Ah, the first presidential debate, where the role of a fact checker suddenly becomes more fun. The debate broke the record for the most watched debate in U.S. history and it definitely didn't disappoint.
Situated with five different Twitter streams, a large-screen TV, a classroom of other journalism kids, and a slice of pizza, we were ready to watch the debate we would tell our kids about. And though there's a lot to be analyzed and discussed, one of the main points we saw was that Trump lied. A lot. Which shouldn't come as a surprise, but here are some of the biggies that we found:
1. "So Ford is leaving, you see that their small car division, leaving. Thousands of jobs leaving Michigan, leaving Ohio, they’re all leaving."
Ford's not leaving. Unemployment in Michigan is 4.5 percent; Ohio's is 4.7 percent. Both are better than the national average of 4.9 percent.2. "My father gave me a very small loan in 1975."
This "very small loan" was just a light $14 million. Very small, indeed.
3. " She's been doing this for 30 years."
4. "I did not -- I do not say that." in reference to calling climate change a "hoax."
Sure you didn't say that.
5. "No wonder you’ve been fighting ISIS your entire adult life."
6. "As far as my tax returns, you do not learn that much from tax returns. That I can tell you. You learn a lot from financial disclosure."
The main thing with this is that though his financial disclosures reflect his businesses, they don't do much for his personal life.
7. "No, you're wrong. It went before a judge who was very against a police judge." in reference to stop-and-frisk being ruled unconstitutional
8. "But stop and frisk had a tremendous impact on the safety of New York City, tremendous beyond belief.""New York Police Department spokesman Peter Donald said stop-and-frisk has declined nearly 97 percent since 2011 and crime, murders and shootings have 'decreased significantly during the same period.'"
9. "Blumenthal sent McClatchy, a highly-respected reporter at McClatchy to Kenya to find out about it." in reference to Clinton starting the birther movement
There's no proof anywhere that Clinton started the birther movement, but Trump has spoken outwardly about the falsehood that Obama was not born in the United States.
10. "No discrimination against African-Americans, against Muslims, against anybody."
And more of that case can be found here.
11. "We came up with the Internet."
12. "I did not support the war in Iraq."
In a Howard Stern interview, he talked about his support for the war.
13. "You started the Iran deal ..."
14. "I think my strongest asset, maybe by far, is my temperament. I have a winning temperament. "
Who do you think won? Check out the Twitter poll below:
Who won the debate?
— Meredith Scroggin (@mlscroggin) September 27, 2016
For further reading, check out an article from Claire Comey about the role of fact-checking in this debate and an article from Charlie Broaddus about the reactions from University of Richmond political leaders. For the full transcript and more fact-checking, here's NPR's link.
The next presidential debate is Sunday, October 9.