Did President Trump do all of the things claimed in this viral post listing 10 accomplishments? No, that's not true. While several of the claims are true, many are misleading or false.
The claim appeared in memes and text posts, including a post (archived here) where it was published by Facebook on June 2, 2020 under the title "Just letting you all know what Trump did this week: 😳❤️🇺🇸 #Truth & #Fact." It opened:
1. Made vaccines voluntary not mandatory. Military will check purity and distribute vaccines
2. Defunded WHO forever and wants an investigation into its operations
3. Cancelled the Democrats HR6666 bill, known as the Covid19 TRACE Act that was the basis for Bill Gates's diagnosis and tracking project, which was also cancelled.
4. Cancelled Bill Gates project known as ID2020
5. Opened a complaint platform to report censorship on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. It was overrun with complaints. They got the evidence.
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Mon Jun 8 21:52:57 2020 UTC)
1. Made vaccines voluntary not mandatory. Military will check purity and distribute vaccines.
This claim is partially false. Trump DID say the military would be involved in a vaccine for COVID-19 that he expected by the end of the year. He said this in an interview with Fox Business on May 14, 2020. However, according to the CDC there is currently no vaccine and experts have predicted it would take between 12-18 months for a vaccine to be developed.
Here are President Trump's quotes from the interview about the military and vaccines:
We're mobilizing our military and other forces but we're mobilizing our military on the basis that we do have a vaccine. You know, it's a massive job to give this vaccine. Our military is now being mobilized so at the end of the year we're going to be able to give it to a lot of people very, very rapidly.
We will have a tremendous force because assuming we get it, then you have to distribute it. And unless you're mobilized and ready, you're not going to be able to do it for a long time. So we're starting now."
2. Defunded World Health Organisation (W.H.O) forever and wants an investigation into it's operations.
This claim is partly false. The president has placed a "temporary freeze" on funds given to the WHO but has not officially defunded the organization. There are 194 member states in the WHO and 2 associate members, according to the WHO website. He did say he wants an investigation into the WHO.
President Trump announced on May 18, 2020, that he was planning to defund the World Health Organization if there were not significant changes in the organization within 30 days, claiming that their response to the COVID-19 outbreak case mislead the United States.
Here is the Tweet he posted with the letter sent to the WHO.
This is the letter sent to Dr. Tedros of the World Health Organization. It is self-explanatory! pic.twitter.com/pF2kzPUpDv
-- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 19, 2020
This letter contains the details of his warning that the U.S. will cut off funding:
That is why it is my duty, as President of the United States, to inform you that, if the World Health Organization does not commit to major substantive improvements within the next 30 days, I will make my temporary freeze of United States funding to the World Health Organization permanent and reconsider our membership in the organization.
3. Cancelled the Democrats HR 6666 bill, known as the Covid -19 TRACE Act that was the basis for Bill Gates's diagnosis and tracking project, which was also cancelled.
This claim is not true. As Lead Stories has previously reported, H.R. 6666 is a bill for COVID-19 "Testing, Reaching And Contacting Everyone (TRACE ACT)" and is not a Bill Gates-funded program and people will not be forcibly taken from their homes if they test positive for coronavirus.
The president does not have the authority to "cancel" a bill -- if it comes to his desk after both houses in Congress pass it then he could veto the legislation, as the Senate website notes here.
Vetoes
The power of the President to refuse to approve a bill or joint resolution and thus prevent its enactment into law is the veto. The president has ten days (excluding Sundays) to sign a bill passed by Congress. A regular veto occurs when the President returns the legislation to the house in which it originated, usually with a message explaining the rationale for the veto. This veto can be overridden only by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House. If this occurs, the bill becomes law over the President's objections. A pocket veto occurs when Congress adjourns during the ten-day period. The president cannot return the bill to Congress. The president's decision not to sign the legislation is a pocket veto and Congress does not have the opportunity to override.
4. Cancelled Bill Gates project known as ID2020.
According to its website, ID2020 is a non-profit "global partnership maximizing the potential of digital ID to improve lives."
Trump does not appear to have ever spoken publicly about ID2020. He has not Tweeted about the organization and is not mentioned in any recent executive orders. Africacheck.org debunked the claim that Trump has canceled the project. Gates does not run ID2020 but Microsoft, the company he founded, is one of the donors according to the website. Another ID2020 partner is GAVI, the vaccination program funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
5. Opened a complaint platform to report censorship on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. It was overrun with complaints. They got the evidence.
The White House did launch an online form on May 15, 2019, called "Tech Bias Story Sharing Tool," where people could submit their own claims of when their posts were removed from Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or Twitter, Business Insider reported.
The Trump Administration is fighting for free speech online.
-- The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 15, 2019
No matter your views, if you suspect political bias has caused you to be censored or silenced online, we want to hear about it! https://t.co/9lc0cqUhuf pic.twitter.com/J8ICbx42dz
The form is no longer accepting information, this is what you see now on the site:
6. Stopped 5G rollout nationwide.
The list of Trump's supposed actions also includes a claim that the president "stopped 5G rollout nationwide." This is false.
