During a series of videos played at the Republican National Convention on Monday, July 15, consumers in the videos discussed inflation, the economy, and consumer prices as they relate to food and gas prices, income and wages, credit card debt, and taxes.Related video above: Consumer Price Index drops for the first time since start of pandemic, report saysFood and gas pricesIn the first of the three videos, Republicans hit President Joe Biden on the prices of groceries and gas. The video compared prices under former President Donald Trump’s administration and the current administration.Some of the statements made during the videos require clarification or further explanation. Claims: The video claims that when former President Donald Trump left office, gas cost $2.20 per gallon and that, under the Biden Administration, gas has “skyrocketed” to over $5 per gallon, which the video said was the “highest in history.” Another claim stated that drivers are “having to deal” with an average national gas price of $5.o3. Get the Facts: The statements are partially true, but lack context. The prices quoted for the current national average of $5.03 are about two years old.When Trump left office in January 2021, the average gas price nationally was around $2.40 per gallon. According to FactCheck.Org, gas prices hit just over $5 per gallon in June 2022, but this was primarily due to a variety of factors such as supply chain issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and geopolitical tensions, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The highest recorded national average gas price was $5.02 per gallon in June 2022, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. It’s not an unprecedented historical peak, but it is the highest in recent memory.According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the national average was 3.49 per gallon for the week of July 15, 2024. Additionally, the national average has been below $4 per gallon throughout 2024.Claim: “Our paychecks are like a third of what they used to be, just because of gas prices.” Get the Facts: This is false. While the price of gas significantly impacts the cost of living, it may be an exaggeration to say it reduces paychecks by two-thirds. While inflation affects a variety of goods and services, there isn’t evidence to suggest a direct two-thirds reduction in purchasing power due solely to gas prices. Claim: The video showed signs placed in grocery stores, which showed the increase in the cost of food under President Biden. The video specifically called out a 49% increase in the cost of a bag of carrots.Get the Facts: This is misleading, as the figure of 49% is the estimate of the price of one item that could be impacted by a number of factors. The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers indicates food prices have increased by about 20-25% since January 2021. The Consumer Price Index does show increased prices that peaked in August 2022 and have dropped sharply since.The Economy and InflationClaim: A video played during the Republican National Convention, which attacked President Joe Biden’s handling of the economy, featured a narrator saying, “The Wall Street Journal has reported today that Americans’ incomes have gone down three straight years.”Get the Facts: This needs context. The RNC video left out an inconvenient fact from the Wall Street Journal report that was published in 2023: one of the three straight years in which inflation-adjusted median household income went down was 2020, when Donald Trump was president. The Covid-19 pandemic played a major role in the decline, but the ad failed to explain that not all of the three years were under Biden.Real median household income fell from $78,250 in 2019 to $76,660 in 2020 (all under Trump), then edged down to $76,330 in 2021 (mostly under Biden) and fell more substantially to $74,580 in 2022 (all under Biden). Figures for 2023 and 2024-to-date are not available. From CNN’s Daniel DaleClaim: Attacking President Joe Biden’s handling of the economy, the Republican National Convention featured a video in which a narrator said, “America has reached the highest inflation in 40 years.”Get the Facts: This claim is two years out of date. The year-over-year inflation rate in June 2022, about 9.1%, was indeed the highest since late 1981, between 40 and 41 years prior. But inflation has declined sharply since that Biden-era peak, and the most recent available rate, for June 2024, was about 3.0% – a rate that, the Biden presidency aside, was exceeded as recently as 2011.From CNN’s Daniel DaleClaim: A video played at the Republican National Convention featured a narrator making the claim that former President Donald Trump “gave us the largest tax cuts in history.”Get the Facts: This is false. Analyses have found that Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was not the largest in history, either in percentage of gross domestic product or inflation-adjusted dollars.The act made numerous permanent and temporary changes to the tax code, including reducing both corporate and individual income tax rates.In a report released in June, the federal government’s nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office looked