage and extra excessive climate occasions like flooding and wildfires.
“It is undeniable that human activities have produced the atmospheric gases that have trapped more of the Sun’s energy in the Earth system,” NASA’s website online says. “This extra energy has warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land, and widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, and biosphere have occurred.”
Fact-checking Pence on public strengthen for a 15-week abortion ban
During the abortion back-and-forth, Pence claimed that 70 p.c of Americans strengthen a 15-week abortion ban. He’s cherry-picking the effects from one ballot.
A 2022 survey from the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University and The Harris Poll requested respondents, “Do you think your state should allow abortion…?”
Twenty-three percent said up to 15 weeks, 12% said up to six weeks, and 37% said only in cases of rape and incest. That’s 72% all together. However, answers in surveys vary greatly depending on how the question is asked.
A 2022 Economist/YouGov poll asked specifically about a 15-week ban – 39% supported it, 46% opposed it. A 2023 PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll asked respondents whether abortion should be allowed until 24 weeks – 44 percent said yes.
Fact-checking Scott’s claim that DOJ called parents ‘domestic terrorists’
In talking about the weaponization of the Department of Justice, Scott trotted out a line he’s used before – that parents at school board meetings, “they’re called, under this DOJ, ‘domestic terrorists.’”
That’s false.
In 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memo directing the FBI to address violent threats against school board members. The memo never called concerned parents “home terrorists” and maintained that “spirited debate” surrounding school policy is protected by the U.S. Constitution. A lawsuit against Garland also found that parents’ rights had not been violated.
Fact-checking Nikki Haley’s claim: Vivek Ramaswamy wants to ‘defund Israel!’
Ramaswamy has expressed interest in cutting aid to Israel, but not immediately. In an August interview with actor Russell Brand, Ramaswamy said, “I imagine in status by means of commitments that we’ve already made.” He referred to the 2016 agreement for the U.S. to provide Israel with $38 billion in military aid covering 2019 through 2028.
But Ramaswamy said he wants to negotiate “Abraham Accords 2.0” with Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Indonesia to “get Israel by itself two toes.” The Abraham Accords in 2020 normalized diplomatic relations among Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.
“Come 2028, that further assist gained’t be vital with a view to nonetheless have the roughly balance that we might in reality have in the Middle East by means of having Israel extra built-in in with its companions,” Ramaswamy said. “Then it places us ready, everyone’s place, to mention we don’t need to meddle.”
On Aug. 18, Ramaswamy posted that “we can now not depart Israel placing out to dry – ever.”
Fact-checking DeSantis’ claim that Florida eliminated critical race theory from schools
That’s mostly false.
In checking previous instances when DeSantis made this same claim, PolitiFact found no evidence that critical race theory, a broad set of ideas about racism being woven into American systems, was being taught in Florida’s K-12 schools in the first place. Educators, school officials and several Florida public school districts told us that critical race theory has never been part of the state curriculum.
PolitiFact found a few examples of state education officials objecting to textbooks and courses they said contained critical race theory teaching in recent years. They show the state’s objections to prospective teaching materials and success in preventing content it deemed to be critical race theory-related. But, questions remain about its rationale and broad definition of the theory and other prohibited topics.
Fact-checking DeSantis on critical race theory
Gov. Ron DeSantis said he “eradicated essential race principle” in Florida’s K-12 schools.
This is mostly false.
Florida rejected prospective materials that it said related to critical race theory, but questions remain about its rationale and broad definition. Educators, school officials and several school districts confirmed that critical race theory has never been part of the state’s K-12 curriculum.
Are younger Americans less patriotic, as Vivek Ramaswamy said?
Recent polling shows there is a declining number of adults who describe themselves as “very proud” to be American. However, it’s a pattern for all age groups, not just young people. Still, young Americans surveyed express some degree of national pride.
This is half true.
Vivek Ramaswamy has previously said that young Americans are no longer proud to be American.
Fact-checking Burgum’s 87,000 IRS agent stat
This is … what we call a zombie stat. It’s mostly false.
The Biden administration never proposed hiring 87,000 additional or new IRS agents.
This 87,000 figure comes from a May 2021 Treasury Department assessment of how it would use $80 billion to improve IRS operations. The report said the IRS would add 86,852 new full-time positions.
But even in the 2021 plan, not all of the hires would be auditors or work in enforcement. The report said the money would go toward many things, including “hiring new specialised enforcement body of workers, modernizing antiquated information era, and making an investment in significant taxpayer carrier.”
Although the agency’s staff would increase, it’s key to note that over half of the IRS workforce is close to retirement. The plan was created with that exodus in mind and aims to hire thousands of people to simply maintain current levels. Today, the IRS has about 80,000 employees.
“The IRS will lose about 50,000 other people over the subsequent 5 or 6 years,” said Natasha Sarin, Treasury’s counselor for tax policy and implementation. “A large number of this hiring is set changing the ones other people.”
This fact-checking was done by a team of more than 30 fact-checkers who watched Wednesday’s debate. PolitiFact has been “been fact-checking presidential politics since 2007 the use of their Truth-O-Meter, which is helping them fee claims in keeping with their relative accuracy.”
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