For the second straight night, there were few false or misleading claims at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday. Speakers tended to stick to factual statements, thematic rhetoric, personal stories and uncheckable predictions.
There were, however, two false claims on a central focus of Democrats’ attacks: a conservative think tank initiative known as Project 2025.
Here is a fact check of those claims, plus checks of two other remarks speakers made on Wednesday.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis joined other speakers at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday in attacking Project 2025, an effort by dozens of conservative organizations, led by the Heritage Foundation think tank, to lay the groundwork for the next Republican presidency.
After holding up what he said was a copy of the 920-page Project 2025 policy document, which is called “Mandate for Leadership,” Polis said at one point: “Page 451 says the only legitimate family is a married mother and father, where only the father works.”
Facts First: Polis’ claim is false. Though the Project 2025 policy document argues for the importance of the “nuclear” family made up of a married mother and father, it does not say that this is the only “legitimate” family – and it certainly does not say that a family with a working mother is illegitimate. Polis’ inaccurate claim echoes an online meme that was debunked last month by Snopes, USA Today and others.
Mary Vought, vice president of strategic communications for the Heritage Foundation, told CNN in a message on Wednesday night: “As a working mother myself, I know this claim is simply a lie. The Mandate for Leadership says nothing about which families are ‘legitimate.’ If Gov. Polis actually read the page he cited, he would know that.”
What Page 451 actually says
It is true that Project 2025 expresses a preference for a certain type of family – the married “nuclear family” with a mother and father. On the page Polis mentioned, the document asserts that “families comprised of a married mother, father, and their children are the foundation of a well-ordered nation and healthy society”; that “working fathers are essential to the well-being and development of their children”; and that “homes with non-related ‘boyfriends’ present are among the most dangerous place for a child to be.”
The same page of the document criticizes the Biden administration’s Department of Health and Human Services for supposedly “focusing on ‘LGBTQ+ equity,’ subsidizing single-motherhood, disincentivizing work, and penalizing marriage,” and it says, “these policies should be repealed and replaced by policies that support the formation of stable, married, nuclear families.” (We won’t address the accuracy of Project 2025’s own claims in this fact check.)
But the page does not say, as Polis claimed, that there is only one kind of “legitimate” family – let alone say that families in which a mother has a job do not qualify.
From CNN’s Daniel Dale
On the third night of the Democratic National Convention, speakers continued to attack Project 2025, an effort by dozens of conservative organizations, led by the Heritage Foundation think tank, to lay the policy groundwork for the next Republican presidency.
The initiative produced a 920-page document, called “Mandate for Leadership,” that proposes both a variety of right-wing policy changes and a major overhaul of the executive branch that would significantly increase presidential power.
Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware, who is also a US Senate candidate, said Wednesday of former President Donald Trump: “He has with his friends said the quiet parts out loud – but not only said it out loud, he wrote a book about it. What’s it called? Project 2025.”
Facts First: The claim that Trump “wrote” Project 2025 is false. There is no evidence that Trump was personally involved in writing the Project 2025 policy document, let alone that it was his own “book.” He is not among the document’s listed authors, editors and contributors, though dozens of people who served in his administration are on the list.
CNN reported in July that at least 140 people who worked in the Trump administration had a hand in Project 2025, including more than half of the people listed as authors, editors and contributors to the policy document. But noting that Trump has extensive ties to Project 2025 is significantly different than claiming that Trump actually wrote Project 2025.
Noah Weinrich, a spokesperson for Project 2025, said in a message to CNN on Wednesday night: “Project 2025 is not affiliated with any candidate, and no candidate was involved with the drafting of the Mandate for Leadership, which was published by Heritage in April 2023.”
Trump has said that some of the document is “absolutely ridiculous and abysmal” but also said “many of the points are fine.” He has not specified which proposals he rejects and which he finds acceptable.
From CNN’s Daniel Dale
Former President Bill Clinton highlighted the jobs created in the US “since the end of the Cold War in 1989,” noting that of the 51 million jobs added, 50 million of those were created during Democratic administrations.
“Since the end of the Cold War in 1989, America has created about 51 million new jobs. I swear, I checked this three times; even I couldn’t believe it. What’s the score? Democrats 50, Republicans 1,” he said during his remarks at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday.
Facts First: Clinton’s claim is true, although aspects such as timing, rounding, and large-scale national crises influence the math.
First, it depends on when the clock starts: From January 1989 through July 2024, the US economy added a net 51.825 million jobs, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics seasonally adjusted data.
In tabulating the monthly job totals, and starting in February for the respective presidential administrations, there were 50.281 million jobs added during Democratic administrations and 1.544 million jobs added during Republican administrations (including January 1989’s 263,000 net gain, as that was the end of Republican President Ronald Reagan’s term). The totals vary slightly if the presidential terms are started in January (49.985 million for Democratic presidents and 1.84 million for Republican presidents).
However, presidential terms don’t start and end in a vacuum, and economic cycles can carry over regardless of party. Additionally, the ups and downs of the labor market and the broader economy are influenced by factors beyond a single president (although specific economic policies can influence economic and job growth).
Clinton’s data point also leaves out some very important externalities: the dot-com bubble, 9/11, the Great Recession and the Covid-19 pandemic. Job losses, which were sometimes massive, were prevalent during those national crises and respective downturns.
From CNN’s Alicia Wallace
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries made a claim Wednesday that has been delivered for years by various Democrats, including President Joe Biden.
In Jeffries’ remarks at the Democratic National Convention, the New York Democrat said of former President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cut law: “Trump was the mastermind of the GOP tax scam, where 83% of the benefits went to the wealthiest 1% in America.”
Facts First: Jeffries’ claim needs context. It’s not true that the top 1% have already gotten 83% of the benefits of the tax cuts since Trump signed them into law in late 2017. Rather, the 83% figure is a 2017 estimate from the Tax Policy Center think tank of the percentage of the benefits the top 1% of taxpayers would get in the future, in 2027, in the event that the law’s individual tax cuts (which were designed as temporary) are allowed to expire at the end of 2025 without an extension and that the law’s corporate tax cuts (which were designed as permanent) continued.
The benefits breakdown is much different while the individual tax cuts and corporate tax cuts are both in place. The Tax Policy Center estimated in 2017 that in 2025, the top 1% of taxpayers would get about 25% of the benefits. That is still a very large chunk, but nowhere near 83%.
From CNN’s Daniel Dale
