Donald Trump was factually inaccurate at a rate eight times that of Joe Biden during his first 100 days of office, analysis suggests.
The US president will mark 100 days of being in office on Thursday, and as fact checkers from The Washington Post found, the commander-in-chief is far behind his predecessor for factual inaccuracy.
In fact, Mr Biden was responsible for as few as 67 falsehoods in the first 100 days of his presidency, or about 0.67 inaccuracies a day.
Four years ago, former President Trump was responsible for 511 falsehoods in the first 100 days of his presidency, or 5.11 inaccuracies a day, the Post’s fact checkers found.
The analysis of both presidents surveyed every speech, interview, tweet or public statement made by Mr Trump and Mr Biden.
It found that the Democrat’s biggest falsehoods were remarks about a restrictive voting access law in Georgia shortening voting hours, and that federal contracts “awarded directly to foreign companies” increased by 30 per cent during Mr Trump’s time in office.
Although the Georgia voting access law was criticised for a number of restrictions, including forbidding volunteers from handing food and water to voters, it did not include a shortening of voting hours.
The increase in federal contracts to “foreign companies” was 11 per cent, rather than 30 per cent, the Post’s fact checkers found. They described a typical inaccuracy from the Democrat as “some subtle truth-stretching”.
It follows a different approach to being president from Mr Biden, who has remained off Twitter and delivered remarks though administration officials – and delivered 40 per cent fewer words than the Republican.
“Biden’s relatively limited number of falsehoods is a function, at least in part, of the fact that his public appearances consist mostly of prepared texts vetted by his staff,” the Post’s fact checkers wrote.
“He devotes little time to social media, in contrast to his Twitter-obsessed predecessor, and rarely faces reporters or speaks off the cuff,” the Post continued.
In fact, of Mr Trump’s 511 falsehoods in his first 100 days, almost a fifth – or 99 inaccurate statements – were to be found on Twitter, from where he was banned for spreading election falsehoods following the rioting on the Capitol in January.
In a final tally for Mr Trump in January, The Post fact checkers found that he was responsible for over 30,000 falsehoods during the course of his presidency.
