Prevaricating Presidents (Part 2 – Biden)

(Disclaimer:  In Part One – Trump, I dealt with the list of the “most notable lies” in the opinion of CNNs fact-checker Daniel Dale.  The Washington Post has documented more than 30,000 of what they contend to be misstatements, lies and repeated lies by President Trump.  There is no doubt that Trump has taken a lot more heat for making statements of questionable validity – or in some cases, clearly not true.  Despite a history of lapses in honesty, President Biden does not suffer the intense scrutiny and the withering attacks on his veracity.   That is one reason why this list is much longer.  It covers a long list of lies that may not be in the public’s mind.  This commentary is not based on “whataboutism” – although I feel confident that those on the left will be diverting the subject back to Trump.  This commentary is about BIDEN, not Trump.  That is a different discussion.  Though not as well reported, there has been some media fact-checking of Biden’s statements.  In addition to my own few contributions to the list of Biden lies, the vast majority of those below are drawn from lists developed either by Politifact, a publication of The Poynter Institute, or the Washington Post – two organizations that even the most radical left-winger cannot call anti-Biden.)

So, let us look examples from a much more extensive Biden Record – first getting rid of a few oldies.

1. Biden lied about his schooling – claiming to be in the top quarter of his class when he was near the bottom.
2. He said he was given an award for being an outstanding political science student.  He was not an outstanding student, and never got an award.
3. He claimed that he was on a full scholarship, when, in fact, he received a very small scholarship.
4. Biden was caught plagiarizing several times – serious enough to force him to end his 1987 campaign for President.

Let us move on to some of the more recent and more dangerous lies by Biden.  Of course, the worst of the worst have to do with his decision to precipitously remove all American troops from Afghanistan.

5. Biden said he had no choice because President Trump had reached an agreement with the Taliban.  Biden is deceptive on several points.  Trump’s agreement was conditional on Taliban participating in a coalition government – and explicitly banned them from taking over the country.  Trump had postponed his own deadlines because the Taliban were not complying.  Furthermore, there was nothing in the Trump/Taliban agreement that forced any action on Biden.  The Agreement could have been cancelled or amended by Biden.  
6. Biden reported to the world that the Afghan military was strong enough to keep the Taliban at bay even though he was told by his own intelligence and America’s allies that that was not true.
7. On August 20, 2021, in a push-back against predictions of future terrorism, said that al Qaeda is “gone” from Afghanistan.  The was despite a UN report that the terrorist group had significant presence in at least 15 provinces.
8. In announcing the withdrawal, Biden said that every American citizen and Afghan supporter would be taken out of Afghanistan before all troops would be withdrawn.  In fact, hundreds of American citizens were left behind and thousands of Afghan supporters – and their families.
9. He further stated that he would extend the exit deadline if that was necessary.  Both were lies – and as a result hundreds of U.S. citizens and thousands of Afghans with Special Visas have been left behind, and many have already been murdered by the Taliban.
10. Biden promoted his own lies about the withdrawal from Afghanistan in an earlier phone conversation with then-Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, in which he confirmed that the experts believed that the government in Kabul was imperiled, but “whether true or not,” Biden said they had to change the “optics.”  Not only was Biden lying, but he wanted Ghani to lie.
11. When the withdrawal turned chaotic and deadly, Biden and the administration advanced the lie that they always knew it would be thus – and that no such withdrawal could be smooth.  In fact, Biden repeatedly claimed it would be a peaceful withdrawal – saying it was not another Saigon, a reference to the chaotic and deadly withdrawal from the Vietnam War. He also ignored the relatively more peaceful and organized departure from Afghanistan by the Russians.
12. Biden called the evacuation of Americans and Afghans from the country a “great success.”  Planes leaving with empty seats and departing 40 minutes apart … planes remaining idle on the tarmac … the inability of thousands to reach the Kabul airport … and enabling the Taliban to control access to and security of the airport resulting in the deaths of 13 U.S. military and more than 200 potential evacuees … makes the statement an outrageous lie. Biden said that he assumes all responsibility for the withdrawal and the chaos.  He repeatedly said he regrets nothing and that the “buck stops” at his desk.  Yet he blamed that tragic withdrawal on Trump, the Afghan government, the Afghan military and his own intelligence reports – although there are reports that suggests he was lying about that.
13. Biden said all his military advisors were in agreement with the planned withdrawal.  That is contrary to most credible reports about the advice Biden received from the Pentagon.
14. Biden said the withdrawal was supported by American allies.  That was strongly disputed by the public criticism by those allies.
15. Biden said that American adversaries – such as Russia and China – would love to have the United States remain in Afghanistan.  In fact, the withdrawal of America has been a huge benefit to both Russia and China – as well as other international adversaries.  China has already recognized the Taliban government and has offered aid in return for access to Afghan natural resources.  They are currently teaching the Taliban how to use the highly technical weaponry and equipment that Biden left behind.
16. Biden said that over-the-horizon intelligence capability is as effective at fighting terrorism in Afghanistan as was the now ended on-the-ground network.  That lie has been effectively refuted by logic, common knowledge and virtually every intelligence expert outside the Biden White House. 

