Donald Trump

=== False or misleading statements ===
{{See also|False or misleading statements by Donald Trump|Big lie#Donald Trump's false claims of a stolen election}}
[[File:2017- Donald Trump veracity - composite graph.png|thumb|upright=1.5|[[Fact-checkers]] from ''The Washington Post'',<ref name="database">{{cite news|title=In four years, President Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims|first1=Glenn|last1=Kessler|first2=Meg|last2=Kelly|first3=Salvador|last3=Rizzo|first4=Michelle Ye Hee|last4=Lee|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-claims-database/|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=January 20, 2021|access-date=October 11, 2021}}</ref> the ''Toronto Star'',<ref>{{cite web|last=Dale|first=Daniel|author-link=Daniel Dale|title=Donald Trump has now said more than 5,000 false things as president|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/world/analysis/2019/06/05/donald-trump-has-now-said-more-than-5000-false-claims-as-president.html|work=[[Toronto Star]]|date=June 5, 2019|access-date=October 11, 2021}}</ref> and CNN<ref>{{cite news|last1=Dale|first1=Daniel |author-link=Daniel Dale|last2=Subramiam|first2=Tara|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/09/politics/fact-check-trump-false-claims-february/index.html|title=Fact check: Donald Trump made 115 false claims in the last two weeks of February|work=[[CNN]]|date=March 9, 2020|access-date=November 1, 2023}}</ref> compiled data on "false or misleading claims" (orange background), and "false claims" (violet foreground), respectively.|alt=Chart depicting false or misleading claims made by Trump]]

As a candidate and as president, Trump frequently made false statements in public remarks<ref name="finnegan" /><ref name="whoppers" /> to an extent unprecedented in [[American politics]].<ref name=Glasser-180803>{{cite web|url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-trumps-washington/trumps-escalating-war-on-the-truth-is-on-purpose|title=It's True: Trump Is Lying More, and He's Doing It on Purpose|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|date=August 3, 2018|access-date=January 10, 2019|first=Susan B.|last=Glasser|author-link=Susan Glasser}}</ref><ref name=Konnikova>{{cite web|last=Konnikova|first=Maria|author-link=Maria Konnikova|title=Trump's Lies vs. Your Brain|work=[[Politico]]|date=January 20, 2017|url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/01/donald-trump-lies-liar-effect-brain-214658|access-date=March 31, 2018}}</ref> His falsehoods became a distinctive part of his political identity.<ref name=Glasser-180803/>

Trump's false and misleading statements were documented by [[fact-checker]]s, including at ''The Washington Post'', which tallied 30,573 false or misleading statements made by Trump over his four-year term.<ref name="database" /> Trump's falsehoods increased in frequency over time, rising from about six false or misleading claims per day in his first year as president to 39 per day in his final year.<ref name=TermUntruth>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2021/timeline-trump-claims-as-president/|title=A term of untruths: The longer Trump was president, the more frequently he made false or misleading claims|date=January 23, 2021|access-date=October 11, 2021|first1=Glenn|last1=Kessler|first2=Meg|last2=Kelly|first3=Salvador|last3=Rizzo|first4=Leslie|last4=Shapiro|first5=Leo|last5=Dominguez|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref>

