DEBUNKED – 10 Bits Of Dangerous TrumpTalk From The Third Debate

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has spent much of the past two weeks engaged in a hotly contested battle to see which of his numbers can drop further: his odds of winning the presidency, or the percentage of his statements which were rated as being True or Mostly True by the website Politifact.

Before Wednesday night’s debate, True/Mostly True was winning out by a slight margin, 15 percent to 12.6 percent, as measured by the stat geeks over at FiveThirtyEight.com.

While Trump’s instantly notorious statement that he would “keep us in suspense” regarding his decision on whether to accept the election result will no doubt drop his chances of victory even lower, the Republican nominee did his best to keep his relationship with the truth at an equally subterranean level.

Here’s a look at the best bits of TrumpTalk from the debate:

1. The Second Amendment Is “Under Siege.”

Early in the debate, Trump kicked off the discussion about the Supreme Court by reminding everyone how thin-skinned he is, immediately launching into a rant over Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s “horrible comments” about him and his supporters.

After getting that out of his system, Trump pivoted to familiar right-wing scaremongering over how Big Government is coming after everyone’s guns.

Given that not a single major piece of gun control legislation has passed during the Obama Administration, and the last major notable Supreme Court case on the issue, District of Columbia vs. Heller, actually ended up in a victory for the gun lobby, it’s hard to believe that the Second Amendment is being subjected to the degree of “trauma” that Trump claimed.

2. Trump Will Appoint Judges Who “Interpret The Constitution The Way The Founders Wanted It.”

Short of getting in a time machine, or bringing James Madison back from the dead to ask him what he thinks about abortion or gay marriage, it’s rather difficult to know which side the Founders would’ve come down on regarding these issues.

Of course, by referring to Article II, Section II of the Constitution, we can see that they wanted the Senate to provide “Advice and Consent on Judges of the Supreme Court” that the President has put forth (#doyourjob).

Funny how Republicans tend to overlook that one when they talk about the intentions of the Founders.

3. Trump Butted In To Say Hillary was WRONG!

…When she claimed that he had “mocked and mimicked a reporter.” Actually she was right. Watch him do it here:

4. Hillary was again WRONG! to claim that he hadn’t always been against the Iraq War.

Well, we’ve been here before. Repeatedly. Just to reiterate, on September 11, 2002, this happened:

Howard Stern: Are you for invading Iraq?

Trump: Yeah, I guess so.

Listen here:

5. Advocating Nuclear Weapons – “You’re Not Going To Find A Quote From Me”

Apparently, the headline reads:

Trump: ‘I hate proliferation’ but it would be better if Japan, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea had nuclear weapons.”

6. Speaking Of Nuclear Weapons, We’re Apparently 1,800 Warheads Behind Russia.

This was a case where Trump jumbled his answer a bit, but in going back to the debate transcript, he seemed to imply that Russia had built 1,800 new nuclear warheads on President Obama’s watch, and that the United States had failed to respond.

This clearly fits into his ‘dilapidated military’ critique, overlooking the fact that the administration has budgeted $1 trillion over the next 30 years to modernize the American nuclear program.

And it’s worth noting that we still manage to outspend the next seven countries combined when it comes to pouring money into our military defense.

7. “We’ve Never Had A Moment So Bad In The History Of This Country.”

Was Trump talking about Pearl Harbor? 9/11? The day the British burned down Washington D.C. in the War of 1812? No, of course not.

It was actually when Bill Clinton met Loretta Lynch on the tarmac of Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix. Granted, this was an unseemly bit of politicking during the FBI investigation into Hillary’s e-mail scandal, but only Trump’s flair for hyperbole could elevate this to the most traumatic moment in American history.

8. “I’m Going To Create Tremendous Jobs.”

Or lose 11 million of them, if you believe the Economics professors at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania who reviewed Trump’s economic plans. Then again, what do they know?

It’s not like Wharton School of Finance is coming up with ‘super genius stuff’ or anything. Oh, wait…

9. “100 Percent” Of Trump Foundation Proceeds Go To Charity.

This was too much even for Chris Wallace, who quickly pointed out that hundreds of thousands of dollars from Trump’s Foundation actually went to cover the candidate’s various legal bills.

Hillary then chimed in with an obligatory reference to that infamous $20,000 portrait.

10. “The Media Is Dishonest And Corrupt … They’ve poisoned the minds of the voters.”

Given that Trump was found to have benefited to the tune of $2 billion in free advertising from the media during the Republican primaries, he just may have a point here. Even if it clearly wasn’t the one that he intended.

Featured Image: Screenshot Via YouTube Video