The claim is in reference to the new cellular technology being adopted by phone companies and others to speed up data on phones and provide a groundwork for other technological advances.
In fact, the White House announced on March 12 that "President Donald J. Trump Is Committed To Safeguarding America's Vital Communications Networks And Securing 5G Technology." In part the legislation is to protect the security of telecoms and other communications tech, but it is also designed to assist in the country's access to 5G -- a technology that has been decried by some conspiracists as evil for causing harm to humans, killing off bird flocks and more.
The White House fact sheet on the legislation reads:
"These reforms will help protect our Nation's vital communications network and also ensures the United States reaches its 5G potential....President Trump is committed to the development of reliable 5G and ensuring the United States remains the global leader in technology and innovation...The Trump Administration is working with allies and partners on telecommunications security principles that will foster reliable 5G networks."
7. Executive Order to reopen states: Governors who refuse to reopen will be sued.
As for Trump signing an executive order to reopen states amid the coronavirus pandemic and resulting lockdowns -- and the president threatening to sue governors who refuse to reopen -- this is mostly true. He did sign such an order on May 19, but it's already been shown to be a hollow measure since he has no real authority do this. And it was Attorney General William Barr who threatened to sue, although the president has said he will not rule out suing local governments to reopen.
8. Executve Order for White House to take over all Electrical Grids: Which will include Internet servers, Broadcasting systems, Electronic systems. (Red Flag)
It is wrong to claim that Trump issued an "Executive Order for White House to take over all Electrical Grids: Which will include internet servers, Broadcasting systems, Electronic systems. (Red Flag)"
What happened was the White House sought to secure these systems and networks from foreign operators as a national security measure, believing that foreign actors would take control and manipulate these systems for diabolical purposes. In effect it created a vendor black list.
From a Reuters story on May 1:
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday that seeks to protect the U.S. electricity system from cyber and other attacks in a move that could eventually put barriers on some imports from China and Russia.
Trump declared in the order that the threat to the U.S. power system represents a national emergency, which allows the government to put in place measures such as the creation of a task force on procurement policies for energy infrastructure.
A senior Energy Department official said that the order was not directed at any new threat, but the result of a process to bolster the power system.
The order allows the energy secretary, in consultation with other officials, to prohibit acquisition, importation, transfer or installation of power equipment from an adversary that they determine poses a risk of sabotage to the U.S. power system."
9. Declares places of worship 'Essential Sevices.' Some mayors are fining people for going to church.
Next up is the claim, which is true, that Trump said churches and places of worship were "essential services," and must be allowed to reopen, despite warnings that COVID-19 was still killing great numbers of people -- who were at particular risk amid large gatherings. The claim added that "mayors are fining people for going to church," a statement which is also true, as seen in Mississippi and other states, where cops arrested people and fines were handed out for church gatherings during widespread lockdowns.
10. Applauded Australia and 116 countries for insisting on a China Probe into the spread of Covid-19 despite several threats from China about refusing critical exports.
Another true claim is that Trump got behind an Australia-led coalition of 116 governments aiming to push investigations into China and the virus, where the coronavirus outbreak is believed to have started last December.
From Trump on Twitter on May 18:
We are with them! https://t.co/H7DRHXPJYb
-- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2020
And the good work keeps coming. The Gold backed standard is in the pipeline and there is talk about Nesara/ Gesara. The man has balls!
He's changing the world..
The claim that "the gold-backed standard is in the pipeline," is mostly true, as well. There is no executive order to replace paper currency with gold, but the president's Fed appointee, Judy Shelton, has pressed for a gold-backed currency, including a cryptocurrency backed by the precious metal that used to be the standard for currency in the United States.
Here is a Shelton May 17 quote about the possible change:
"I don't see it so much as returning [to the gold standard], more like 'back to the future.' I think that what a gold standard stands for is monetary discipline for its own sake. Money is supposed to be a unit of account, a reliable measure and a dependable store of value. It really shouldn't be subject to who's the chairman of the Federal Reserve."
Some variations on the post included three more claims, including that Trump "slashed the cost of insulin down to $35." This is partly false, as it only applied to seniors receiving Medicare.
Here is NBC News on the insulin announcement on May 26:
There is another -- partly true -- claim that Trump "Classified Antifa as a Domestic Terrorist Group." He did vow to do so, but doubts on his ability to carry through with the pledge were immediate, including this story by FactCheck.org on June 1.
Here is Trump on May 31 announcing that the designation was coming:
The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization.
-- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2020
Last, the claim that Trump, who created the United States Space Force, supported "our return to space via SpaceX Dragon rocket." This is true. In fact, Trump was there at the launch and said that "you can't be number one on earth if you're number two in space," according to CNN's coverage of the May 30 event.
Here is video of the event on YouTube:
