September 2020


the military. But basic military pay raises are set by a statutory formula, which is “linked to the increase in private-sector wages, as measured by the Employment Cost Index,” as the Defense Department website says.


Trump has asked Congress to provide the amounts set by that formula in three of his four budgets, according


to the Congressional


Research Service and the White House fiscal 2021 budget proposal. In his first budget, Trump proposed an increase of 2.1% — less than the 2.4% level set by the statutory formula for fiscal year 2018. Congress overrode Trump and provided the full military pay hike, according to CRS.


things


NATO: The president got several wrong


when talking about


defense spending by countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.


“Our NATO partners, as an example, were very far behind in their defense payments. But at my strong urging, they agreed to pay $130 billion more a year. The first time in over 20 years that they upped their payments,” he said. “And this $130 billion will ultimately go to $400 billion a year.”


Trump has long mischaracterized


what alliance members spend on their own defense spending as a “payment” to NATO; it’s not. Nor are the majority of NATO countries required to spend 2% of their gross domestic product on defense spending in the first place.


In 2006, NATO members agreed


to try to spend at least that percentage of their economic output on defense spending, and in 2014, they agreed again to aim to meet that standard by 2024. For most countries, it’s a “guideline” — not a mandate.


European NATO allies increase


It’s not true their


that Canada and agreed


defense spending by


$130 billion more a year. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said that’s an estimate of how much more those countries would collectively spend on defense from 2016 to 2020 — not per year. And those nations together are projected to spend $400 billion more on defense by the end of 2024 — not annually.


It’s also not the case that defense spending by other NATO members hasn’t been “upped” in two decades. After years of decreases, combined defense spending by non-U.S. NATO members has increased every year since 2015 — two years before Trump assumed office.


Biden on Osama bin Laden


mission: Trump said that Biden “voted for the Iraq War” and “opposed the mission to take out Osama bin Laden.” Biden’s position on going to war with Iraq was complex and nuanced, though Biden did vote in favor of an authorization of military force, a vote he later said was a mistake. As for the mission to target bin Laden, Biden said he opposed the timing of the operation, and suggested that the raid should be delayed in order to take further steps to confirm bin Laden was at the compound in Pakistan.


As chairman of the Senate


Foreign Relations Committee, Biden voted in 2002 to authorize the use of military force against Iraq. As we wrote when Biden wrongly claimed in September 2019 that he opposed the Iraq war from “the moment” it began, Biden was a consistent critic of the way the Bush administration handled the war. Some of his comments proved to be quite prescient, including his


to


www.hamptonroadsmessenger.com


warnings about the likely higher- than-expected cost and length of the war, and the complexity of “winning the peace” once Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s regime was toppled.


In the days and weeks before and after the war started, Biden said that while the hope was that the use of force resolution could be used to leverage further inspections, he also acknowledged it was a vote for the possibility of war.


We should note that while Trump has repeatedly claimed that he publicly opposed the Iraq War before the March 19, 2003, invasion, we could find no evidence that he ever did. In a 2002 radio interview with Howard Stern, Trump said “I guess so” when asked if he supported going to war.


As for Trump’s Osama bin


Laden claim, as we wrote when Vice President Mike Pence made the same claim, Biden said he suggested that the raid should be delayed, not scrapped altogether.


Back in January, we looked into


various — and sometimes conflicting — accounts that Biden has provided about his advice to Obama about whether to move forward with the raid to kill bin Laden.


Several weeks after the raid, at a


time when Obama was gearing up for a reelection campaign, the New York Times on May 26, 2011, reported that Biden said at a Democratic fundraiser in late May 2011 “that he and others had counseled Mr. Obama to be more careful and cautious about the raid” and that he told Obama to “wait another seven days for information.”


At a House Democrats’ annual


retreat in January 2012, Biden said that at the April 2011 national security team meeting, he told Obama “my suggestion is, don’t go. We have to do two more things to see if he’s there.”


In May 2012, during an


appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Biden added a new twist to his account, saying that after the team meeting, he privately told Obama, “’Follow your instincts, Mr. President. Your


instincts have unerring. been close to Follow your instincts.’ I


wanted him to take one more day to do one more test to see if he was there.” Three


years later, in 2015, Biden


said he privately told Obama, “that I thought he should go, but follow his own instincts.”


We can’t confirm what Biden may have told Obama privately. But even the opinion he gave at the security team meeting — that Obama should wait (a version that was corroborated by others at the meeting) — is not the same as opposing the operation outright.


Policing Trump baselessly said that a


Biden administration would mean “defund[ed]


police departments


all across America” and a country in which “no one” would be safe. But Biden has said that he opposes “defunding the police,” and Trump has presented no evidence to suggest life


under


dangerous. Trump,


Biden


dangerous aspect platform


would Aug. 27: is the attack be The more most


of the Biden on public


safety. … When asked if he supports cutting


radical left police funding, Joe Biden


replied, “Yes, absolutely.” … Make no mistake, if you give power to Joe Biden, the


will defund


The Hampton Roads Messenger 7


police departments all across America. They will pass federal legislation to reduce law enforcement nationwide. … No one will be safe in Biden’s America.


