Last night, we witnessed the debacle that was the second presidential debate. The nominees faced off while answering audience and social media questions in the town hall style event. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton stayed cool in the face of insults and lies from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Here are some fact checks of important quotes from the debate:
1. Trump on Clinton’s Immigration Policies
During the entire campaign, Trump has been talking about building the wall on the Mexican border. He has been complaining about how much illegal immigrants are costing us. He complained about Hillary Clinton being too soft on immigrants. He said Clinton wants, “amnesty for everybody, come on in, come on over.” She supports a path to citizenship for immigrants. She wants to keep families from being separated, and she wants to help lower the fees for naturalization. However, she is not just wanting to give them all amnesty. She approved of a bill that passed in 2013 that increased border security.
2. Trump On NAFTA And Other Free Trade Agreements
Donald Trump said that these free trade agreements took away your jobs. Employment has been increasing over the last seven years. President Obama has done a lot to help workers get their jobs. There is no evidence that NAFTA took away jobs.
3. Trump On His Taxes
Of course, the topic of his tax returns came up during the debate. A tax return from 1995 was leaked which showed The Donald losing $915 million in one year. The New York Times’ Megan Twohey reported:
“It’s impossible to know exactly what Donald J. Trump has or has not done with regard to taxes. He’s the only presidential candidate in decades to refuse to release his tax returns. The $916 million loss declared on 1995 tax returns obtained by The New York Times could have allowed Mr. Trump to avoid legally paying income taxes for up to 18 years.”
4. Trump On Tax Growth
Trump actually said that our taxes are the highest in the world. He wants to cut taxes, especially for big corporations. It is basically trickle-down economics.
Fact-check: US taxes are lower than nearly any other country.
Trump's claim that they're among the highest is bollocks. pic.twitter.com/uwnkMdD9R6
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) October 10, 2016
The New York Time’s Neil Irwin reported:
“On taxes, the United States has lower effective tax rates — meaning the share of income and corporate profits the government takes as tax revenue — than many other advanced countries. It is true that the United States corporate income tax rate is among the highest, but that doesn’t account for many deductions that reduce the effective rate.”
5. Trump On Clinton’s Healthcare Plan
Donald Trump accused Hillary Clinton of wanting to move to a single-payer healthcare system like Canada’s. She wants to repair and defend the Affordable Care Act (ACA). She would like to bring down copays and deductibles. She is also promising to reduce the prices of prescription drugs.
Featured image via Twitter.