GENERAL SUBJECTS

17. Biden claimed that he knew nothing about his son Hunter’s business dealings. It was later shown that he had had several meetings with Hunter’s business partners – and was alluded to as benefactor of some deal.
18. In Another theatre of operations, Biden said, “the moment it [the Iraq] started, I came out against the war at that moment.”  At the time, Biden not only made public statements in support of the War, but he voted to authorize it as a member of the Senate.
19. Biden claimed that it was HIS plan to inoculate 100 million Americans in the first 100 days of his administration.  In fact, the Trump administration announced in December its plan to have 100 million folks inoculated in the first 90 days of 2021.  Nothing the Biden administration could do in those first 100 days – moneywise or restructuring the inoculation programs — could be changed.  Those 100 days were all the momentum of the Trump policies and programs.
20. Trump got roundly criticized for saying that things would be getting back to normal by Easter of 2020.  Of course, that was not the case.  For his part, Biden promised that 70 percent of Americans would be fully vaccinated by the Fourth of July 2021.  At one point prior to July Fourth, the White House claimed that the number had passed the 60 percent mark.  By the end of August, however, fewer than 50 percent of Americans were fully vaccinated according to the Center for Disease Control.
21. During the 2020 campaign, Biden made the absurdly untrue claim that ALL those who died of the Covid-19 Virus would still be alive if it were not for Trump’s policies.
22. Biden accused Trump of saying Covid-19 was the “Democrats’ new hoax.”  In the speech, Trump mentioned Covid-19, but NOT in conjunction with the word “hoax.”  That was an unrelated subject in the same speech. 
23. On May 3, 2021, Biden claimed there was “virtually no difference between white, black, Hispanic and Asian Americans 65 or older in the vaccination rates.  While there is no specific data to establish his claim, other reports at the time indicated blacks and Hispanics had lower rates of vaccination than whites – and Asians had higher rates
24. Biden claimed that he was “the first person to propose invoking the Defense Department Act to accelerate the production of Covid vaccines.”  In fact, Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services had proposed it 18 days early and Trump approved the use of the Act prior to Biden’s speech.  Scores of folks on both sides of the aisle had proposed it before Biden.
25. Upon taking office, Biden said, “When I took office three weeks ago, America didn’t have a plan or enough supplies to vaccinate most of the country.”  In fact, Trump had a plan for both the purchase and distribution of the recently developed vaccine – and his Warp Speed program brought vaccines to the market in record time.  The Washington Post give Biden three Pinocchios for this one and awarded two to Vice President Harris for making the same false claim.
26. On September 12, 2019, during his campaign, Biden insisted that the Obama administration “didn’t lock people in cages” – referring to those crossing the southern border illegally.  Not only were migrants locked in the same cyclone-fence “cages” that were criticized during the Trump administration, but they were built and used by the Obama administration.
27. Biden said that many racists had tried to become President of the United States, but Trump is the only one to get elected.  This is a whopper.  Virtually all the presidents prior to Abraham Lincoln had racist tendencies and policies – even those who longed for the end of slavery, such as Washington and Jefferson.  Andrew Jackson was a brutal white supremacist.  In post slavery times, the most notable white supremacist presidents were Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt – each of whom imposed harsh racist policies against black Americans.
28. Biden claimed that the NAACP endorsed him “every time I ran.”  The NAACP does not endorse candidates.
29. Biden claimed that 300,000 babies are born deformed because of alcoholic mothers each year as part of his pitch for more government spending.   In fact, the number of newborns affected with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is approximately 40,000 – and not all are deformed.
30. Biden, pushing for more money for cancer research, claimed that more than 3000 Americans die each day of cancer.  That is essentially double the actual number.

