Donald Trump is getting a lot of goodwill for visiting troops in Iraq. But overshadowing his trip is a lie he has told several times before, and decided to repeat while talking to troops Wednesday.
During his visit to forces stationed in #Iraq, @realDonaldTrump boasted that he had secured the military's first pay raise "in more than 10 years." In fact, pay has increased every year for decades https://t.co/rrixKuGW9H pic.twitter.com/zF3uYVEoHz
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) December 27, 2018
The statement is a lie or as Politifact says, “We rate the statement Pants on Fire.”
It’s one thing for the president to peddle this lie at pre-election campaign rallies, but it’s worse when he travels halfway around the world to lie to the troops’ faces.
First, as regular readers know, it’s absurd to think U.S. troops haven’t received pay raises in “more than 10 years.” In reality, there were raises for our military in 2017. And 2016. And 2015 and 2014. And every other year of the Obama era. And every year of the Bush era. And every year of the Clinton era.
In fact, the military has gotten a raise practically every year since the end of World War II. It’s the sort of detail a Commander in Chief must be aware of.
Second, the latest pay increase for servicemen and women is 2.6%. Trump, in his boasts, nearly quadrupled that number, apparently hoping the troops wouldn’t notice the difference.
And third, he described a debate with policymakers who wanted smaller raises, but that conversation did not occur in reality.
President Trump incorrectly tells troops in Iraq that he gave them their first pay raise in more than 10 years — a false claim Trump's made before https://t.co/gnfpibUhsx pic.twitter.com/KaFEy7b2OT
— CNN Tonight (@CNNTonight) December 27, 2018