WASHINGTON D.C – Following the Second Republican Primary Debate, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, news outlets were quick to correct the many false or misleading claims made on stage. We have compiled our own list of the inaccuracies stated by the 7 leading candidates and written corresponding fact checks:
Claim: Vivek Ramaswamy began an answer with “A friend of mine told me…”
Fact Check: There’s no way in hell that Vivek Ramaswamy actually has a friend.
Claim: Mike Pence joked that he has slept with a teacher (his wife) for the past 38 years.
Fact Check: The acts Mike Pence and his wife, whom he refers to as “mother,” engage in cannot legally be described as natural human behavior.
Claim: Tim Scott said “America is not a racist country”
Fact Check: lmao
Claim: Tim Scott accused Nikki Haley of spending $50,000 on curtains in a $15 million subsidized location.
Fact Check: True. But to be fair, the curtains were actually a 2-for-1 deal from Bed Bath & Beyond.
Claim: Trump wasn’t there.
Fact Check: He was there, watching from a distance in the rain like an 80s movie protagonist seeing his ex-girlfriend move on.
Claim: Nikki Haley said people can’t trust Vivek Ramaswamy because of his TikTok use.
Fact Check: The real reason we can’t trust him is because he did Lincoln-Douglas debate in high school.
Claim: Ron DeSantis complained about not getting enough time during the debate.
Fact Check: He was given more time than what he deemed enough for the entirety of Black history in Florida public schools.
Claim: Candidates unanimously agreed that we should arrange a Hunger Games-esque competition where we make poor infants fight to the death.
Fact Check: This one’s true.
Image via Kenny Holston/The New York Times