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President Biden received a “bottomless Pinocchio” review from the Washington Post on the eve of Election Day as the Washington Post rounded up all of its recent false and misleading statements.
Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler noted misrepresentation in Biden’s claims about traveling with Xi Jinping, how much gas prices have fallen under his administration, and increasing Social Security controls.
Folks, I’ve spent a lot of time – more time with Xi Jinping than any other head of state. … I traveled 17,000 miles with him,” Biden said at a rally in San Diego on Nov. 3.
The mail noted that Biden is particularly fond of the claim — he’s now made it 21 times during his presidency — and there’s no evidence to show he traveled that much with the Chinese leader.
Biden made the claim citing another anecdote he likes to tell, where Xi is said to have asked him on the Tibetan plateau, “Can you define America for me?”
President Biden received a ‘bottomless Pinocchio’ rating from the Washington Post on the eve of Election Day as the Washington Post rounded up all of its recent false and misleading statements
Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler noted deception in Biden’s claims about traveling with Xi Jinping, how much gas prices have fallen under his administration, and increasing Social Security controls
“And I said, ‘Yeah, one word: possibilities. Opportunities,” Biden said. ‘We believe that anything is possible. We really do.’
Before being elected vice president, Biden spent more than two decades as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and regularly touts his credentials for foreign policy. Biden was tasked with getting to know Xi when it became clear under the Biden administration that he would be next in line for the presidency in China.
The White House has never stated the figure. If Biden’s journey with Xi — in the same plane or vehicle — is added up, it’s much less than 17,000. If his journey to meet Xi is counted, it is more.
For this claim, Biden received the “bottomless Pinocchio,” which the Post describes as “false or misleading statements that were repeated so often that they became a form of propaganda.”
One of Biden’s more outlandish claims is that gasoline was $5 a gallon when he took office and his administration has worked to bring the “most common” price to $3.39.
“Today, the most common price of gas in America is $3.39 — down from more than $5 when I took office,” Biden said at a meeting in Syracuse, NY on Oct. 27.
The average gas price the week Biden took office was $2.48 — prices weren’t averaging $5 a gallon until June of this year. Days after making the comment in New York, Biden made a similar claim, but cleaned it up and said prices were over $5 in June.
Biden also carefully referred to the “most common” price, not the average, because prices in states like California would push the average up. The average gas price today is $3.80.
Another of Biden’s deceptive White House claims: ‘Under my supervision, seniors are getting an increase in their Social Security checks for the first time in 10 years,’ he said Nov. 1 in Florida, and his Twitter account was fact-checked for posts .
Folks, I’ve spent a lot of time – more time with Xi Jinping than any other head of state. …I traveled 17,000 miles with him,” Biden said at a rally in San Diego on Nov
The White House was forced into an embarrassing walk back on Tuesday, deleting the tweet claiming Biden was responsible for the biggest increase in Social Security checks in a decade.
As fact-checkers were quick to point out, the increase is based on the inflation rate and required by law. Next year, benefits will rise by 8.7 percent thanks to the 40-year high inflation.
Initially, Twitter added a note to Tuesday afternoon’s original tweet.
“Seniors will receive a large increase in Social Security because of the annual adjustment of the cost of living, which is based on inflation,” it said.
“President Nixon signed the Automatic Benefit Adjustment Act Linked to the Consumer Price Index Act in 1972.”
It contained a link to the relevant legislation.
As the Post notes, Biden also recently made an odd claim that he had passed legislation to waive student loans. Notably, the president failed to get congressional approval to cancel student loans, a point at which critics have attacked for claiming his plan was illegal.
“You probably know that I just signed a law that is being challenged by my Republican colleagues. … What we have made sure is that if you go to school, if you qualify for a Pell Grant … you qualify for $ 20,000 in debt forgiveness. Second, if you don’t have any of those loans, you just get $10,000 written off. It’s over. I passed it by a few votes,” Biden told a NowThis forum on Oct. 23.
Biden instead bypassed Congress and relied on a Justice Department’s interpretation of a 2003 post-9/11 law that allows the Secretary of Education to relieve student borrowers of their federal debts in an emergency. Both Trump and Biden used the law to pause payments during the pandemic.
An appeals court halted the plan on Oct. 21 in response to a lawsuit from the Republican attorneys general.
The White House said Biden was mistaken and intended to refer to the Inflation Reduction Act, which voted a party line and had nothing to do with student loans.
Biden’s approval rating hovers around 42 percent heading into Election Day, a sign that could pose trouble for Democrats. The party not in the White House has the historic advantage in midterm elections, and polls indicate Republicans have a safe bet to take back the House and have a shot at seizing power in the Senate.