President Donald Trump is seeing steels mills spring up where they aren't and cleaner air than his government is tracking in its records.
Over the past week, his comment that people need photo IDs to shop in stores displayed a misunderstanding of the marketplace obvious to any average shopper with cash or a credit card.
A sampling of comments by Trump and his officials, spanning NATO, the Russia investigation, environmental matters and more:
CLEAN AIR
TRUMP, on air quality in the U.S.: "It's the best it's ever been." — Pennsylvania rally Thursday.
THE FACTS: Not true, going by the key measure of air quality. The EPA's air quality index shows a worsening since 2014, the best year as measured by the number of days with bad air.
For that index, 35 cities reported unhealthy air for a total of 599 days in 2014. That went up to 729 days in 2017, the worst year since 2012 (1,297 days). The index measures ozone and soot.
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JOBS
TRUMP: "U.S. Steel is opening up seven plants." — remarks Thursday at the Pennsylvania rally. On Tuesday: "Thanks to our tariffs, our steel workers are back on the job, American steel mills are back open for business ... U.S. Steel just announced that they're building six new steel mills." — Florida rally.
THE FACTS: No, U.S. Steel has not announced six, or seven, new steel mills. A spokeswoman for the Pittsburgh-based company, Meghan Cox, declined to comment on Trump's claim, only making clear that any "operational changes" such as the opening of new mills would be "publicly announced" and "made available on our website" if it occurred.
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AUTO SAFETY
EPA, citing potential benefits from freezing Obama-era mileage standards: "Increased vehicle affordability leading to increased driving of newer, safer, more efficient and cleaner vehicles. ... Over 12,000 fewer crash fatalities over the lifetimes of all vehicles built through model year 2029. Up to 1,000 lives saved annually." — information sheet released Thursday.
THE FACTS: The claimed safety benefits are unverifiable and probably overstated.
While newer vehicles are safer due to better engineering and safety features such as more air bags, automatic emergency braking and blind spot detection, auto safety experts say the difference between vehicles made 10 years ago and now isn't that big and the number of lives saved can't really be calculated.
Decade-old vehicles have anti-lock brakes and electronic stability control that stop drivers from losing control, two major safety advances.
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EPA assistant administrator Bill Wehrum: "We'll leave the standards at a place where we're not imposing undue costs on manufacturers." — news briefing Thursday.
THE FACTS: Insulating U.S. manufacturers is not easy to do. Even if the U.S. freezes its mileage requirements, the European Union, China, Japan and other nations will continue to increase theirs, which already are more stringent. Because most automakers sell vehicles worldwide, they'll have to develop new technology such as electric cars anyway to satisfy other markets. The U.S. may not get the new technology as quickly as elsewhere.
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VOTER ID
TRUMP: "We believe that only American citizens should vote in American elections, which is why the time has come for voter ID like everything else. If you go out and you want to buy groceries, you need a picture on a card, you need ID. You go out, you want to buy anything, you need ID, you need your picture." — remarks Tuesday.
THE FACTS: As shoppers know, no photo is required to purchase items at retail stores with cash or to make routine purchases with credit or debit cards.
Identifications are required to purchase limited items such as alcohol, cigarettes or cold medicine and in rapidly declining situations in which a customer opts to pay with a personal check.
According to the National Grocers Association's most recent data, the use of checks as a percentage of total transactions dropped from 33 percent in 2000 to 6 percent in 2015, due in part to the popularity of debit cards, which use PIN codes. The group's members are independent food retailers, family-owned or privately held, both large and small.
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WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS: "He's not saying every time he went in; he said when you go to the grocery store." — press briefing Wednesday.
THE FACTS: Actually, Trump did claim, erroneously, that photo IDs are required whenever "you want to buy anything," not only in limited cases.
Asked when Trump last bought groceries, Sanders responded, "I'm not sure. I'm not sure why that matters, either."