at the size of past tax cuts enacted between 1981 and 2023. It found that two other tax cut bills have been bigger – former President Ronald Reagan’s 1981 package and legislation signed by former President Barack Obama that extended earlier tax cuts enacted during former President George W. Bush’s administration.The CBO measured the sizes of tax cuts by looking at the revenue effects of the bills as a percentage of gross domestic product – in other words, how much federal revenue the bill cuts as a portion of the economy – over five years. Reagan’s 1981 tax cut and Obama’s 2012 tax cut extension were 3.5% and 1.7% of GDP, respectively.Trump’s 2017 tax cut, by contrast, was estimated to be about 1% of GDP.The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonprofit, found in 2017 that the framework for the Trump tax cuts would be the fourth largest since 1940 in inflation-adjusted dollars and the eighth largest since 1918 as a percentage of gross domestic product.From CNN’s Tami LuhbyTrump makes false claims about election fraud in RNC videoClaim: President Donald Trump, in a video, urged Republicans to use “every appropriate tool available to beat the Democrats,” including voting by mail. Trump relentlessly disparaged mail-in voting during the 2020 election, falsely claiming it was rife with fraud, and he has continued to sharply criticize it during the current campaignBut Trump’s comments in the convention video also included some of his regular false claims about elections. After claiming he would “once and for all secure our elections” as president, Trump again insinuated the 2020 election was not secure, saying, “We never want what happened in 2020 to happen again.”And he said, “Keep your eyes open, because these people want to cheat and they do cheat, and frankly, it’s the only thing they do well.”Get the Facts: Trump’s claims are false slightly vaguer versions of his usual statements that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen and that Democrats are serial election cheaters. The 2020 election was highly secure; Trump lost fair and square to Joe Biden by an Electoral College margin of 306 to 232; there is no evidence of voter fraud even close to widespread enough to have changed the outcome in any state; and there is no basis for claiming that election cheating is the only thing at which Trump’s opponents excel.The Trump administration’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a post-election November 2020 statement: “The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history.” From CNN’s Daniel Dale
During a series of videos played at the Republican National Convention on Monday, July 15, consumers in the videos discussed inflation, the economy, and consumer prices as they relate to food and gas prices, income and wages, credit card debt, and taxes.
Related video above: Consumer Price Index drops for the first time since start of pandemic, report says
Food and gas prices
In the first of the three videos, Republicans hit President Joe Biden on the prices of groceries and gas. The video compared prices under former President Donald Trump’s administration and the current administration.
Some of the statements made during the videos require clarification or further explanation.
Claims: The video claims that when former President Donald Trump left office, gas cost $2.20 per gallon and that, under the Biden Administration, gas has “skyrocketed” to over $5 per gallon, which the video said was the “highest in history.” Another claim stated that drivers are “having to deal” with an average national gas price of $5.o3.
Get the Facts: The statements are partially true, but lack context. The prices quoted for the current national average of $5.03 are about two years old.
When Trump left office in January 2021, the average gas price nationally was around $2.40 per gallon.
According to FactCheck.Org, gas prices hit just over $5 per gallon in June 2022, but this was primarily due to a variety of factors such as supply chain issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and geopolitical tensions, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The highest recorded national average gas price was $5.02 per gallon in June 2022, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. It’s not an unprecedented historical peak, but it is the highest in recent memory.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the national average was 3.49 per gallon for the week of July 15, 2024. Additionally, the national average has been below $4 per gallon throughout 2024.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Claim: “Our paychecks are like a third of what they used to be, just because of gas prices.”
Get the Facts: This is false. While the price of gas significantly impacts the cost of living, it may be an exaggeration to say it reduces paychecks by two-thirds.
While inflation affects a variety of goods and services, there isn’t evidence to suggest a direct two-thirds reduction in purchasing power due solely to gas prices.
Claim: The video showed signs placed in grocery stores, which showed the increase in the cost of food under President Biden. The video specifically called out a 49% increase in the cost of a bag of carrots.
