Congratulations! Today is the 52nd day of the second Trump administration, which means we are over halfway through the 'first 100 days' marker. If these have felt like the longest 52 days of your life, don't worry, you're not alone.

Welcome back to our #TrumpCheck series, the LACDP's weekly newsletter that holds the Trump administration accountable for its lies, deception, and self-serving actions. Every week, the LACDP will provide updates and fact-checks on actions, claims, or atrocities made by Trump himself, his cronies, or his new employer, Elon Musk.

This week, we're here to correct some of the misinformation being spread about the Department of Education, a wildly popular part of the American government that over 68% of voters want to INCREASE funding to. 

• Trump has widely and frequently claimed that that "I'm going to close the Department of Education." 

FACT: The president does not have the authority to eliminate a Cabinet department. That power lies with Congress, and would then require 60 votes in the Senate, an unlikely outcome with the current Senate cohort. 

• While justifying the dismantling of the education system, Donald Trump reported that the United States is dead last in education rankings."They talk about 40 countries. We’re rated No. 40.”

FACT: There are no metrics in which the U.S. ranks 40th on any list for educational outcomes. The White House has been unable to provide any ranking that aligns with this claim. In fact, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ranked the U.S. 8th out of 41 countries for education.

• While discussing eliminating the Department of Education with Fox & Friends, Trump explained that this will allow them to defund schools whose curriculum they do not like, like teaching about slavery. 

FACT: News flash, Donald - the states already control the curriculum. The U.S. Department of Education does NOT write curriculum or impact curriculum in any way in the United States. 

Education is the foundation of a civilized society, and providing a good education for American children is the first step to building prosperous futures for all. Trying to destroy the basis of education in our country is no more than a power grab, and an unsuccessful one at that. 

Correcting misinformation distributed by the United States government is the first step in the fight and a job for us all. We will keep it up here, and on our social media accounts, linked below.

Happy Wednesday, and congratulations on surviving another week in the Trump era. Welcome back to our #TrumpCheck series, the LACDP's weekly newsletter that holds the Trump administration accountable for its lies and self-serving actions.

• Our new Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr. has made his opinion on vaccines crystal clear: "There's no vaccine that is, you know, safe and effective."

FACT: All FDA-approved vaccines in the United States have undergone large clinical studies that have found that the health benefits far exceed any potential risks. Measles, which had been considered eradicated in the United States 25 years ago due to the effectiveness of the measles vaccine, killed an unvaccinated child in Texas this morning, the first US death from the disease in 10 years. 

• Donald Trump halted 60 billion in foreign aid dollars on his very first day as President in 2025, under the logic that "we're giving billions and billions of dollars to countries who hate us." This put the President’s Emergency Response Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program into jeopardy.

FACT: The PEPFAR program has been supported by every president since President Bush implemented it... including Donald Trump, when he signed the PEPFAR Extension Act of 2018. In the 2018 announcement, the Trump White House said, "PEPFAR has saved over 17 million lives, prevented millions of HIV infections, and transformed the global AIDS response from death and despair to life and hope." Lack of HIV healthcare globally for over 20 million people will cause HIV to spread and increase the chances of a drug-resistant strain developing. 

• In a press conference this morning with the new cabinet, President Trump promised that federal budget cuts would not affect Medicaid: "We're not going to touch it."

FACT: There is no path to meeting the newly passed Republican budget resolution that does not cut Medicaid funding. Even if every other item in the budget was reduced to $0, a $600 billion cut would still be required from the federal healthcare budget. 

The Trump administration is playing fast and loose with our health, safety, and, consequently, the world's health. This has life and death consequences, as we have unfortunately already witnessed.  

Correcting misinformation distributed by the United States government is the first step in the fight and a job for us all. We will keep it up here, and on our social media accounts, linked below.

Welcome back to our #TrumpCheck series, the LACDP's weekly newsletter holding the Trump administration accountable for their lies and self-serving actions.

• Elon Musk has claimed that there is widespread fraud in the Social Security Administration, and that there are millions of individuals taking advantage and making money off of the federal government. He claims that "there are FAR more 'eligible' social security numbers than there are citizens in the USA" and that "this might be the biggest fraud in history."

FACT: There is not evidence of widespread fraud within the Social Security Administration (SSA). About 44,000 Americans over the age of 100 are collecting SSA  benefits, which is on track with census data that tracks the number of Americans over the age of 100 years old. 

• At a conference last week, Elon Musk said that his goal is to help what he described as "America, Inc." complete a "corporate turnaround" that will include deleting "entire agencies." This does seem to imply the SSA, based on earlier comments. This is similar to his acquisition of Twitter in 2022, when he eliminated over 80% of their staff. 

FACT: Elon Musk makes $8 million PER DAY in government contracts. In comparison, the average American on Social Security benefits makes $65.00 per day off of the US government. Donald Trump, who campaigned on creating "explosive economic growth" is actively going against that promise as he empowers Elon Musk to eliminate jobs, and hoard taxpayer dollars for himself. 

• Donald Trump claimed in a Truth Social post on Thursday that Politico was  "paid Millions of Dollars for NOTHING" and implies that the government employees of USAID "ARE BUYING THE PRESS!"

FACT: Between 2023 and 2024, across the entire agency, USAID employees paid $44,000 in Politico subscriptions. That's it. They had subscriptions. 

The Trump administration will continue to try to deceive the American public with their lies and storytelling. 

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.