FactChecking Biden’s Post-Debate TV Interview

In his first televised interview since his admittedly “dangerous” presidential debate, President Joe Biden made a couple of exaggerated and deceptive statements.

Right here’s what Biden stated in his 22-minute, prime-time interview with ABC Information’ George Stephanopoulos on July 5:

  • Biden exaggerated when he claimed that the U.S. share of world semiconductor — or chip — manufacturing capability has declined to “just about nothing.”
  • Biden, once more, wrongly claimed that former President Donald Trump instructed the general public to inject bleach as a remedy for COVID-19.
  • Biden denied that he had fallen additional behind Trump in post-debate polling, saying “nothing’s modified considerably for the reason that debate within the New York Instances ballot.” The Instances post-debate ballot confirmed Trump forward by 6 share factors — a rise of three factors.
  • Biden repeated his deceptive speaking level that Trump “misplaced extra jobs than he created.” That ignores the swift and devastating financial impression of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Semiconductors

Biden claimed that the U.S. share of world semiconductor — or chip — manufacturing capability has declined to “just about nothing.” That’s a little bit of an exaggeration.

“We used to have 40% of pc chips,” the president stated. “We invented the chip, the little chip, the pc chip. It’s in all the things from cellphones to weapons. And so, we used to have 40%, and we’re all the way down to just about nothing.”

The federal authorities “performed a central function within the growth of semiconductors” and the U.S. used to account for about 40% of semiconductor fabrication capability in 1990, in response to a Congressional Analysis Service report revealed in 2020. The capability share in North America — primarily the U.S. — had declined to 11% in 2019, which ranked fifth on this planet behind South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and China, the report stated.

CRS described the chips as small digital units which can be “elementary to almost all trendy industrial and nationwide safety actions” and “important constructing blocks of different rising applied sciences, akin to synthetic intelligence, autonomous programs, 5G communications, and quantum computing.”

Issues concerning the competitiveness of the U.S. semiconductor business led to Biden signing into legislation in August 2022 the CHIPS and Science Act, which, amongst different issues, included $39 billion for a fund designed to spice up chip manufacturing capability within the nation.

In a report launched in Could, the Semiconductor Business Affiliation, together with the Boston Consulting Group, projected that investments “facilitated by incentives beneath the CHIPS Act” would lead the U.S. share of world fab capability to develop from “10% right this moment to 14% by 2032.” With out new investments, U.S. fab capability would have gone down to eight% by 2032, the joint report stated.

Bleach

Biden, once more, wrongly claimed that Trump instructed the general public to inject bleach as a remedy for COVID-19.

“It is a man who instructed us to place bleach in our arms to take care of COVID, with 1,000,000 — over 1,000,000 folks died,” Biden stated, referring to U.S. deaths from the illness.

As we’ve written, Biden is twisting the phrases of Trump, who by no means instructed public to “put bleach” of their our bodies. Throughout an April 2020 press briefing on the White Home, Trump recommended that scientists on the Division of Homeland Safety check the usage of “very highly effective gentle” and “disinfectant” within the physique to kill the virus that causes COVID-19. He didn’t inform People to strive it themselves.

New York Instances Ballot

Stephanopoulos stated Biden fell “additional behind” Trump in nationwide polling after the June 27 debate, together with the most recent New York Instances/Siena School ballot that confirmed Trump up by 6 share factors. The president pushed again, saying the New York Instances/Siena School ballot confirmed him “behind 10 factors” previous to the talk and “nothing’s modified considerably for the reason that debate within the New York Instances ballot.”

However, as Stephanopoulos stated, the most recent Instances/Siena ballot exhibits Trump has widened his lead. The previous president now leads Biden “49 p.c to 43 p.c amongst doubtless voters nationally, a three-point swing towards the Republican from only a week earlier, earlier than the talk,” the Instances wrote. That’s the biggest lead Trump “has recorded in a Instances/Siena ballot since 2015,” the Instances article stated.

Even with impartial presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. included, the Instances/Siena ballot exhibits Trump up by 5 factors — 42% to 37% — with Kennedy receiving 8% amongst doubtless voters.

The ballot’s margin of error was “plus or minus 2.9 share factors for the doubtless voters.”

In different polling, the Suffolk College/USA Immediately Nationwide Voter Ballot discovered Trump “edged forward” of Biden 41% to 38% in a ballot of registered voters, whereas Kennedy polled 8%. The 2 main get together candidates have been tied at 37% in Could.

Trump’s 3 level lead is throughout the Suffolk/USA Immediately ballot’s margin of error, which is plus or minus 3.1 share factors.

As Stephanopoulos famous, Biden received the favored vote by greater than 7 million in 2020, however it took slim victories in a couple of swing states for Biden to win the Electoral School and the presidency.

Biden’s Speaking Level on Jobs

As he did in the course of the debate, and on many different events, Biden in contrast Trump to Herbert Hoover, the Despair-era president. Biden stated Trump — like Hoover — “misplaced extra jobs than he created.”

However, as we’ve written, Biden is ignoring the financial impression of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The U.S. added almost 6.7 million jobs in Trump’s first 37 months in workplace. However a string of 37 months of consecutive job development led to March 2020, when the financial system misplaced 1.4 million jobs and bottomed out the following month when it misplaced almost 20.5 million jobs, in response to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The job market began to get well in Could 2020. However by the tip of Trump’s 4 years, the U.S. had about 2.7 million fewer whole jobs.

Beneath Biden, employment is up 6.2 million from the pre-pandemic peak in February 2020 — however the whole improve since Biden took workplace in January 2021 is about 15.6 million, BLS knowledge present.


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