31. Biden said his 1990s crime bills put 100,000 additional police on the streets of American cities and resulted in an 8-year decline in crime rates.  The number of new police was actually around 60,000 and the Government Accounting Office reported that those extra police had no meaningful effect on crime rates.
32. In pushing for gun control, Biden said that “The Second Amendment, from the day it was passed, limited the type of people who could own a gun and what type of weapon you could own.”  The Second Amendment made no distinction of what kind of weapon a person may own.  State laws later barred freeman Negroes and slaves from owning guns.  The first federal restriction came in 1934.
33. In a related false claim, Biden said that during the Revolutionary War, private citizens were not allowed to own cannons.  Historians have found no evidence of such laws – and certainly not by the federal government.
34. At a CNN townhall, Biden said “If we kept (the minimum wage) indexed to inflation, people would be making $20 an hour right now.”  In fact, indexing the minimum wage to inflation would have produced a wage between $8.98 and $12.27, depending on which year you started the process. 
35. In a CBS “60 Minutes” interview, Biden said, “I can send every qualified person to a four-year college in their state for $150 billion.”  The actual figure is between $300 and $450 billion.  A White House spokesperson conceded that Biden had “misspoken.”
36. In October of 2020, Biden said “The boilermakers union has endorsed me because I sat down with them and went into great detail with leadership [about] what I would do.”  He was specifically referring to Pittsburgh’s Local 54.   Biden was not endorsed by the international Union and Local 54 endorsed President Trump.
37. At an ABC townhall, Biden accused the Trump administration of “eliminating funding for community policing.”  The program was not eliminated and was providing more than $200 million per year to local communities.
38. In a campaign interview with reporters, Biden alleged that confirming Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court in an election year is “not constitutional.”  Totally untrue – and Judge Barrett was duly confirmed by the Senate in accordance with the Constitution.
39. In an effort to diminish the importance of a quick confirmation of Barrett, Biden said that “there were no Court sessions between now and the election.”  Untrue. The high Court was in session prior to the election. 
40. In a July 2020 meeting with leaders of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Biden said that McDonalds Corporation makes its members “sign noncompete contracts that you cannot go across town to try to get a job at Burger King.”  McDonalds did not – and never had.
41. In bragging about the success of the General Motors bailout, Biden said that the auto company was “the largest company in the world again.”  Not even close.  GM is not among the top 50 largest companies in the world and is not even the largest auto company.  On the Forbes list, GM was topped by Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and Volkswagen.
42. In pumping up his international creds, Biden said, “Secretary Blinken can tell you; I spent a lot of time with President Xi — traveled over 17,000 miles with him.”  The Washing to Post worked up a summary of Biden’s time travelling with Xi and reported that they could not come even close to that number.
43. Biden repeatedly said that the new Georgia election law reduced the number of hours available for voting.  Totally untrue.  He repeated it so often that the Washington Post gave him four Pinocchios and referred to Biden as “a serial liar.”
44. Biden also claimed that GOP election laws eliminate absentee balloting.  None of the laws being considered in the state legislatures eliminated mailed ballots.
45. Again, referring to Georgia’s new election law, Biden said, “This is Jim Crow on steroids, what they are doing in Georgia.”  The Washington Post considered this exaggeration to be so extreme it declared it a lie.
46. Biden claimed that “There’s a broad consensus of economists — left, right, center — and they agree that what I’m proposing will help create millions of jobs and generate historic economic growth.”  Not only is there no such consensus, but many economists deemed to be liberals have raised concerns about Biden’s major spending plans.
47. Biden claimed that “The majority of [gun owners] think we should not be selling assault weapons.”  Virtually all polls show that the majority of gun owners oppose a so-called assault rifle ban.
48. In support of his tax-the-rich strategy, Biden said, “You know, if you’re a husband and wife, schoolteacher and a cop, you’re paying at a higher rate than the average person making a billion dollars a year is.”  The Washington Post flagged this as a lie since the American tax code is progressive – meaning that higher income individuals pay a high rate of taxes.
49. Biden claimed that 83 percent of the Trump tax breaks went to the upper one percent of the taxpayer.  In fact, 80 percent of all Americans received a tax cut.
50. Shortly after his inauguration, President Biden said, “Under the previous administration, the federal government contracts awarded directly to foreign companies went up 30 percent. That is going to change on our watch.”  The actual spending on foreign contracts decreased during the Trump administration.
51. In calling for a hike in the minimum wage, Biden said that those earning less than $15-an-hour for a 40-hour week were living below the poverty level.  Actually, that person would be above the poverty lever of $26,500 for a family of four.
52. Biden planned to spend $9 billion for everyone to attend a community college for free.  He said the government “spends almost that much money as a break for people who own racehorses.” Way wrong.  There is a very small support for racehorse owners, but it is so small that it is not even calculated in budget analyses.
53. On March 25, 2021, Biden falsely stated that “We’re sending back the vast majority of the families that are coming [to the border].”   Border Patrol data for February 2021 – the first month that Biden effectively controlled the border – less than half the families were sent back.  More than half were sent back in January, but that was still according to Trump policies that were immediately changed when Biden took office on January 20^th. 
54. Biden said …     (sigh) …

This could go on for pages, but you get the point. Many of the fact-checkers stopped or curtailed their activities after Biden was elected.  Based on my research — and this is only a fraction of the documented lies I uncovered.  I do believe if the media used the same standards and the same resources, Biden would be right up there in the tens of thousands of lies. 

The major difference between Trump and Biden is that Trump tends to tell more outrageous and lies that are more obviously untrue, while Biden is much more strategic and tells lies that take unbiased research to uncover.