Washington
CNN
—
Former President Donald Trump delivered one other litany of false claims throughout two speeches on Saturday. And he expressed an opinion on American historical past that’s clearly contradicted by the details.
Throughout a speech to the Religion and Freedom Coalition, a conservative Christian group, Trump criticized proposals to vary the names of faculties, army amenities and different locations that honor slaveowners and Accomplice leaders. (Beneath President Joe Biden, the Military has renamed nine installations that had been named for Accomplice generals.) And Trump mentioned, “How about George Washington highschool? ‘We wish the identify faraway from that top faculty.’ They don’t know why. You already know, they thought he had slaves. Really I feel he in all probability didn’t.’”
Info First: Washington owned slaves. That is an extensively documented fact. On the time of Washington’s loss of life in 1799, there have been 317 enslaved people at Mount Vernon, his dwelling and plantation in Virginia, together with 123 people owned by Washington himself.
“George Washington owned slaves. We all know this by his personal hand. He saved ledgers on everybody he enslaved,” mentioned Alexis Coe, a senior fellow on the assume tank New America and creator of “You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington.” Coe mentioned it’s “reprehensible, on a private degree, to disclaim such a factor” and likewise “harmful to our nation” to have a number one presidential candidate espousing such inaccurate views on US historical past.
The web site for Mount Vernon, which is now maintained as a historic place, says that the variety of slaves on the property “grew steadily” over Washington’s time there from 1754 to 1799.
Washington inherited 10 slaves from his father at age 11. The Mount Vernon web site notes that “as a younger man, Washington bought dozens of enslaved folks from property gross sales and in non-public transactions” – and that the primary US president additionally rented slaves from others, inherited them from siblings, and enslaved the youngsters who had been born to slaves at Mount Vernon. When he married his spouse Martha, the web site notes, he additionally gained management of “a big quantity” of enslaved folks from the property of her first husband.
The record of 317 enslaved folks at Mount Vernon on the time of his loss of life included 41 people rented from other plantations and 153 folks from Martha’s first husband’s property.
Washington privately struggled with the thought of slavery and, within the final 20 years of his life, expressed non-public help for the thought of abolishing slavery by laws. However when he died, he instantly freed just one person in his will, his longtime manservant, and decreed that the opposite slaves he owned can be freed upon the loss of life of his spouse Martha. She ended up signing a deed to free all of his remaining slaves the yr after his loss of life, however she saved the slaves she had inherited herself.
Listed here are simply a few of the different false claims Trump made within the speech to the Christian conservative group or in his rally speech Saturday evening in Philadelphia:
– Trump claimed Democrats rigged the 2020 presidential election, his standard debunked lie.
– Trump claimed “each authorized scholar” needed Roe v. Wade overturned and the ability to set abortion coverage returned to particular person states, which is not true.
– Trump claimed “nearly all of the Democrats” additionally needed Roe overturned and abortion coverage set by states, although Democrats overwhelmingly supported the preservation of Roe.
– Trump claimed “there are states that enable” the execution of infants after beginning, although that is illegal in every state.
– Trump claimed that the US has document inflation, although the present inflation fee, 3.3% in May, is nowhere close to the US document (23.7% in 1920) and even the 40-year excessive (9.1%) that was hit in June 2022.
– Trump claimed the worth of bacon has elevated 100% or extra underneath Biden, although the Biden-era enhance is actually about 17% as of Could.
– Trump claimed Biden was the one that indicted him within the New York prison case during which he was convicted on 34 felony counts, although a grand jury of unusual residents indicted him and the prosecution was led by a neighborhood district legal professional who doesn’t report back to the federal authorities.
– Trump claimed the worldwide jail inhabitants is “method down” underneath Biden as a result of overseas leaders are emptying their detention amenities to ship folks to the US as migrants. However the world jail inhabitants is actually up since 2021, and there’s no proof of Trump’s repeated declare about overseas leaders’ actions.
– Trump claimed crime in Venezuela is down 72%, although the restricted obtainable numbers present a much smaller decline of about 26%.
– Trump claimed crime within the US is “a lot up,” although preliminary statistics present US crime dropped significantly in 2023 and once more within the first quarter of 2024.
– Trump claimed he has been indicted greater than infamous gangster Al Capone, although Capone was actually indicted more than Trump.
– Trump claimed China paid your entire value of his tariffs on imported Chinese language items and that “the American folks didn’t pay for it in any respect,” although study after study has discovered that Individuals paid the overwhelming majority of the price of the tariffs.
– Trump claimed the Biden administration is making an attempt to require Military tanks to be all-electric, although the army’s transfer towards electrical autos does not include tanks.
– Trump informed a narrative during which he claimed somebody informed him that non-electric vehicles would not have to cease when driving from New York to Los Angeles, although they do.