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Lord, lies abound in this election season and in America today. We pray for Your truth to cut through the lies.
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As lies about former President Trump abound, let’s ensure that we know the truth so we cast informed votes in November.

From The Christian Post. Multiple hoaxes regarding former President Donald Trump’s words or actions have continued to flourish during the 2024 presidential campaign, despite having been repeatedly debunked by fact checkers.

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Vice President Kamala Harris brought up several of them during her recent debate with Trump on ABC News last week, prompting criticism against moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis for not pushing back on her, despite fact-checking Trump five times.

Here are five hoaxes regarding Trump that some of his detractors continue to use in an apparent effort to malign him.

1. ‘Very fine people’ in Charlottesville

During last week’s presidential debate, Harris dredged up accusations that Trump described neo-Nazis and white supremacists as “very fine people” in 2017.

The mischaracterization regarding Trump’s remarks about the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017 remains one of the most longstanding hoaxes about his presidency, despite having even been debunked by the left-leaning Snopes earlier this year.

The tense protests that roiled Charlottesville, which came amid controversy over plans to dismantle a prominent statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, turned violent when neo-Nazis and others with links to far-right groups clashed with left-wing counter-protesters.

James Alex Fields was found guilty in 2018 of first-degree murder for killing Heather Heyer and injuring 19 others when he rammed his car into a group of counter-protesters.

In response to a question about the protest at the time, Trump claimed there were “very fine people on both sides” of the statue debate, but clarified that he was not referring to neo-Nazis and white nationalists, adding that they should be “condemned totally.”

Trump also predicted that the impulse to expunge historical figures for falling short of modern moral standards would not stop at Confederate figures such as Robert E. Lee, but would extend to other slave-owning Founders such as Thomas Jefferson and even George Washington.

In 2021, a statue of Jefferson was removed from where it stood for more than a century in New York City Hall, according to The Washington Post.

In July of this year, Democratic Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office reversed its plan to remove a statue of Washington from Chicago City Hall following backlash, according to CBS News.

The Lee statue at the center of the Charlottesville riot was dismantled and melted down in a 2,000-degree furnace to make modern art in 2023, as noted by CNN.

2. Drinking bleach

During his widely-panned performance at the presidential debate in June, Biden mentioned the repeatedly debunked claim that Trump encouraged Americans to guzzle or inject bleach to combat COVID-19.

At a press conference during the height of the pandemic on April 23, 2020, Trump made an off-the-cuff remark about the potential efficacy of UV light to kill the virus, and floated the idea such light could somehow be brought “inside the body.”

At no time during his comments did Trump advise anyone to drink or inject bleach, according to PolitiFact.

The hoax was perpetuated by major outlets such as Politico, which in 2021 ran with the headline: “It’s been exactly one year since Trump suggested injecting bleach. We’ve never been the same.”

“So, supposedly 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,” he said. “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.”

Trump went on to note that it could be worth researching whether disinfectants could also somehow be brought inside the body to target the virus.

“And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in one minute,” he said. “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.”

3. ‘Bloodbath’

During last week’s presidential debate, Harris reiterated accusations that Trump was fomenting political violence during a campaign rally in March when he warned of a “bloodbath” if he is not re-elected.

Trump’s “bloodbath” comment, made during his March 16 speech at the Dayton International Airport in Ohio, was using the word in the economic context by which it is defined in the dictionary, as noted by FactCheck.org.

His remark came while discussing American autoworkers losing their jobs to Mexico, and he accused China of building automobile factories that will further cost U.S. autoworker jobs. He promised to slap a 100% tariff on cars coming over the Mexican border to offset such a trend.

“We’re going to put a 100% tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you’re not going to be able to sell those cars,” he said. “If I get elected. Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath, for the whole — that’s going to be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country. That’ll be the least of it. But they’re not going to sell those cars.”

The Biden-Harris campaign issued a statement at the time, effectively accusing Trump of trying to invoke a violent insurrection.

“He wants another January 6, but the American people are going to give him another electoral defeat this November because they continue to reject his extremism, his affection for violence, and his thirst for revenge,” they said.

Trump later defended himself personally in a March 18 post on Truth Social, writing, “The Fake News Media, and their Democrat Partners in the destruction of our Nation, pretended to be shocked at my use of the word BLOODBATH, even though they fully understood that I was simply referring to imports allowed by Crooked Joe Biden, which are killing the automobile industry.”

4. Tear-gassing protesters in Lafayette Square for photo-op

Amid the intense riots that roiled Washington, D.C., following the death of George Floyd in the summer of 2020, Trump faced accusations that he tear-gassed protesters in Lafayette Square across from the White House on June 1 to clear the way for a Bible-toting photo-op at nearby St. John’s Church, which protesters had set on fire the night before.

Despite the claim making the rounds in the media and prompting widespread outrage, a federal probe by the Interior Department’s Inspector General Mark Greenblatt found that neither Trump nor then-Attorney General William Barr ordered the protesters to be tear gassed to make way for Trump’s passage through the square, according to NBC News.

“We found that the Park Police made the decision to clear the park of protesters in order to install an anti-scale fencing to protect the park and U.S. Park Police officers during those protests,” Greenblatt told the outlet.

“We did not find evidence that the Park Police officials made that decision in order to permit the president of the United States to visit the park, or for a photo op at the St. John’s Church, across the street,” he added.

5. ‘Dictator on day one’

Harris has accused Trump of promising to become a “dictator on day one” of his second term, which refers to a humorous comment he made in December 2023 that was taken out of context by people such as U.S. Army veteran Eugene Vindman.

Trump’s comment came during a town hall with Fox News host Sean Hannity in response to concerns that Trump would use his political power to seek revenge against his enemies.

“I want to go back to this one issue, though, because the media has been focused on this and attacking you,” Hannity said. “Under no circumstances — you are promising America tonight — you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody.”

“Except for day one,” Trump said, adding, “I want to close the border and I want to drill.”

“Other than day one,” Trump continued during a light-hearted back-and-forth with Hannity. “We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator. OK?”

“That sounds to me like you’re going back to the policies when you were president,” Hannity added.

Trump, who has accused the Biden administration of politically weaponizing federal law enforcement against him, has said his “revenge will be success.”

Share this article to make sure people know the truth.

This article was originally published at The Christian Post. Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

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Darlene Estlow
September 18, 2024

Father, I pray you would continue to reveal truth in the election and end the lies. I pray for each candidate to be protected and we trust you as to who will win the many offices. May they be people who will fear you and love our Constitution.

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    Harry Cibak
    September 19, 2024

    Thank you. Truth, people who truly fear God and people who truly love the Constitution are the leaders our country needs. I very gratefully thank you for your prayer. It strengthens my faith and hope.

    0
BARBARA L. MANNINO
September 18, 2024

HELP US LORD CHRIST TO RISE STRONGER AND STRONGER IN YOUR POWER. YOUR WORD SAYS THAT IT IS NOT BY OUR OWN MIGHT AND POWER BUT BY YOUR SPIRIT ALMIGHTY AND HOLY GOD. SAVE US!

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