2024 RNC fact-check: Trump appears with Vance, allies talk economy on Day 1

MILWAUKEE — Wearing a white bandage on his right ear, former President Donald Trump appeared at the Republican National Convention’s opening night, his first public showing since the attempted assassination July 13. 

Cheers of "fight, fight, fight" erupted from the floor of party delegates, a nod to what Trump yelled with a fist pump as Secret Service agents ushered him off the Butler, Pennsylvania, stage after he was shot in the ear two days before. Trump is scheduled to address the convention on its final night, July 18.

Trump’s arrival was one of several headlines from the convention’s first day. Trump revealed his vice presidential pick, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, and the two sat together with Trump’s family and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson for the final hour of speeches. 

Also Monday, the federal judge overseeing the classified documents criminal indictment against Trump dismissed the case, saying the appointment of a special counsel violated the U.S. Constitution. (The special prosecutor has announced an appeal.)

The convention’s first night focused on the economy. Speakers included Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama and Tim Scott of South Carolina, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, businessman David Sacks, model Amber Rose and Teamsters President Sean O’Brien. 

Here are eight economic claims about inflation, homeownership and the economy, fact-checked.

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., "Under President Trump, we had the strongest economy in history." 

False.

The strongest evidence in favor of this assertion is the unemployment rate. During Trump’s presidency, the unemployment rate fell to levels untouched in five decades. But his successor, President Joe Biden, matched or exceeded those levels.

However, the annual increases in gross domestic product — the sum of a country’s economic activity — were broadly similar under Trump to what they were during the final six years under his predecessor, Barack Obama. And GDP growth under Trump was well below that of previous presidents.

Wage growth also didn’t set records under Trump. Adjusted for inflation, wages began rising during the Obama years and kept increasing under Trump. But these were modest compared with the 2% a year increase seen in the 1960s. 

Another metric — the growth rate in personal consumption per person, adjusted for inflation — wasn’t higher under Trump than previous presidents. For many families, this statistic serves an economic activity bottom line, determining how much they can spend on food, clothing, housing, health care and travel. 

In Trump’s three years in office through January 2020, real consumption per person grew by 2% a year. Of the 30 nonoverlapping three-year periods from 1929 to the end of his presidency, Trump’s periods ranked in the bottom third.

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., speaks July 15, 2024, during the Republican National Convention Monday in Milwaukee. (AP)

Britt: "Grocery prices are up more than 21%. Electricity is up 31%. Gas is up 48%. Mortgage rates have more than doubled, and rent is skyrocketing."

Mostly True.

The price of groceries has risen by 21.5% in the more than three and a half years since Biden was inaugurated in January 2021. For electricity, Britt overstates the rise when you compare the same month in 2021 with the same month in 2024. (This is necessary because energy prices tend to rise in the summer, so comparing January 2021 to June 2024 would show a higher price rise.) From January 2021 to January 2024, the price of electricity rose by 27.2%.

Britt understated the rise in gasoline prices; it’s up 55%. 

Mortgage rates have more than doubled, because of rate increases by the Federal Reserve to curb inflation. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 2.73% in January 2021, but 6.89% in July 2024.  

"Skyrocketing" is a subjective term, but on Biden’s watch, rent has increased by 21.5%

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., speaks July 15, 2024, during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. (AP)

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.: Donald Trump signed "the largest tax cut in American history."

False. 

When it was passed in 2017, Trump’s tax cut was, in inflation-adjusted dollars, the fourth-largest since 1940. And as a percentage of gross domestic product, it ranked seventh in history, according to figures published by the Treasury Department.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin, R-Va.: "Women, Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, all saw record low employment under Donald J. Trump."

Half True.

This leaves out context: Of these groups, the low under Trump remains the undisputed record only for Asian Americans.

For Black Americans and women, the record low set under Trump was subsequently exceeded under Biden, his successor and opponent. And for whites and Latinos, the record low unemployment under Trump was matched under Biden.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.: "They claim that our economy is thriving, yet hundreds of thousands of American-born workers lost their jobs these past few years."

Mostly False.

People are constantly leaving jobs and taking new ones. But the average monthly number of layoffs was higher under Trump than it’s been under Biden. Leaving out the coronavirus pandemic months of March 2020 to December 2021, the number of monthly layoffs under Trump averaged 1.81 million. Under Biden, that number has been 1.52 million.

Greene’s focus on American-born workers is a version of a Republican talking point that paints Biden as being better for foreign-born workers than native-born Americans. But it is misleading.

Since Biden took office in early 2021, the number of foreign-born Americans who are employed has risen by about 5.6 million. But over the same period, the number of native-born Americans employed has increased by almost 7.4 million.

The unemployment rate for native-born workers under Biden is comparable to what it was during the final two prepandemic years of Trump’s presidency.

Entrepreneur David Sacks: Democrats have set off "the worst inflation since Jimmy Carter."

False.

He’s off by one president: Ronald Reagan.

The peak annual inflation rate under Biden was 8% in 2022. To find annual inflation that high requires going back to 1981, when Reagan, a Republican, presided over 10.3% inflation.

Before Reagan, Carter, a Democrat, did see inflation at 11.3% in 1979 and 13.5% in 1980.

The only other presidents since the immediate post-World War II era who experienced annual inflation above 8% were also Republicans: Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, who presided over 11.1% inflation in 1974 and 9.1% in 1975.

Conservative activist Charlie Kirk: "Homeownership is now out of reach unless you make over $106,000."

True, based on one analysis.

An analysis released by the real estate tracking company Zillow in February said, "Home shoppers today need to make more than $106,000 to comfortably afford a home."

The study defined affordability as the income needed to afford the total monthly payment on the typical home after a 10% down payment. The total monthly payment is based on the monthly mortgage payment, insurance, property taxes and annual maintenance costs of the home.

Model Amber Rose: Americans were "wealthier" under Trump.

Half True.

The best measures for American household wealth are inflation-adjusted median household income and inflation-adjusted per capita disposable personal income. (Wealth-specific statistics from the Census Bureau lag.)

The first measure offers a mixed picture when comparing Biden and Trump. The high of $78,250 came in 2019, when Trump was president, but it began falling in 2020, his final year in office, and continued to fall under Biden in 2021 and 2022. Data for 2023 is not yet available.

Still, 2022 median household income under Biden was higher than it was in either of Trump’s first two years, 2017 and 2018.

Biden fares better against Trump using the second statistic: disposable personal income per capita. 

This measure hit a high under Trump just before the coronavirus pandemic, at $48,014. By the time the pandemic recovery began in January 2022, under Biden, the amount was virtually identical. But by May 2024, it had risen to $50,491. That’s 5.2% higher today than it was during Trump’s best prepandemic month, after accounting for inflation.

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