Thread by @ddale8

Trump will be speaking shortly in Orlando. I'll be quoting and fact-checking in this thread. You can also follow updates from my CNN colleagues at this link, which I'll be re-posting periodically: cnn.com/politics/live-…

"We have reformed the VA, and Veterans Choice is now the law," Pence, introducing Trump, says of a program that became the law in 2014 when Obama signed a McCain-Sanders bill.

Trump begins his campaign launch by boasting about the size of the crowd. He claims "the fake news" would say he "didn't fill up the arena" if there were a mere few empty seats.

Trump says the economy is "perhaps" the greatest in the history of the country. He doesn't usually include a perhaps.

Trump points out the media, then pauses for a little while to allow for a "CNN sucks" chant, then says, "That is a lot of fake news back there...that's a lot."

Trump claims his election was a repudiation of the "permanent political class that enriched itself at your expense." He claims he has broken the grip of lobbyists, special interests, and backroom deals.

Trump says, as he has, that his opponents "want a do-over," that he has been victim of a "great hoax," and that the Russia investigation was illegal. There's no evidence the investigation was illegal.

Trump invokes Hillary Clinton. There is a "lock her up" chant.

Trump accuses the Democrats of "collusion," though he wasn't specific about with whom. There's no evidence of Democratic collusion with the Russian government.

Trump falsely claims that Obama "did nothing" when he was informed of the Russian interference. Obama has been widely criticized for not doing more (though he has his defenders), but he took a number of steps, including warning Russia through various channels.

Trump takes credit for the U.S. being the "#1 producer of energy in the world -- because of what we've done, right now." It's crude oil production in which the U.S. has become #1 under Trump. 2017 was the fifth straight year it was #1 in petroleum/natural gas, per the EIA.

Trump provides a highly misleading account of what happened with judges under Obama, suggesting Obama just "didn't fill the positions." Mitch McConnell executed a historic blockade of Obama's nominees in Obama's second term.

Trump invokes Justice Brett Kavanaugh, accusing Democrats of trying to "ruin his family" and "ruin his life" when they opposed him over accusations of sexual assault. He adds, "He did nothing wrong."

Trump, who has repeatedly called for the imprisonment of his opponents, says Democrats, if elected, would "use the power of the law to punish their opponents, which they're trying to do now, anyway." He adds, "They'll always be trying to shield themselves."

Trump claims Democrats voted for "it," his wall, four and six years ago. Some of them, not all - not Pelosi, for example - voted for what they understood to be fencing in 2006 and more recently, not for anything resembling Trump's 2016 giant-concrete-wall proposal.

Trump accuses Democrats of "trying to shred our Constitution" after refusing to accept his victory. He doesn't elaborate.

Trump accuses Clinton of not only deleting emails but having "acid washed" them. He says "acid washed" repeatedly.

Acid-washing emails is not a thing. Her team used a free software program called BleachBit, which does not involve bleach, nor acid, nor washing.

Trump is, so far, going much harder at Hillary Clinton than at any Democrat; he hasn't yet launched into an extended attack on any of his potential 2020 opponents. In many ways, this sounds like a 2016 rally.

Trump touts the elimination of Obamacare's individual mandate. He says "this is the only country" where you have to pay if you don't want health insurance. (In most industrialized countries, of course, you're simply given health insurance.)

An accurate number: Trump correctly says 60,000 factories were lost prior to his presidency (from 2001 onward). He then says he knows this number is correct because if it wasn't, the media would have pointed out it was wrong.

Trump tells people not to believe the "fake news" when they say that Americans are paying Trump's tariffs on China. Americans are paying Trump's tariffs on China.

Trump wrongly says that the U.S. has never previously taken in "10 cents" from tariffs on China. It was billions every year during the Obama era, per FactCheck.org. factcheck.org/2019/05/trump-…

Trump returns to one of his most frequent false claims, saying the U.S. has had a regular $500 billion trade deficit with China. It has never once been $500 billion. It was $379 billion in 2018, a record $419 billion in goods trade alone.

Trump chastises Clinton for calling some of his supporters "deplorable," muses about whether he should keep his MAGA slogan or switch to Keep America Great, boasts about the stock market's performance today, returns to the slogans, and talks about how many regulations he's cut.

Updates on the rally from my CNN colleagues: cnn.com/politics/live-…

Trump says that he thinks of only one thing while sitting at his desk in the Oval Office: how the American people will "win, win, win today."

Trump: "My only special interest is you. I don't have a special interest." The president owns a sprawling business from which he refused to divest.

Trump says he has a "feeling" Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be running for governor somewhere (in Arkansas). He invites her up to speak. She gets raucous applause.

Trump says the unemployment rate is the lowest in "over 51 years." It's the lowest since late 1969, so about 49.5 years. He habitually exaggerates already-excellent numbers.

Trump correctly says that (about) 6 million jobs have been created since his election, though that counts the final months of the Obama era. It's closer to 5.5 million if you count from his inauguration.

Trump says women's unemployment is the lowest in "74 years." It's about 65 years -- lowest since 1953.

Trump says the typical family of four earning $75,000 has gotten a tax cut of more than $2,000. There are different calculations; Tax Policy Center says it puts the figure for a middle-income household (making $49,000-$85,000) at $800, or $900 if you include the corporate cut.

Trump baselessly says that companies hadn't built plant in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and other states in "decades," but now they are. cnn.com/politics/live-…

Trump describes the USMCA as "brand new," saying it "replaces one of the worst trade deals ever made." It is literally a new agreement, but it retains the majority of NAFTA, most notably NAFTA's tariff elimination.

Trump exaggerates the direness of the situation with experimental medications before the Right to Try law was passed. People had to ask the FDA for approval, but Trump's own FDA chief confirmed that the FDA approved 99% of requests; it wasn't true people had no chance.

"We passed VA Choice," Trump says twice. "They'd been trying to get that passed, also, for...44 years." It was a McCain-Sanders bill passed under Obama in 2014. #FactsFirst

Trump accuses the Democrats of having an agenda of "open borders." No prominent Democrat is campaigning on an agenda of literally open borders. (Trump deploys this claim with varying degrees of literalism, sometimes making clear he means it literally and sometimes not.)

"America will never be a socialist country," Trump promises. He adds, "We will defend Medicare and Social Security for our great seniors."

"We will always protect patients with pre-existing conditions," Trump says. I can't fact-check a promise, but Trump hasn't done so to date; all of the bills he's tried to pass would weaken these protections, and his admin is in court arguing Obamacare's are unconstitutional.

Trump boasted of restoring America's standing in the world, saying the U.S. is "respected again." Nobody polls on "respect," but polls of global public confidence in U.S. leadership, notably by Pew, have showed a dramatic decline in confidence from the Obama era to the Trump era.

Trump promises, "We will come up with the cures to many, many problems, to many, many diseases, including cancer, and others."

Trump has concluded. Once more, CNN's updates from and on the rally: cnn.com/politics/live-…