#TrumpCheck
Today is the third installment of our #TrumpCheck series, where we correct dangerous lies and misinformation that President Mus- I mean, President Trump is spreading.
- Trump has claimed, for months, that tariffs are taxes placed on foreign countries. He says his new 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum from other countries will protect American jobs and boost the American economy.
FACT: Tariffs are not taxes on other countries. Tariffs are import fees, paid by the importer, that are almost always directly passed on to the consumer. The steel and aluminum tariffs, while they have the potential to be beneficial for steel and aluminum workers in the United States, will increase costs on hundreds of goods, including cars, homes, and beer. Dozens of industries and companies will not be able to keep up with the increased cost at all, and job losses in construction work are expected.
- Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have all defended the decision to eliminate U.S.A.I.D., the office that executes foreign aid. In a press conference, Marco Rubio claimed that “In some cases with U.S.A.I.D., 10, 12, 13 percent, maybe less, of the money was actually reaching the recipient, and the rest was going into the overhead and the bureaucracy.”
FACT: A 2024 Congressional Research Service report shows that only 7.7% of the budget of U.S.A.I.D. was spent on administrative costs (page 6). The United States is the single largest donor in the world to humanitarian efforts.
- Donald Trump wants to claim ownership of the Gaza strip, and send roughly two million Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan.
FACT: Neither Jordan nor Egypt have the capacity to take on two million refugees, and will not be going along with this plan. They have asserted that fact clearly, as Trump continues to deny their assertions and repeat his idea.
And a bonus #TrumpCheck fact to get you through the week...
- Donald Trump claimed in a Truth Social post last week that"BILLIONS OF DOLLARS HAVE BEEN STOLLEN" within USAID.
FACT: Stollen is a type of German fruit bread, traditionally served at Christmas.
It is irresponsible and dangerous for high-level government employees and deputies to be distributing such blatantly untrue information. The hostile rhetoric from the Trump administration is not new, but shocking nonetheless.
Correcting misinformation distributed by the United States government is a job for us all. We will keep it up here, and on our social media accounts, linked below.