Balance of a term of office: Donald Trump made 30,573 false statements according to the media report

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Donald Trump was already spreading untruths about his inauguration - shortly before he left, he put another shovel on it

Photo: CARLOS BARRIA / REUTERS

Even the first day in office, Donald Trump exposed as a head of state who has a special relationship with truth and facts.

Where there was none when he was inaugurated, he spoke of a "huge" crowd that it was raining during his first address to the nation, the ex-US president denied shortly afterwards.

The Washington Post has now taken stock - and has come to 30,573 false or misleading statements that Trump made within four years.

The untruths were documented by the "Fact Checker", a section that the newspaper introduced ten years ago to check the correctness of statements made by politicians.

Five months for ten thousand false statements

Trump with his "unusually blatant disrespect for facts", however, presented the team with a "new challenge".

In addition, the number of false statements made by Trump has increased over time.

According to the newspaper, Trump initially made six false or misleading statements a day in his first year in office.

Then the president kept increasing and finally came up with 39 such false statements per day in the last year in office.

“It took him 27 months for 10,000 statements and another 14 months to get to 20,000.

Then it passed the 30,000 mark in less than five months. "

Same lies - different subjects

Which topics Trump spread lies changed over the years.

In times of distress, the former US president tended to conjure up an "alternative reality" for his supporters or to attack political opponents.

According to the Washington Post, what Trump disseminated at election campaign events or on his Twitter account, which has now been banned, was particularly untruthful.

Trump achieved a sad peak performance with false statements about the corona virus and the corona pandemic.

The »fact checkers« identified 2,500 untruths on this topic alone.

There was therefore only a short break for around six days when Trump himself contracted Covid-19.

Recovered, it continued with an average of 150 false statements per day.

What remains of the Trump presidency and his political decisions is uncertain.

The new US President Joe Biden tried on his first day in office to reverse as many decisions made by his predecessor as possible.

Many of the previously veiled scandals from Trump's term in office are still to come to light - and an impeachment case against Trump is still pending.

According to the newspaper, one thing is certain: Trump, through his "constant lying through the presidential megaphone", ensured that more Americans than ever were skeptical of real facts, the "Post" quotes a historian.

And Trump also leaves a legacy on the paper.

The fact checks of his statements add up to almost five million words.

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