2024 RNC Day 1 fact check of the Republican National Convention

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2024 RNC Day 1 fact check of the *********** National Convention

CBS News is fact checking some of the statements made by speakers during the 2024 *********** National Convention, which is taking place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, through Thursday, July 18. Monday’s theme was the economy, so several of the statements checked relate to U.S. economic concerns. Former President Donald Trump made a surprise appearance at the convention Monday night.

CBS News is covering the RNC live. 

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Fact check on Sen. Katie Britt’s statement that Trump had the best economy ever: False

GOP Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama: “Under President Trump, we had the strongest economy in history.”

Details: Britt claimed in her convention speech that Trump presided over the strongest economy in history. The former president also often makes this claim, including

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.

But the claim is not true if viewed through the prism of many of these common metrics used to judge economic performance: 

• GDP growth has been higher under Mr. Biden and was also higher at times in the 1990s, 1960s, and 1950 (
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  ).
• Stock market: Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Dwight Eisenhower also had higher percentage gains in the S&P 500 during their first terms than Trump did (
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  ).
• Homeownership increased by 2.1 points under Trump, rising to 65.8%. However, the highest level of homeownership was in 2004, when it hit 69.1%. (
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   quarterly seasonally adjusted rates (table 14a))
• The national deficit was the largest it had been in over two decades under the Trump administration, according to 
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  . The deficit peaked in fiscal year 2020 at $3.13 trillion, and declined to $1.7 trillion by the end of fiscal year 2023.
• Federal debt increased by 50% during Trump’s term, in part due to spending on COVID aid packages, 
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   from the Treasury Department. By comparison, federal debt increased by 8% under President Bill Clinton and by 25% under President Joe Biden so far.

However, during Trump’s presidency, wages went up and inflation remained low. Real wage growth under Trump was the best in recent history. (

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 analyzed by Texas A&M University)

But Trump did preside over very low unemployment, February 2020’s rate of 3.5% was the lowest since 1969, but not the lowest ever. (

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).

By Laura Doan

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Fact check on Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s claim that women and minorities saw record low unemployment under Trump: Partially true, needs context

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin: “Women, ****** Americans, Hispanic Americans, ****** Americans all saw record low unemployment under President Donald J. Trump.”

Across all of these demographics, the unemployment rate has been comparable during both President Biden and former President Trump’s administrations. 

Unemployment for women was at a record low in the 1950s. There have been more periods of lower unemployment for women under Mr. Biden than under Trump, and this is true for ****** Americans, too. For Hispanic and Latino Americans, unemployment reached a low of 3.9% during both administrations. ****** Americans saw their lowest unemployment rate under Trump, 2% in May 2018.

Here are the unemployment levels for each of these groups, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

By Emily Pandise

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Fact check on Youngkin’s claim that Trump’s presidency had high growth and low inflation, and Biden’s presidency has low growth and high inflation: Misleading, needs context

Youngkin: “Under President Trump, America had high growth and low inflation. Under Joe Biden, America has low growth and high inflation.”

It’s true that inflation remained low during Trump’s presidency, with year-over-year inflation 

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 in July 2018. Inflation has been much higher under Mr. Biden, with year-over-year inflation 

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 in June 2022. But year-over-year inflation under Mr. Biden has since cooled to about 

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.

But there has also been stronger economic growth during Mr. Biden’s presidency: Annual GDP growth is 

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 3.4%, according to figures from the World Bank. If the 2020 pandemic is excluded, growth after inflation under Trump’s average of 2.6% was lower.

By Laura Doan

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Laura Doan

Laura Doan is a fact checker for CBS News Confirmed. She covers misinformation, AI and social media.

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#RNC #Day #fact #check #*********** #National #Convention

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