Trump Rally in Atlanta, Georgia: Fact-Check

The video snippets and a detailed fact-check will be featured on the ONEST Livestream on X and YouTube on Monday, August 5, 2024, at 7 p.m. ET.

Donald Trump and JD Vance spent hours promoting grievance, falsehoods, division, and extremism during their rally in Atlanta, GA, on Saturday, August 3rd.

Here’s a breakdown of the key points:

• Before Trump even took the stage, he launched attacks on the Republican Governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, and his family. On stage, Trump repeatedly labeled Kemp as "very disloyal" and criticized him harshly. Trump also addressed Kemp’s wife, First Lady Marty Kemp, who stated she would not endorse Trump because he "didn't earn her trust." Trump claimed credit for helping Kemp get elected.

• Trump condemned Governor Kemp for not supporting his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, and falsely accused Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger of trying to interfere in the 2024 election. He referred to Kemp as “Little Brian Kemp” and labeled him a “bad guy.”

• Trump employed the racist "Great Replacement Theory" to cast doubt on the 2024 election, alleging that undocumented immigrants would be voting.

• He continued to spread false claims about the 2020 election, asserting that he won Georgia twice.

• Trump struggled to articulate coherent thoughts, but when he did, he said, “I’d like to congratulate Vladimir Putin on the great deal WE made,” referring to the prisoner swap that led to the release of unjustly imprisoned Americans.

• He attacked ABC News after withdrawing from a debate he had initially agreed to, later he proposed a debate with Kamala Harris to be hosted on FOX News.

• Trump falsely claimed to support police funding, despite previously attempting to cut funding for local and federal law enforcement.

• He criticized the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, driven by his insecurity over his failure to achieve similar legislation.

• Trump threatened to cut federal funding for every public school in the country if they continued to enforce a vaccine mandate.

• He interrupted a “late, great Hannibal Lecter” reference to shout, “That’s a lot of fake news!” (Very stable genius).

• Trump bragged about receiving an endorsement from Tom Homan, Project 2025 author and the “father” of family separation.

• He remarked, “I have to be for electric cars, Elon endorsed me,” referring to his billionaire supporter, Elon Musk.

• Trump claimed that thousands of people were not allowed into the rally, projecting that similar exclusion would occur on Election Day for those wanting to vote for him in Georgia.

• He promoted his economic agenda, which economists have warned could lead to a “Trump inflation bomb.” "While each of us has different views on the particulars of various economic policies, we all agree that Joe Biden's economic agenda is vastly superior to Donald Trump," stated a letter from 16 economists, first obtained by Axios.

• Trump boasted about not needing entertainers to fill his events, despite having a model, a wrestler, a few singers, and the UFC’s president on the RNC stage.

• He began his “war on Christmas” early this year, claiming that Kamala Harris doesn’t want anyone to say Merry Christmas.

• JD Vance falsely accused Democrats of trying to kill Trump after attempting to imprison him.

Geoff Duncan, former Republican Lt. Governor of Georgia, released the following statement after Donald Trump’s incoherent speech in Atlanta:

“If you were able to see through Donald Trump’s incoherence and vindictiveness tonight, you saw a Donald Trump who does not care about uniting this country or speaking to the voters who will decide this election. Millions of Americans are fed up with his grievance-filled campaign focused only on himself. Tonight we heard a particularly unhinged, angry version of the same Donald Trump that Georgia rejected in 2020.

“Elections are binary choices. As a lifelong conservative Republican, it was not an easy decision for me to endorse Vice President Harris, but I know that she fights for all Americans, right, left, or center, and will stand up for the Constitution.”