Some of Trump's falsehoods were inconsequential, such as his claim of the "biggest inaugural crowd ever".<ref>{{cite web|title=Donald Trump had biggest inaugural crowd ever? Metrics don't show it|work=[[PolitiFact]]|date=January 21, 2017|first=Linda|last=Qiu|url=http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/jan/21/sean-spicer/trump-had-biggest-inaugural-crowd-ever-metrics-don/|access-date=March 30, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Rein|first=Lisa|title=Here are the photos that show Obama's inauguration crowd was bigger than Trump's|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=March 6, 2017|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/03/06/here-are-the-photos-that-show-obamas-inauguration-crowd-was-bigger-than-trumps/|access-date=March 8, 2017}}</ref> Others had more far-reaching effects, such as his promotion of unproven antimalarial drugs as a treatment for COVID-19,<ref>{{cite web|last=Wong|first=Julia Carrie|author-link=Julia Carrie Wong|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/06/hydroxychloroquine-trump-coronavirus-drug|title=Hydroxychloroquine: how an unproven drug became Trump's coronavirus 'miracle cure'|date=April 7, 2020|work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=June 25, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Spring|first=Marianna|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-52731624|title=Coronavirus: The human cost of virus misinformation|date=May 27, 2020|work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=June 13, 2020}}</ref> causing a U.S. shortage of these drugs and [[panic-buying]] in Africa and South Asia.<ref>{{cite news|last=Rowland|first=Christopher|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/03/20/hospitals-doctors-are-wiping-out-supplies-an-unproven-coronavirus-treatment/|title=As Trump touts an unproven coronavirus treatment, supplies evaporate for patients who need those drugs|date=March 23, 2020|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=March 24, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Parkinson|first1=Joe|last2=Gauthier-Villars|first2=David|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-claim-that-malaria-drugs-treat-coronavirus-sparks-warnings-shortages-11584981897|title=Trump Claim That Malaria Drugs Treat Coronavirus Sparks Warnings, Shortages|date=March 23, 2020|work=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|access-date=March 26, 2020|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Other misinformation, such as misattributing a rise in crime in [[England and Wales]] to the "spread of radical Islamic terror", served Trump's domestic political purposes.<ref>{{cite web|last=Zurcher|first=Anthony|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42171550|title=Trump's anti-Muslim retweet fits a pattern|date=November 29, 2017|work=[[BBC News]]|access-date=June 13, 2020}}</ref> As a matter of principle, Trump does not apologize for his falsehoods.<ref>{{cite web|last=Allen|first=Jonathan|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/does-being-president-trump-still-mean-never-having-say-you-n952841|title=Does being President Trump still mean never having to say you're sorry?|date=December 31, 2018|work=[[NBC News]]|access-date=June 14, 2020}}</ref>

Until 2018, the media rarely referred to Trump's falsehoods as lies, including when he repeated demonstrably false statements.<ref>{{cite web|last=Greenberg|first=David|url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/01/the-perils-of-calling-trump-a-liar-214704|title=The Perils of Calling Trump a Liar|date=January 28, 2017|work=[[Politico]]|access-date=June 13, 2020}}</ref><ref name="DBauder">{{cite web|last=Bauder|first=David|url=https://apnews.com/8d3c7387eff7496abcd0651124caf891|title=News media hesitate to use 'lie' for Trump's misstatements|date=August 29, 2018|work=[[Associated Press]]|access-date=September 27, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Farhi|first=Paul|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/lies-the-news-media-is-starting-to-describe-trumps-falsehoods-that-way/2019/06/05/413cc2a0-8626-11e9-a491-25df61c78dc4_story.html|title=Lies? The news media is starting to describe Trump’s ‘falsehoods’ that way.|date=June 5, 2019|work=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=April 11, 2024}}</ref><ref name="DBauder"/>

In 2020, Trump was a significant source of disinformation on mail-in voting and the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref name="USAT-Disinfo">{{cite web|last=Guynn|first=Jessica|url=https://usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/10/05/trump-covid-19-coronavirus-disinformation-facebook-twitter-election/3632194001/|title=From COVID-19 to voting: Trump is nation's single largest spreader of disinformation, studies say|date=October 5, 2020|work=[[USA Today]]|access-date=October 7, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Bergengruen|first1=Vera|last2=Hennigan|first2=W.J.|url=https://time.com/5896709/trump-covid-campaign/|title='You're Gonna Beat It.' How Donald Trump's COVID-19 Battle Has Only Fueled Misinformation|date=October 6, 2020|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|access-date=October 7, 2020}}</ref> His attacks on mail-in ballots and other election practices served to weaken public faith in the integrity of the 2020 presidential election,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/25/donald-trump-rigged-election-talk-fears-274477|title=Trump sees a 'rigged election' ahead. Democrats see a constitutional crisis in the making.|last=Siders|first=David|date=May 25, 2020|work=[[Politico]]|access-date=October 9, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Riccardi|first=Nicholas|url=https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-election-2020-ap-fact-check-elections-voting-fraud-and-irregularities-8c5db90960815f91f39fe115579570b4|title=AP Fact Check: Trump's big distortions on mail-in voting|date=September 17, 2020|work=[[AP News]]|access-date=October 7, 2020}}</ref> while his disinformation about the pandemic delayed and weakened the national response to it.<ref name="NYT 4 11 20" /><ref name="USAT-Disinfo" />