Trump’s Border Wall speech was so bad even Fox News savagely fact-checked it

On Tuesday, Donald Trump issued an address to the American public on prime time television, pushing for his US-Mexico border wall.

The address was widely met with derision, even on the president's favourite network Fox News. And, we mean, when Fox News is challenging something, it really has to be pretty bad.

Fox News anchor Shepard 'Shep' Smith challenged many of the president's claims in the best possible way - using the government's own numbers.

First, he countered Trump's claims about murder rates among undocumented immigrants, with the president calling it a "crisis of the heart and soul". Speaking on the show, Smith said:

The government's own statistics show that there is less violent crime by the undocumented immigrant population than by the general population.

Next, Smith countered the president's claims about drug crossings over the boarder. Again, he quoted government statistics:

Government statistics show much of the heroin actually comes not over the unguarded border but through ports of call.

Then, Smith challenged Trump's claims about undocumented crossings over the past months. Wrong again:

In fact, the number of undocumented crossings over the southern border has been steadily down over the last 10 years and the government reports that there is more outward traffic than inward traffic.

Finally, in relation to the trade deal that Trump said would pay for the wall, Smith again destroyed Trump's claims:

That trade deal is not yet complete. And the president said that law enforcement professionals have requested the $5.7billion - it's he who requested it, and it's he who said he'd own the shutdown.

Ermmmm, we think that calls for a mic drop people.

This isn't the first time Shepard Smith has openly criticised Donald Trump on the largely right-wing news network Fox News. In October 2018, Smith ripped into Trump's rhetoric surrounding the so-called "migrant caravan", saying that the president had been exploiting it in order to stoke anxieties among the populace ahead of the midterm elections.

Speaking on Fox News, he said:

There is no invasion. No one’s coming to get you. There’s nothing at all to worry about.

Shep, we salute you.

HT HuffPost

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