We watched closely. But through the first two nights, keynote speakers mostly spoke in general or offered subjective opinions – and if they did, they were largely accurate.
Nevertheless, there were at least some of their allegations debatable or missing in the relevant context.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday praised his state’s efforts to fight the coronavirus while contrasting the government’s approach with the way the federal government handled the pandemic.
Cuomo said that “if they proved that their path failed, we proved that our way succeeded.” He added, “And for all the pain and all the tears, our way worked. And it was beautiful.”
Facts first: New York currently has low levels of coronavirus infection, hospitalization, and death compared to other major U.S. cities. However, it is highly debatable whether Cuomo’s overall handling of the pandemic was a success. He does not mention some important facts and statistics.
Although New York has dramatically flattened its coronavirus curve since the April peak, the initial peak was severe. As of Wednesday, New York had more than twice as many deaths due to any other U.S. state – according to Johns Hopkins University data – more than 32,800 – and was the second highest, behind New Jersey, in deaths per 100,000. people, with 169.
While some of the crisis in New York has undoubtedly been caused by bad luck – as an international travel destination, New York has been hit by the virus ahead of other major US cities – Cuomo’s approach has probably not only contributed to current successes, also to the initial failures.
Cuomo was initially reluctant to order state residents to stay at home; he issued a home order on March 20 (it went into effect on March 22) – four days after a group of California provinces issued similar orders and a day after California Governor Gavin Newsom issued such an order for the state. California had fewer confirmed cases at the time than New York.
Cuomo’s early communication about the virus was also questioned. He said on March 19: “I’m just as scared of the fear and the panic as of the virus, and I think the fear is now more contagious than the virus. You’re taking a place like New York City, us is almost panicked, so what you say and how you communicate is very important. Should everyone stay home? Of course. Are we putting people in jail? No. Can you stay inside 24 hours a day? No.
In search of cleaning up hospital beds, Cuomo’s administration also issued a controversial March 25 directive banning nursing homes from denying new or returning residents coronavirus. More than 6,400 residents of nursing homes in New York have died from the virus. (The extent to which the order contributed to the death toll on March 25 is not clear.)
The Trump administration and ‘cages’
Former first lady Michelle Obama, who denounced the Trump administration, said Monday that America’s children “watch in horror as children are torn from their families and thrown into cages.”
Facts first: The Trump administration has, however, instituted a policy of regularly separating migrant children from their parents at the border; separation happened much less often under President Barack Obama. However, Michelle Obama did not mention that ‘cages’ were also used under her husband’s administration to house migrant children; some of the facilities controversially used to keep children in cages under President Donald Trump were actually building under Barack Obama.
Trump and the ‘fraud’
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said of Milwaukee Democrats Tuesday: “Unlike the president, we have never called Covid-19 a hoax.”
Facts first: At a February campaign rally, Trump called something related to the virus a Democratic ‘fraud’. However, the president has left it unclear whether he is calling the virus a joke or saying Democratic criticism of the handling of the virus by its administration was a joke. When asked the next day, he said he spoke specifically about Democratic criticism.
We can not call Barrett’s claim false, despite the next day’s interpretation of Trump: the exact claim of the president during the protest was open to the viewer’s interpretation. But it is noteworthy that there is definitely a more favorable way of looking at it. Here is what you said for your reference during the rally:
“A lot of dishonest people. Now the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. You know that, don’t you? Coronavirus. They are politicizing it. We did one of the wonderful tasks, you say, ‘How’s President Trump? They go, “Oh, not good, not good.” They have no idea, they have no idea … One of my people came to me and said, Mr President, they were trying to defeat you against Russia, Russia, Russia. It’s not working well either. They could not do it.They tried the accusatory power.It was on a perfect conversation.They tried everything, they tried it over and over, they have been doing it since she came in. It turns everything, they have lost. It “Turn everything around, think about it, think about it. And that’s their new joke.”
Iran and nuclear weapons
Former Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday: “We have removed the threat posed by Iran with a nuclear weapon.”
Facts first: We would leave it at that if Kerry said that the Obama administration ‘reduced’ the threat to Iran with a nuclear weapon, but it is a piece of cake to say that the government ‘eliminated’ the threat – indicating a permanent eradication that the 2015 nuclear deal did not (and could not possibly) provide.
The agreement, from which Trump announced a US withdrawal in 2018, included strict restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities, an Iranian commitment to allow regular inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency and an Iranian promise that the country would not seek nuclear weapons. developed or acquired. . According to the IAEA and the Trump administration, Iran has complied with the terms of the agreement with the Trump presidency.
Although the commitment to inspections and the promise not to pursue weapons did not have an expiration date in the agreement, other parts of the agreement had doomsday clauses. The restrictions on the number of first-generation centrifuges that Iran can own, and the research and development of more advanced centrifuges, for example, would end in 2025. The limit of 3.67% on uranium purity would end in 2030.
The agreement also did not include the inspector’s guaranteed access to Iranian military sites. And to name the extremely obvious, political winds can change over time; a future Iranian leader can simply reject the agreement, just as the new US leader, Trump, did himself. After Trump rejected the agreement, Iran stopped complying with some of its terms.
Social security and the post
While Democrats criticized the Trump administration for handling the U.S. Postal Service, Eva Longoria Bastón, the actress and activist who hosted Monday’s proceedings, said: “Social security beneficiaries count on the post office to get their checks. “
Facts first: Although some prominent conservatives called her wrong, Longoria was right. While 99.1% of Social Security recipients now receive their money via direct deposit, the remaining 0.9% equals 549,818 people receiving checks, according to official data released by the Social Security Administration for this month.
Nearly 850,000 paper checks are issued to the Social Security Administration each month if you include the supplemental security revenue program, said Mark Hinkle, spokesman for the Social Security Administration. (Supplemental security income provides money to the elderly, blind or disabled people with low income and few resources.) Hinkle said that if you consider both social security and supplementary security income, the distribution is 98.8% direct deposit, 1.2 % checks.
Longoria and other Democrats can certainly be clearer that they are talking about a clear minority of Social Security recipients receiving checks. But that clear minority is still a large number of recipients.