Trump also said, “the Republican Party condemns the rioting, looting, arson and violence we have seen in Democrat-run


cities like Kenosha,


Minneapolis, Portland, Chicago, and New York,” and his campaign ads have suggested such mayhem would be prevalent should Biden make it to the White House. But it’s important to remember that the violence, often in the aftermath of police shootings of African Americans, is occurring on Donald Trump’s watch, not Joe Biden’s.


As we have written, Trump and his campaign have repeatedly and


falsely claimed administration law enforcement, that would with a Biden


eviscerate Americans


subjected to mayhem in the streets and unanswered


of occasions that he is opposed to defunding the


to


relationships cameras.


strengthen community and for body-worn


Biden has said on a number police, and a Biden


spokesman told us the Democratic nominee supports more funding for police for some functions, such as initiatives


Biden wrote in an op-ed in USA


Today on June 10, “While I do not believe federal dollars should go to police departments violating people’s rights or turning to violence as the first resort, I do not support defunding police. The better answer is to give police


departments the resources


they need to implement meaningful reforms, and to condition other federal dollars on completing those reforms.”


It’s worth noting the federal government pays a small percentage of law enforcement


expenses.


According to a backgrounder by the Urban Institute, 86% of police funding in 2017 was from local governments, with additional money ponied up by state governments.


The “Yes, absolutely” comment was also cited by Vice President Mike Pence in his address at the convention on Aug. 26. Here is the context for that remark.


In a July 8 interview with


progressive activist Ady Barkan about police reforms, Biden was asked about shifting some funding from police to social service agencies for tasks that could be better handled by the latter. “Yes, absolutely,” Biden responded. But as we said, he would support additional funding in some categories.


In a segment of the interview that


didn’t appear on YouTube, Biden said he supports reforms, but “that’s not the same as getting rid of or defunding all the police.”(The Washington Post Fact Checker obtained audio of the full conversation.)


Both Biden and Trump have


expressed support for the idea of social workers and mental health personnel joining forces with police in some cases, as we’ve explained.


As we’ve written, there is no


agreed upon definition for the term “defund the police.” Some critics of the police really do want to abolish police forces as we know them and replace them with other forms of community advocate


shifting


safety entities. some


Others money


and functions away from police


departments to social service agencies. But in campaign ads and verbal attacks on Biden, Republicans generally use the term to mean devastating budget cuts for law enforcement, something Biden clearly opposes.


Immigration Trump’s border wall.


Trump


falsely said that Biden is “even talking about taking the wall down” along the border between the United States and Mexico that the president has so vigorously championed.


we


That have


is not the case. written,


both a As Biden


campaign position paper and a list of recommendations drafted by allies of Biden and his vanquished rival Sen. Bernie Sanders call for getting rid of the “national emergency” designation that


allows the use of Defense


Department funds for the fencing that the Trump administration is erecting. But neither document says anything about tearing down what has already been built.


A wall on the Mexican border to


keep out immigrants trying to illegally cross was a major campaign issue in 2016 for Trump and a frequent rallying cry since.


Trump also gave a misleading


statistic for how much of the wall has been built. “We have already built 300 miles of border wall,” he said. But as we have written, very few of those miles are new construction.


According to an Aug. 7 story in


the San Antonio Express-News, only five miles of new fencing have been constructed. The paper said 260 miles of replacement and secondary walls have been built. The border is about 2,000 miles. The paper said its story was based on data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.


Refugees:


700%.” But


In blasting the


Democrats’ approach to immigration, Trump said that Biden had “pledged to increase


that


refugee admissions by doesn’t


account for


the fact that Trump has slashed the number of refugees allowed into the country since he took office.


The last refugee cap set by


Obama was for fiscal year 2017 — it allowed for 110,000 refugees to enter the country. The following year, Trump cut the number by more than half, to 45,000. In fiscal year 2019 he cut it further, to 30,000, and, finally, in fiscal year 2020 he set the ceiling at 18,000.


That’s the lowest number since the U.S. refugee admissions program began in 1980.


So, it’s true that Biden’s platform calling for an initial cap of 125,000 is an increase — it’s actually about 600% higher than the current cap — but it’s only about 14% higher than the number set before Trump took office.


Other Attacks on Biden, Dems Pledge of Allegiance: Trump


repeated a misleading claim he first made on Twitter shortly after the Democratic


National Convention.


He told the crowd gathered at the White House, “During the Democrat Convention, the words ‘Under God’ were removed from the Pledge of Allegiance – not once, but twice.”


Actually, the pledge was recited in full each night of the convention.


The words “under God” were omitted


at the start of daytime TRUMP SPEECH PAGE 10


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