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Fact Check: President Trump vs. Chris Wallace on Coronavirus Death Rates, Defunding the Police -- Who Was Right?
Townhall ^ | 07/20/2020 | Guy Benson

Posted on 07/20/2020 7:51:22 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

President Trump sat down for a lengthy interview with "Fox News Sunday" anchor Chris Wallace, of whom Trump has been repeatedly and vocally critical, and the two butted heads on a number of issues. Two of the exchanges that received the most attention involved a dispute over America's relative global standing on coronavirus mortality, as well as a disagreement over whether presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden supports defunding the police. Let's start with the mortality rate exchange:

Wallace asserted that the US has the "seventh-worst" coronavirus mortality rate in the world, with Trump countering that the US has one of the best, if not the best. Wallace explains the disparity roughly 45 seconds into the clip above. Sure enough, a Johns Hopkins chart seems to back up Wallace's point -- but it's an incomplete picture. Another chart on the same website, for instance, shows America's death rate in 10th place on the "deaths per 100,000" metric, faring better than countries like Belgium, Spain, Italy and France, none of which appear on the graph Wallace relied upon and cited. Furthermore, the Johns Hopkins data takes statistics provided by the Chinese, Iranian and Russian governments at face value, which are not credible. All three nations are undoubtedly lying about their case and death counts, China especially.

Counting the United States as worse off than any of those three countries requires swallowing their bogus numbers. Trump is right that Dr. Deborah Birx has made the point for months that America has performed better on mortality rates than most other hard-hit western countries. But that doesn't mean that we're the best or nearly the best. With outbreaks rampaging across parts of the country, critics have plenty of material to work with in scrutinizing the US government's collective response to the coronavirus pandemic, and Trump's actions and rhetoric aren't inspiring much public confidence, according to the polls. Let's move on to the matter of defunding the police and Joe Biden's position on it (skip ahead to the 1:15 mark of this video):

Here, Trump is on shaky ground; he actually has a point he could have made to at least partially back up his claim, but he didn't deploy it. Biden said in early June that he flat-out opposes calls to defund the police, and Trump is incorrect to say that the Biden/Sanders "unity task force" document (the "charter" to which he refers) endorses defunding or abolishing the police. It does not. But Biden has said that he supports "redirecting" funds away from the police, which is how many supporters and defenders of the "defund the police" mantra have publicly defined the term (with others adopting the more straightforward and radical definition):


I'd like to see Biden grilled on his precise stances, especially how they'd be implemented, and how they differ dramatically from his own record in the Senate. Donald Trump subjected himself to a long, challenging interview with one of the toughest interviewers in the American news media. Does Joe Biden have the confidence to do the same?



TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: chriswallace; coronavirus; foxnewslies; liarwallace; nevertrustfoxnews; police; trump; wallacelies
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1 posted on 07/20/2020 7:51:22 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind
I'd like to see Biden grilled on his precise stances

The biggest scandal of this Presidential election....Biden's refusal to do unrehearsed wide ranging in person Q&A rapid fire interviews (with all journalists, not those on the payroll) AND the media's disinterest in demanding them.

2 posted on 07/20/2020 7:54:08 AM PDT by 1Old Pro (#openupstateny)
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To: SeekAndFind

It was a messy interview. However, it did focus the discussion around actual info about Coronavirus and Biden Police funding.


3 posted on 07/20/2020 7:56:53 AM PDT by Bayard
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To: SeekAndFind

Not interested in what Gay Benson has to say. This dude was on Outnumbered, surrounded by beautiful women, and talked about how he took his boyfriend out on a row boat and proposed to him.


4 posted on 07/20/2020 7:57:47 AM PDT by KMG365
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To: SeekAndFind

“”But Biden has said that he supports “redirecting” funds away from the police,...”

Nothing but a semantic game. Does ‘redicting’ mean lowering police budgets. Of course it does. “Redirecting” is synonymous with “defunding”.


5 posted on 07/20/2020 7:58:15 AM PDT by DugwayDuke (A Man Hears What He Wants to Hear and Disregards the Rest)
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To: SeekAndFind

Furthermore, the Johns Hopkins data takes statistics provided by the Chinese, Iranian and Russian governments at face value, which are not credible. All three nations are undoubtedly lying about their case and death counts, China especially.

Cannot be stated, enough.

6 posted on 07/20/2020 8:01:14 AM PDT by Jane Long (Praise God, from whom ALL blessings flow.)
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To: 1Old Pro
“The biggest scandal of this Presidential election....Biden's refusal to do unrehearsed wide ranging in person Q&A rapid fire interviews (with all journalists, not those on the payroll) AND the media's disinterest in demanding them. “

Honestly, is it really much different from the kid-gloves treatment Democrat presidential candidates have been receiving for years?

