DNC Wrap-up: Carrying the Torch

The Democratic National Convention wrapped up last Thursday with star studded party bosses and musicians, along with Kamala Harris accepting her party's nomination for the presidency in an historic speech. As that happened, the fact checkers immediately got to work to analyze her nearly forty minute address to the nation as she makes her case as to why former President Donald Trump shouldn't get a second term in the White House. Today we're here to fact check many of the claims she made in her speech as the official campaign begins.

First, the Vice President claimed that former President Trump would embrace Project 2025, which is a book nearly one thousand pages of conservative and controversial policy proposals. The "Mandate for Leadership," as the book is called, has been suggesting policies since the Reagan administration, so it is no stranger to Republican administrations looking to it for guidance. However, Mr. Trump claims he doesn't know anything about it and has worked hard to distance himself from it since he became aware of it. It is true that nearly 140 former Trump officials helped author this edition of the book, but Trump's actual policy proposals are spelled out on his website in what he and his campaign call "Agenda 47". Only 39 percent of the proposals in Project 2025's "Mandate for Leadership" are included in "Agenda 47". We label this claim by the vice president mostly false given the former president's statements, the existence of "Agenda 47,"  and that around 430 proposals in the "Mandate for Leadership" are not being considered by the Trump campaign as part of the former president's agenda should he be reelected.

Second, Harris claimed that Trump wants to slash social security. However, Mr. Trump has promised not to cut the popular retirement program millions of Americans rely on. However, the program will see an automatic reduction in benefits come 2033 when social security is expected to run out of money if Congress doesn't either raise taxes, cut benefits, or a combination of both to shore up the program to keep it from going bankrupt. We label her claim as false.

Third, Harris claimed that Trump wants to cut Head Start and get rid of the Department of Education. Trump has made no actual comments on Head Start, but has said he would like to abolish the Department of Education. We label this claim by Harris as half true.

Fourth, Harris claimed that the Trump tax cuts only benefited the super wealthy. All taxes, however, across the board for all levels of incomes were cut. However, these cuts are expected to expire next year unless Congress acts to repeal them or extend them. If Trump wins the White House in November, he will likely act to extend them and slash them even further. Harris has promised to repeal them and increase taxes on the wealthy while giving a tax cut to 97 percent of the rest of Americans. Trump brought down the corporate tax rate from 38 percent to 21 percent, while Harris has proposed increasing it to 28 percent. We label her claim on the Trump tax cuts as mostly false.

Fifth, Harris claimed that Trump wants to increase taxes by imposing a national sales tax on all American goods by $4,000 a family. What Harris is referring to is the fact that Trump has proposed increasing tariffs further than in his first term. The former president has said he would impose an across-the-board 10 percent tariff on all imported goods, but most heavily on Chinese imports. President Biden has largely kept in place the Trump tariffs. Therefore, this claim by Harris is missing context.

Sixth, Harris claimed that Trump would impose a national abortion ban, get rid of contraceptive access for women, attack IVF, and ban medication abortion. Trump has not proposed a national abortion ban, has said he supports contraceptive access, will not attack IVF, and will not ban medication abortion. He did, however, contribute to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision legalizing abortion nationwide, by adding three additional conservative justices to the Supreme Court when he was in office. Trump's vice presidential pick, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, has said that Trump would veto a national abortion ban in a recent interview with NBC's Kristin Welker. Despite all of the claims made on reproductive freedom by Harris, we label her claims as false.

Seventh, Harris claimed the immigration bill that was designed in a bipartisan manner last year was the most far reaching immigration enforcement bill in "decades" by Oklahoma Senator James Lankford, a conservative Republican, and others like Arizona's Kyrsten Sinema, a centrist Democrat known for bucking her party on key issues such as the border and voting rights. This claim, however, solved only part of the problem when it comes to reforming the asylum process and more. However, the 2013 comprehensive immigration bill brought forward at the time by a group known as the "Gang of Eight," spearheaded by Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Nevada's former Senator Harry Reid, and others, went farther in reforming the system. Both bills, however, died in their respective chambers of Congress after they faced major blowback from the more conservative elements in the House and Senate. We label Harris' claim on the 2023 proposal as mostly false.

Finally, Harris claimed that Trump would be immune from criminal prosecution after the Supreme Court ruled in his favor 6-3 in Trump v. United States that presidents could face criminal prosecution in unofficial acts as president, but not in official acts. The dissenting justices Elena Kagan, Ketanji Jackson, and Sonia Sotomayor slammed the decision as it would make the president a "king." We label Harris' claim as a result as only half true.