During the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, a number of his statements have been challenged as being either inaccurate or an outright falsehood. The problem was large enough during 2015 that a fact-checking organization went on to recognize Trump’s collective inaccuracies as their “Lie of the Year.”
That perception of Trump became part of the Vice Presidential debate on October 4 between Democrat Tim Kaine and Trump’s Republican running mate, Mike Pence. Kaine repeatedly brought up statements that Trump had previously made that were either wrong, controversial or at odds with what Pence believes. In response to many remarks, Pence dismissed the statements by indicating that Trump hadn’t made them.
By the following day, a new video was created which showed that Pence’s denials were completely wrong. The first comment by Kaine indicated that both Trump and Pence had praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as a stronger leader than President Obama. Two clips were then shown to clear up any doubt about the validity of Kaine’s statement.
Next, Pence was shown denying that he and Trump would support legislation that would punish women who undergo an abortion. What followed was an appearance by Trump during the primaries in which he indicated that “some form of punishment” had to be given to such women.
Trump’s controversial refusal to release his tax returns, which every presidential candidate has done since 1976, was reportedly due to the fact that he was being audited by the Internal Revenue Service. Pence was shown saying that the returns would be released at the conclusion of the audit, followed by Trump saying that he didn’t mind releasing them.
The concept of community policing was solidly endorsed by Pence, while Trump was then shown endorsing the controversial practice of stop-and-frisk. The latter tactic was ruled unconstitutional because it unfairly targeted minority communities.
Pence then denied Kaine’s depiction of the Trump-Pence campaign as being “insult-driven.” In response, multiple instances of Trump ridiculing other candidates, members of the media or handicapped individuals were presented.
Trump’s signature measure has been to push for stronger enforcement of immigration laws, specifically in regard to those individuals coming from Mexico. Kaine pointed out that Trump had spoken of creating a “deportation force” to handle the problem, which Pence denied. That denial was contradicted by Trump actually using the term in discussing his proposed plan.
Kaine described Trump’s “Mount Rushmore” of dictators as consisting of Putin, Kim Jong-Un of North Korea and former dictators Moammar Khadafy of Libya and Saddam Hussein of Iraq. After Pence is shown dismissing such a perception, video is shown of Trump offering praise to the latter three leaders.
Regarding the prospect of other nations gaining access to nuclear weapons, Kaine indicated that Trump had endorsed such an idea. A frustrated Pence denied it, which was countered by Trump actually indicating that such an option might be a good idea.
When Kaine noted how Trump was unaware during an interview that Russia had invaded the Ukranian peninsula of Crimea, Pence abjectly dismissed it as “nonsense.” Trump is then shown saying that Putin wouldn’t go into the Ukraine under his administration.
The final clips showed Kaine noting how Trump began his campaign by denigrating Mexican immigrants as drug dealers and rapists. Pence protested that Trump had indicated some of them were good people. However, he didn’t deny the pejorative remarks, which the subsequent video confirmed.
The debate was the only one between Kaine and Pence before the November 8 election that will choose between Trump and Hillary Clinton for President.