A list of 'big lies' that Donald Trump told during his 2024 US presidential announcement

They say some old habits never change. In Donald Trump’s case, his habit of making inaccurate claims remains the same. On Wednesday, former President Donald Trump announced that he is all set to run for the 2024 US Presidential Elections. Trump was the first President in American history to be twice impeached during his 4 years running from 2016-2020. According to the Washington Post, during his 4 years in office Trump had made around, “30,573 misleading claims”. 

The former President Trump, during his presidential announcement, didn’t miss a chance to make false and inaccurate claims. Other than continuing with his false stance that the 2020 presidential elections were rigged, Trump continued to make false claims about numerous issues.

Here are some of the big lies the former President said during his announcement. 

Afghanistan issue 

Trump during his address claimed that the US left $85 billion worth of military equipment in Afghanistan upon its military withdrawal in 2021. He said, “Perhaps the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country, where we lost lives, left Americans behind and surrendered $85 billion worth of the finest military equipment anywhere in the world,” However, Trump gave wrong figures during his address. According to the Pentagon, the US Defence department estimated that equipment worth $7.1 billion was left behind by the US military in Afghanistan. 

China

Trump then went on to say that, “no president had ever sought or received $1 for our country from China until I came along.” This assertion of Trump is not true, in reality, the US has had tariffs on China. FactCheck.org reported in 2019 that “the US generated an average of $12.3 billion in customs duties a year from 2007 to 2016," according to the U.S. International Trade Commission DataWeb.

Strategic Petroleum Reserves

Trump during his address talked about Strategic Petroleum Reserves and rising gas prices. He said, “Gas prices reached the highest levels in history and are expected to go much higher now that the Strategic National Reserves… Which I filled up have actually drained in order to keep the gas prices lower before the elections.”

According to the data shared on the US Energy information advertisement website, “the reserves had fewer barrels of petroleum” when Trump left office than when he took office. Although he did propose the reserves to be filled, he never managed to secure the funding for it from the Congress. 

Missile blast in Poland

During his speech, Trump claimed that a missile sent “probably by Russia” landed “50 miles into Poland”. According to CNN, while the Poland authorities confirmed that the missile that killed 2 Polish citizens was a “Russian-made missile” the incident happened 4 miles from the west Ukrainian borders. 

Green New Deal, Sea Level rise and climate change

Trump even made an inaccurate claim about the sea level rise while he was talking about the Green New Deal, he said, “They say the ocean will rise 1/8 of an inch over the next 200 to 300 years. But don’t worry about nuclear weapons that can take out entire countries with one shot.”

While the concern about the use of Nuclear levels remains prevalent Trump gave inaccurate figures for the rise in sea levels. Citing data from the US government’s National Ocean Service, CNN asserted that, “sea level along the U.S. coastline is projected to rise, on average, 10 - 12 inches (0.25 - 0.30 metres) in the next 30 years (2020 - 2050), which will be as much as the rise measured over the last 100 years (1920 - 2020).”

These were not the only false claims the former president made during his presidential announcements. However, it becomes a matter of concern due to his records of spreading numerous lies while he was in the office. According to The Washington Post's, the Fact Checker team asserted that the former US President made around “492 false claims in first 100 days in office.” If Trump wins the 2024 US Presidential Elections, he will be the second president after Grover Cleveland to leave the White House and return for a second term 4 years later.