Wonkette's Five Factchecks Of What The F*ck We Could Hear Him Lying

A far from comprehensive listicle.

If you want a complete factcheck of every time Donald Trump lied during last night's debate, simply look up the debate transcript (weirdly, the Daily Mail seems to have gotten the jump on other outlets), find the parts where Trump is saying anything, and you've found the lies. As for the specifics of what he got wrong, there are fact-checks all over the place; we will share with you some of the whoppers that we called out while Team Wonkette was liveblooging, before we hung our heads in whipsawed defeat. Hoo boy. This is an accurate representation of Trump's disinformation spew:

This isn't a debate. It's a DDOS attack happening in front of a human moderator.

— Derek Thompson (@Derek Thompson) 1601428879.0 

Lie #1: Let Insulin Roll Down Like Waters

When Joe Biden accurately said "He has not done healthcare," Trump insisted he had too! Like how he's miraculously brought down prescription drug costs, in his mind, with this bullshit:

I'll give you an example. Insulin, it was destroying families, destroying people, the cost. I'm getting it for so cheap it's like water, you want to know the truth. So cheap. Take a look at all of the drugs that what we're doing.

Factcheck: Not because of Trump! This one's a two-parter. First off, Trump did sign an executive order he claims will bring down prescription drug costs, but it only became operational aftertalks with the pharmaceutical industry fell apart. The EO only called for setting up a demonstration project, and that pilot program hasn't actually happened yet. It's likely to be tied up in lawsuits until the end of Trump's term.

But as FactCheck Dot Org explains , the idea that insulin is suddenly very cheap appears to be linked to a viral Facebook post in which a woman was delighted by the low price of a prescription refill at Walmart, and thanked "Trumps Prescription Bill." There is no prescription bill, and the low price the woman got has actually been Walmart's standard price — for one type of insulin — since 2019:

That's a human insulin — as opposed to the more expensive insulin analog , which is often needed by patients with diabetes, especially Type 1 — and it can be purchased at Walmart pharmacies without a prescription. (Note: This type of insulin is older and can take longer to metabolize than newer versions and experts   advise that people should consult a doctor before taking or switching medications.)

Like WATER, I tell you!

Lie #2: Only Like Seven People Have Preexisting Conditions And They're Commies

Trump got very pissy when Biden said there are 100 million Americans who have preexisting conditions, and would be harmed if the ACA is overturned by the Supreme Court. "There aren't a hundred million people with pre-existing conditions," Trump insisted, and besides, he has a beautiful perfect complete healthcare plan that will protect the very few people who have 'em. You just can't see it yet because it's secret.

Factcheck: This one comes fromhealthcare blogger Charles Gaba , who cites a little-known outfit called the US Department of Health and Human Services. HHS says that depending on how you define the term, as few as 61 million or as many as 133 million Americans have preexisting conditions. And since the broader definition is what was used by the insurance industry before the ACA, that seems like a really good number. If anything, Biden's 100 million is 33 million short. SEE, LIBS, TRUMP WAS RIGHT, IT'S NOT 100 MILLION!

The HHS Dept. itself puts the total number of those w/pre-existing conditions at betweem 61M - 133M.… https: //t.co/34pnEZrkmb

— Charles Gaba (@Charles Gaba) 1601428814.0 

Lie #3: I Was Being Sarcastic, Stupid

When Biden brought up Trump's suggestion that doctors should look into injecting people with disinfectants, Trump griped, "That was said sarcastically, and you know that. That was said sarcastically." This isn't a new claim; shortly after Trump was widely ridiculed for it in late April, he insisted , "I was asking a question sarcastically to reporters just like you, just to see what would happen. I was asking a sarcastic and a very sarcastic question to the reporters in the room about disinfectant on the inside. But it does kill it and it would kill it on the hands, and it would make things much better."

Hey, let's take a look at what he actually said and see if we can catch the sarcasm!

So, supposedly when we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it's ultraviolet or just very powerful light, and I think you said that hasn't been checked, but you're going to test it. And then I said supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way. And I think you said you're going to test that too. Sounds interesting, right? And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it'd be interesting to check that so that you're going to have to use medical doctors with, but it sounds interesting to me. So, we'll see, but the whole concept of the light, the way it kills it in one minute. That's pretty powerful.

Did you hear the sarcasm? We sure didn't, but maybe we're just not very bright when it comes to recognizing what a witty fellow Donald Trump is.

Also too, anecdotal evidence from an expert's observation of a young person learning the craft of sarcasm:

Donna Rose, 5, has a better handle on what "sarcastic" is. "Mama your lake is ugly today. Is that 'sarcastic'?" Yes… https: //t.co/HpE53SDKpK

— Rebecca Schoenkopf, Wonkette Editrix, King Of You (@Rebecca Schoenkopf, Wonkette Editrix, King Of You) 1601429535.0 

Lie #4: Obama Was Too Lazy To Appoint Judges, What A Lazy Guy!

Trump said, of judicial nominations,

[One] of the reasons I'll have so many judges because President Obama and him left me 128 judges to fill. When you leave office, you don't leave any judges. That's like, you just don't do that. They left 128 openings and if I were a member of his party, because they have a little different philosophy, I'd say, if you left us 128 openings you can't be a good president. You can't be a good vice president but I want to thank you because it gives us almost, it'll probably be above that number. By the end of this term, 300 judges. It's a record.

Gosh, how could that be? If only we could explain why Barack Obama left all those judicial posts unfilled! What a terrible president, to overlook something that important! This is an old Trump lie, and the number of judicial positions he says Obama failed to fill keeps increasing over time. Trump also pretends there wasn't a concerted effort by Mitch McConnell to block Obama's nominees from ever getting hearings, let alone a confirmation vote. Here, have a nice table from the Brookings Institution on how few Obama nominees were confirmed after Republicans took over the Senate, compared to comparable percentages under other presidents when the opposing party held the Senate:

It sure looks like something may have changed! Probably a lazy guy who couldn't get things done was president, we guess.

Lie #5: Oh Go Fuck Yourself Donald Trump

This is where we would have debunked Trump's lies about economic growth (even before the pandemic, it was slower than during Obama's final three years in office) or on the brilliant job he did bringing back manufacturing jobs (he claimed 700,000 new manufacturing jobs, but the pre-pandemic number was 483,000, Since the bottom fell out of the economy, we're now at a net LOSS of 237K manufacturing jobs, as of August.)

Hell, he even lied about being endorsed by the sheriff in Portland, Oregon. Nope. 

Donald Trump has made my job a hell of a lot harder since he started talking about Portland, but I never thought he… https: //t.co/xNohvBNcbe

— Mike Reese (@Mike Reese) 1601437157.0 

Other than those, however, everything else Trump said was a load of crap, too, and we're on to other things, goodbye.

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