US President Donald Trump made 1,318 false claims over 263 days: Study

US President Donald Trump smiles during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, on June 12, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

US President Donald Trump has made 1,318 false claims over 263 days, a new fact-checking study shows, predicting a final tally of over 2,000 false or misleading statements for the Republican head of state’s first year in the White House.

Most of the inaccuracies stem from Trump’s tendency to overuse superlatives while making public statements, The Washington Postreported Tuesday, noting that that the president had averaged five claims a day, even picking up pace since the six-month mark

Tax plan

Five months before unveiling his tax plan in late September, Trump said it was “the biggest tax cut in history. This is bigger than [former US president Ronald] Reagan. … This is actually bigger than Reagan tax cuts.”

He went on to make the claim 16 more times without offering evidence as to how it was “the largest tax cut in our country’s history.”

Despite the fancy claims, the president has so far only provided the public with a 9-page framework that would start negotiations with lawmakers.

Hurricanes

Trump has also made false claims about the recent wave of hurricanes that have hit US territories, saying Hurricane Irma in Florida and Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico made landfall as Category 5 storms — the most destructive kind — but they touched down as Category 4 and eventually reached Category 5 strength, an important factor in distinguishing weather disasters.

He has also exaggerated the number of lives saved in government’s relief efforts.

NFL feud

The president has also made false statements while attacking the National Football League (NFL), for not punishing players who “disrespect the flag” by kneeling during the national anthem.

Trump has claimed multiple times that NFL ratings are “down massively” and “going way down” because of the protests while officials say ticket sales remain “on par” with the year before.

Trump has also repeatedly said that the protest “has nothing to do with race” while players and coaches who defend the move say it is indeed about racial injustice against African Americans and other minorities.

North Korea

The billionaire-turned-president’s long list of false claims goes on to include North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Trump, who has been trading blows with Kim, has wrongly claimed that since former US President Bill Clinton, every American president “has been outplayed by this gentleman.”

This is while “Rocket Man” – as Trump likes to call Kim—is the successor to his father Kim Jong-il and grandfather Kim Il-sung, who have led North Korea since Clinton’s presidency.