Last week, President Donald Trump made a claim that he was the one who created the Veterans Choice health care program and got it passed in Congress. However, the reality is that President Barack Obama signed the program into law in 2014. The law Trump signed in 2018, known as the VA MISSION Act, actually expanded the Veterans Choice program but did not create it.
Trump's tendency to make false claims is not new. He has been repeating this particular falsehood for over six years. His pattern of relentless lying is characterized by a constant stream of inaccuracies that can overwhelm fact-checkers. What's striking is his persistence in repeating these debunked claims, as if hoping that repetition will make them true.
As Trump gears up for his 2024 presidential campaign, his speeches and interviews are filled with familiar false claims that he has been using since his first campaign in 2016. On the other hand, Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign remarks have been more focused on themes rather than factual assertions, with only occasional false or misleading statements.
For fact-check reporters, monitoring Trump's public appearances is a routine task. The recurring false claims in his 2024 speeches and interviews have become known as 'the repeats' - assertions that have been fact-checked and proven false repeatedly over the years.
