Biden Won't Defund the Police, But Trump's Budget Does
(Plus Other Right-Wing Lies About the Biden/Harris Ticket)
August 2020 - Well, it didn't take long for Donald Trump and the right-wing media to start lying about Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Given the fact that former high-ranking Trump administration officials like Jim Mattis, John Bolton, Gary Cohen, Rex Tillerson, John Kelly, etc. pretty much are all calling Mr. Trump incompetent and unfit for the job, it's no surprise that lies and distortions are probably all Mr. Trump is going to rely on to try and fool enough voters to get himself re-elected.
So let's get right into the facts and de-bunk some of the Trump campaign's stories that already are being spread across social media:
Lie #1: Joe Biden Wants to Defund the Police
Fact: Biden Does Not Want to Defund the Police, But Trump's Budget Does
 (Biden image from politico.com)
One of the stories that Donald Trump and his re-election team continue to peddle is that Joe Biden wants to de-fund police departments within our country. We first heard Mr. Trump make this claim during a July interview on Fox News, where even Fox's Chris Wallace challenged him on it:
- Mr. Trump: "It's gotten totally out of control and it's really because they want to defund the police, and Biden wants to defund the police."
- Mr. Wallace: "Sir, he does not."
- Mr. Trump: "Look, he signed a charter with Bernie Sanders."
- Wallace pointed out that the charter Mr. Biden signed with Senator Sanders is a set of ideas that "says nothing about defunding the police."
- Elaborating further on Fox News' "Bill Hemmer Reports", Mr. Wallace stated that "…. he {Mr. Trump} couldn't find any indication - because there isn't any - that Joe Biden has sought to defund and abolish the police."
Mr. Biden addressed the issue himself during a wide-ranging interview he and running mate Kamala Harris gave to ABC's "20/20", which aired on August 23rd:
- 20/20's Robin Roberts: "President Trump says that you want to defund the police. Do you?"
- "No I don't," Mr. Biden said, laughing. "I don't want to defund police departments. I think they need more help, they need more assistance,… By the way, he {Mr. Trump} proposes cutting a half a billion dollars of local police support."
This was a reference to the Trump administration's proposed cuts to the federal "COPS Hiring Program" that provides federal dollars to help hire additional local law enforcement officers. (The program was begun in 1994 by Bill Clinton.) The Trump budget proposal was made in February of this year and is not the first time that Mr. Trump has proposed cutting funding for the COPS Hiring Program.
Mr. Biden concluded, "So the only guy that actually put in a bill to actually defund the police is Donald Trump."
Lie #2: Kamala Harris is Ineligible to Serve as President
Fact: Senator Harris is Eligible to Serve as President
An op-ed piece in Newsweek magazine may have been the source of the far right's claim that Kamala Harris is ineligible to serve as President because she is not a native born American. In that Newsweek piece, a conservative lawyer named John C. Eastman tried to argue that the U.S. Constitution does not offer "birthright citizenship" to someone born on U.S. soil if their parents are not American Citizens.
Although both of Senator Harris' parents were working in the U.S. as academics when Ms. Harris was born in Oakland, California, neither of her parents were American Citizens at the time. Consequently, Mr. Eastman's position has been taken by the far right crowd as meaning Senator Harris is not a native born Citizen of the United States and, therefore, is ineligible to serve as President.
 (Harris image from nydailynews.com)
The response from across the Constitutional Legal community spectrum was swift and decisive: Mr. Eastman is incorrect. The 14th Amendment is very clear on this issue, stating: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."
To no one's surprise, though, Donald Trump tried to muddy the waters for the low information voter by promoting the false Eastman interpretation: "I heard it today that she doesn't meet the requirements….I have no idea if that's right."
It wouldn't take more than a few minutes to confirm that Senator Harris is a native-born American. Either Mr. Trump was being deliberately misleading or he and his staff are even more incompetent than most people think.
Mr. Trump was wrong for years on his claim that Barack Obama was not a native born American, a claim Mr. Trump finally admitted was incorrect eight years after the rest of the country knew the truth. He may be thinking that he got enough mileage out of his misleading Obama position to try the same tactic again this year with Ms. Harris.
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