5 biggest fabrications and strangest statements of the 2016 Presidential Election
On the campaign trail, potential leaders of the free world attempt at every turn to make him or her stand out among the crowd. Whether it is through claims in advertisements, Q&A’s, or debate responses, candidates aren’t always sticking to the truth in their words. Sometimes, they are only mild blunders that likely were mere mistakes. But there are times that a candidate says something so inaccurate and crazy that it simply can’t be an honest mistake. These are just five of the times that obvious lies have slipped through the lips of presidential candidates this cycle:
Most Uninformed Statements
1. “Social Security does not add one nickel to the deficit.” — Senator Bernie Sanders
Tweeted out both in September and October, Senator Sanders attempted to make the claim that Social Security does not apparently cost the government any money. Obviously, this simply cannot be true. Social Security is part of the budget, which even the Senator agreed on in before, and has contributed to yearly deficits since 2010. In total, it alone has added $73 billion to the deficit.
2. “A man was put in prison for conspiracy just for having dirt on his land.” — Senator Rand Paul
Always the protector of property rights, Senator Rand Paul has used a story of how Robert Lucas was accused of racketeering and organized crime after putting dirt on his land. While this sounds crazy enough to begin with, Robert Lucas was very much a real person. He just didn’t happen to go to jail for organized crime. Instead, he was convicted on charges of mail fraud, conspiracy, and environmental violations.
3. “Every signer of the Declaration of Independence had no federal elected office experience.” — Dr. Ben Carson
As someone with limited experience holding any kind of federal office, Republican candidate Ben Carson attempted to make the claim that he was akin to those who signed the Declaration of Independence. It turns out that 28 of the 56 who signed the document had previously held elected office. Those names include former presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.
4. “The federal government right now does not deport criminals.” — Governor Jeb Bush
In an attempt to show that President Obama has been lax on immigration, Jeb Bush attempted to point to the fact that very few criminals were being deported. While it is accurate to say that some illegal immigrants have avoided deportation, it’s ignoring that ICE deported 86,000 illegal immigrants for being convicted of previous crimes.
5. “I watched in Jersey City, N.J., where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as the World Trade Center collapsed.” — Donald Trump
What list of outrageous lies could be complete without one from The Donald himself? Rated as one of the biggest lies of 2015, Trump made the claim that he stood by while Muslims cheered during 9/11. He has even made claims that there are videos of such events. New Jersey’s own governor Chris Christie has disputed such claims. Also, despite repeating that such evidence exists, Trump has yet to actually provide any proof of such things happening.
Strangest Statements… So Far.
The good Dr. Ben Carson takes the top two spots so far — But if they really try, perhaps Bernie or Trump could wrestle this honor away in the next few weeks. Time will tell!
1. “My own personal theory is that Joseph built the pyramids to store grain. Now all the archaeologists think that they were made for the pharaohs’ graves. But, you know, it would have to be something awfully big if you stop and think about it. And I don’t think it’d just disappear over the course of time to store that much grain.”
[Side note: I attended a Family Leader Forum in Des Moines this winter where Dr. Carson shared a heart warming story about his mother, which somehow ended by him stating, “if she were around these events she’d be shooting the liars who are attacking me…”
— Dr. Carson
2. “A lot of people who go into prison straight and when they come out, they’re gay, so did something happen while they were in there? Ask yourself that question.”
— Dr. Carson
3. “It’s time that we recognize the Supreme Court is not the supreme being, and we change the policy to be pro-life and protect children instead of rip up their body parts and sell them like they’re parts to a Buick.”
— Huck
4. “The New York Times a few weeks back had a columnist who wrote a column saying, Anybody But Cruz… Had that actually — that same columnist wrote a column comparing me to an evil demonic spirit from the movie It Follows, that jumps apparently from body to body possessing people.”
— Teddy Cruz
5. “You find me a Democrat that’s for cutting spending $10 and I’ll give them a warm kiss.”
— Gross, Jeb Bush!
