- Author, Jake Horton, Mark Poynting & Lucy Gilder
- Role, BBC Verify
For a two-hour discussion wit Elon Musk, for di billionaire platform for X, Donald Trump bin make a number of questionable and false claims – wey nobody challenge.
Di Republican presidential candidate return to some familiar campaign themes, like illegal immigration and rising prices, but im also tok about climate change.
BBC Verify bin check some of im claims.
How fast sea levels dey set to rise?
CLAIM: “Di biggest threat no be global warming, wia di ocean go rise to one eighth of an inch ova di next 400 years.”
VERDICT: According to climate projections, Trump dey really underestimate di rise in sea levels.
For di decade of 2014-2023, global average sea levels bin rise by an average of nearly 4.8mm per year (0.19in), according to di World Meteorological Organization.
Dat increase dey already greater dan di one eighth of an inch (0.13in) wey Oga Trump predict say go happun ova di next 400 years.
Di magnitude of future rises dey difficult to predict, because nobody really know how quickly ice-sheets go melt, and future warming go depend on greenhouse gas emissions from human activities.
Di UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) bin estimate a likely range of 0.28 to 1.01m of global sea-level rise by 2100 – although nobody fit rule out higher rises.
A sea-level rise of one metre go put hundreds of millions of pipo at risk of more regular coastal flooding, as well as submerging parts of low-lying kontris like di Maldives.
20 million pipo don cross di border?
CLAIM: “I feel say 20 million pipo don cross di border… I feel say millions dey come in every month.”
VERDICT: E no dey possible to know exactly how many illegal immigrants don enta US across dia southern border during President Biden time for office. Official data suggest say e hit record levels but no be di kind of numbers Trump dey claim.
Since January 2021, di US Customs and Border Protection agency say enforcement officers for US don encounter 10.1m illegal migrants, wit more dan 8m of di pipo dey come ova from di southern border.
Dis figures no necessarily mean say all dis pipo successfully enter US – dem fit don send some back and dem fit still jam di same pesin as e dey try to cross di border multiple times.
Di tin be say di official figures no represent significant increase from four years ago under Trump, and also dis na di highest figure wey any US administration don record.
Di data no show say “millions” dey come in every month either. US Border Patrol agents bin catch around 57,000 migrants along di southern border for July – di lowest figure dem record since September 2020.
Di numbers go down significantly from di peak under Oga Biden for December 2023, wen dem bin catch around 250,000 migrants wey bin dey cross di border.
Bacon dey five times more expensive?
CLAIM: “I feel say we get dis, na our worst inflation in 100 years… bacon dey cost four or five times more dan wetin e be a few years ago”.
VERDICT: Dis no be true. Inflation bin peak at 9.1% under President Biden – di highest in 41 years, no be 100. Di price of bacon dey up by 17% since Trump bin leave office, no be four or five times.
Inflation rise significantly during di first two years of Biden administration, e reach di highest level since 1981.
You fit compare am wit many oda Western kontris, wey experience high inflation rates for 2021 and 2022, as global supply chain issue and consequence of Covid and di war for Ukraine contribute to di rising prices.
Some economists say Oga Biden $1.9tn (£1.5tn) spend plan for 2021 na factor as well.
Since mid 2022, US inflation don fall, di latest monthly figure na 3% as of June.
In terms of bacon – di average price for a pound of sliced bacon bin dey around $5.83 for January 2021 wen Trump bin leave office, according to US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Now e dey cost around $6.83.
Na Trump build hundreds of miles of border wall?
CLAIM: “I build hundreds of miles of wall” to protect di southern border.
VERDICT: Di length of border wall wey dem build during Trump presidency depend on wetin you dey measure but if you include new sections as well as parts wey dem don replace or reinforce, im build more dan 450 miles.
Wia dis foto come from, Getty Images
One report by US Customs and Border Protection put di total at 458 miles. However, only 85 miles of entirely new sections of wall na im dem build under Trump.
Di rest na either dem replace am or dem reinforce di existing barriers.
President Biden bin suspend construction wen im enta office, but last year, im administration bin allow di building of one section of di wall as part of dia effort to stop rising levels of immigration.
Di section wey Oga Biden approve na for 20 miles of barriers along di border for southern Texas.