Get the Facts: This is misleading, as the figure of 49% is the estimate of the price of one item that could be impacted by a number of factors. The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers indicates food prices have increased by about 20-25% since January 2021. The Consumer Price Index does show increased prices that peaked in August 2022 and have dropped sharply since.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
The Economy and Inflation
Claim: A video played during the Republican National Convention, which attacked President Joe Biden’s handling of the economy, featured a narrator saying, “The Wall Street Journal has reported today that Americans’ incomes have gone down three straight years.”
Get the Facts: This needs context. The RNC video left out an inconvenient fact from the Wall Street Journal report that was published in 2023: one of the three straight years in which inflation-adjusted median household income went down was 2020, when Donald Trump was president. The Covid-19 pandemic played a major role in the decline, but the ad failed to explain that not all of the three years were under Biden.
Real median household income fell from $78,250 in 2019 to $76,660 in 2020 (all under Trump), then edged down to $76,330 in 2021 (mostly under Biden) and fell more substantially to $74,580 in 2022 (all under Biden). Figures for 2023 and 2024-to-date are not available.
From CNN’s Daniel Dale
Claim: Attacking President Joe Biden’s handling of the economy, the Republican National Convention featured a video in which a narrator said, “America has reached the highest inflation in 40 years.”
Get the Facts: This claim is two years out of date. The year-over-year inflation rate in June 2022, about 9.1%, was indeed the highest since late 1981, between 40 and 41 years prior. But inflation has declined sharply since that Biden-era peak, and the most recent available rate, for June 2024, was about 3.0% – a rate that, the Biden presidency aside, was exceeded as recently as 2011.
From CNN’s Daniel Dale
Claim: A video played at the Republican National Convention featured a narrator making the claim that former President Donald Trump “gave us the largest tax cuts in history.”
Get the Facts: This is false. Analyses have found that Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was not the largest in history, either in percentage of gross domestic product or inflation-adjusted dollars.
The act made numerous permanent and temporary changes to the tax code, including reducing both corporate and individual income tax rates.
In a report released in June, the federal government’s nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office looked at the size of past tax cuts enacted between 1981 and 2023. It found that two other tax cut bills have been bigger – former President Ronald Reagan’s 1981 package and legislation signed by former President Barack Obama that extended earlier tax cuts enacted during former President George W. Bush’s administration.
The CBO measured the sizes of tax cuts by looking at the revenue effects of the bills as a percentage of gross domestic product – in other words, how much federal revenue the bill cuts as a portion of the economy – over five years. Reagan’s 1981 tax cut and Obama’s 2012 tax cut extension were 3.5% and 1.7% of GDP, respectively.
Trump’s 2017 tax cut, by contrast, was estimated to be about 1% of GDP.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonprofit, found in 2017 that the framework for the Trump tax cuts would be the fourth largest since 1940 in inflation-adjusted dollars and the eighth largest since 1918 as a percentage of gross domestic product.
From CNN’s Tami Luhby
Trump makes false claims about election fraud in RNC video
Claim: President Donald Trump, in a video, urged Republicans to use “every appropriate tool available to beat the Democrats,” including voting by mail. Trump relentlessly disparaged mail-in voting during the 2020 election, falsely claiming it was rife with fraud, and he has continued to sharply criticize it during the current campaign
But Trump’s comments in the convention video also included some of his regular false claims about elections. After claiming he would “once and for all secure our elections” as president, Trump again insinuated the 2020 election was not secure, saying, “We never want what happened in 2020 to happen again.”
And he said, “Keep your eyes open, because these people want to cheat and they do cheat, and frankly, it’s the only thing they do well.”
Get the Facts: Trump’s claims are false slightly vaguer versions of his usual statements that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen and that Democrats are serial election cheaters. The 2020 election was highly secure; Trump lost fair and square to Joe Biden by an Electoral College margin of 306 to 232; there is no evidence of voter fraud even close to widespread enough to have changed the outcome in any state; and there is no basis for claiming that election cheating is the only thing at which Trump’s opponents excel.
The Trump administration’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a post-election November 2020 statement: “The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history.”
From CNN’s Daniel Dale