7 posted on 07/20/2020 8:04:00 AM PDT by daler
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To: SeekAndFind

It’s Trump’s imprecision of language that leftists rely upon to attack him. Trump is not a lawyer, creating little imperviable boxes - he is a businessman and visionary. He is inclined toward hyperbole in the enthusiastic advancement of his ideas.

Lefties seize upon those tendencies to “prove” that Trump is a “liar” - all the while Trump is telling the truth.

It’s a shame that Wallace likely came away feeeling like a winner when all he did was muddy the waters.


8 posted on 07/20/2020 8:06:12 AM PDT by rockrr ( Everything is different now...)
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To: SeekAndFind

Arguing over ChiCom Flu mortality rates is insidious. What is the government supposed to do? Force us to wear masks? Social distance? Shutter businesses? Sorry, I am wrong, the government is supposed to kill off old people in elder care facilities. Freedom trumps everyone of these things. I don’t care about the mortality rate. I don’t want the government to do anything. I am completely fine with taking personal responsibility for my own heath, thank you. Government F off.


9 posted on 07/20/2020 8:07:05 AM PDT by ConservativeInPA ("War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength." - George Orwell, 1984)
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To: SeekAndFind

the imbroglio regarding biden’s stance on defunding the police can only hurt biden, because biden will eventually be forced to either deny or endorse the issue ... either way, he’ll alienate one or another group of his supporters ...


10 posted on 07/20/2020 8:11:06 AM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: SeekAndFind; All

Trump is a concept guy. He doesn’t get down in the weeds like an actuarial statistician. “Redirected” in this context is essentially the same as defunded. Chris Wallace proves, once, again what an arrogant, adversarial, asshole he is.


11 posted on 07/20/2020 8:13:44 AM PDT by Cobra64 (Common sense isnÂ’t common anymore.)
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To: Jane Long

I’m over 70.
I have an organ transplant.


Concrete data is needed on:
Age of decedent
Associated health issues
Overweight?
Smoker?
Living conditions - alone? With family? Nursing home?
Working conditions - big office? Alone/at home?
Social activities - beach? Cruise ship? Convention?
USW... (that’s “and so forth” in German)

Crickets.
Please cut the BS and cough up the data.


12 posted on 07/20/2020 8:14:38 AM PDT by QBFimi (It is not your responsibility to finish the work of perfecting the world... Tarfon)
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To: SeekAndFind

Touchy-Joe didn’t say the word “defund.” What he said was equivalent.


13 posted on 07/20/2020 8:18:21 AM PDT by I want the USA back (BLM is a violent marxist movement designed to overthrow the US constitutional form of government.)
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To: SeekAndFind

The government has no real idea what the death rate is since the reporting is so bad so find a statistic you like and use that or just report the fear numbers like the MSM does.


14 posted on 07/20/2020 8:21:33 AM PDT by maddog55 (Only thing systemic in America is the left's hatred of it.)
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To: ConservativeInPA

Nothing he does will be acceptable to the masses.


15 posted on 07/20/2020 8:25:45 AM PDT by lilypad
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To: KMG365

I am getting to where I don’t watch Fox nearly as much. I watch Newsmax, which is closer to the truth than the BS that Fox is increasingly trying to jam down our throats. I do still watch Tucker, Sean, and Laura, though...


16 posted on 07/20/2020 8:25:47 AM PDT by silent majority rising
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To: Jane Long; All
"Furthermore, the Johns Hopkins data takes statistics provided by the Chinese, Iranian and Russian governments at face value, which are not credible.

BUMP

17 posted on 07/20/2020 8:30:42 AM PDT by Pajamajan ( Pray for our nation. Thank the Lord for everything you have. Don't wit. Do it today.)
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To: QBFimi

That’s just it. These countries will NOT cough up the data, and neither will John’s Hopkins.

We’re kept in the dark, on purpose.

POTUS is exposing this, for a reason.


18 posted on 07/20/2020 8:31:05 AM PDT by Jane Long (Praise God, from whom ALL blessings flow.)
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To: KMG365

No fan. I’ve seen the guy write blatant misinformation. He’s a GOPe tool.


19 posted on 07/20/2020 8:35:36 AM PDT by romanesq (Flubro, from the people who brought you the stupidity of grifters & the letter Q)
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To: SeekAndFind
Maybe the reason we will never see Joe Biden doing a live one on one has something to do with this technology.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohmajJTcpNk&list=WL&index=231&t=0s

20 posted on 07/20/2020 8:39:47 AM PDT by Falcon4.0
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