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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Are Prices Up or Down? Parsing Misleading Claims by Trump and Democrats

Are Prices Up or Down? Parsing Misleading Claims by Trump and Democrats

About six months into the second term of President Donald Trump, Republicans and Democrats are making conflicting and often misleading assessments of the Trump administration’s impact on inflation and prices. Both sides cherry-pick examples of consumer products to support their claims, while sometimes wrongly taking credit for lower prices or falsely casting blame for rising costs.

MAGA Ad Distorts How Massie Diverges from Trump

MAGA Ad Distorts How Massie Diverges from Trump

An attack ad by a super PAC called MAGA Kentucky targets Republican Rep. Thomas Massie — a longtime conservative foil of President Donald Trump — with claims that distort the congressman’s votes on some of Trump’s policy goals.

Staffing Cuts at NWS and the Tragic Flooding in Texas

Staffing Cuts at NWS and the Tragic Flooding in Texas

Q: Is it true that if President Donald Trump hadn’t defunded the National Weather Service, the death toll in the Texas flooding would have been far lower or nonexistent?

A: The Trump administration did not defund the NWS but did reduce the staff by 600 people. Those staffing cuts did not cause the high number of deaths in the flash floods on July 4, experts said. Local forecasting offices were sufficiently staffed and issued timely warnings.

A Dedicated FEMA Fund Will Pay for ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

A Dedicated FEMA Fund Will Pay for ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

Q: Are FEMA funds being used to construct an immigrant detention facility in the Everglades?

A: Yes, the immigrant detention facility in Florida, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” is being “funded largely” by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Shelter and Services Program, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said. The funding does not come from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund.

Unraveling the Big Beautiful Bill Spin

Unraveling the Big Beautiful Bill Spin

As the Republican budget bill, called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, nears the July 4 deadline set by the White House, lawmakers have been ramping up the rhetoric. We referee the claims from both sides.

Iranian Nuclear Program Damaged, Not ‘Obliterated’ by U.S. Attack

Iranian Nuclear Program Damaged, Not ‘Obliterated’ by U.S. Attack

The bombing of three Iranian nuclear facilities on June 21 by American B-2 aircraft damaged the sites and set back Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, but didn’t completely destroy the sites or Iran’s nuclear capabilities, according to experts we spoke with and a classified U.S. intelligence report released on June 24.

Online Posts Make Baseless Claim Linking Protesters to Craigslist Ad

Online Posts Make Baseless Claim Linking Protesters to Craigslist Ad

Q: Is there an ad in Craigslist to hire people to riot in L.A.?

A: No, there has been no such ad on Craigslist. Some social media posts cited a Craigslist ad to falsely claim it showed that people protesting the immigration raids in Los Angeles were being paid for their actions. But a pair of podcasters told the Associated Press they placed the ad as a prank for their show, and it had nothing to do with the protests.

Walz and Johnson Make Misleading Claims About Bill’s Impact on SNAP

Walz and Johnson Make Misleading Claims About Bill’s Impact on SNAP

Republican and Democratic leaders have either downplayed or overstated the estimated impact of the House reconciliation bill on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that due to work requirements in the bill, 3.2 million people would lose all of their SNAP benefits, which provide financial help to low-income people for groceries.