With a government shutdown looming and after the resignation of his defense secretary, President Trump posted inaccurate and contradictory claims about the border wall, Ronald Reagan, China and Russia and the Islamic State.
What Trump Said
The facts
Ronald Reagan made no attempts to build a border wall, according to biographers of the 40th president and journalists who covered the Reagan administration.
During a 1980 Republican primary debate, Reagan discussed illegal immigration and the United States’ relationship with Mexico.
“Rather than making them, or talking about putting up a fence,” he said, “why don’t we work out some recognition of our mutual problems and make it possible for them to come here legally, with a work permit, and then while they are working and earning here, they pay taxes here.”
Bob Spitz, the author of “Reagan: An American Journey,” said he was unaware of any other examples of Reagan discussing a border wall during his presidency. Mr. Spitz also pointed to the former president’s farewell address, in which he envisioned the United States as a “shining city upon a hill” and “if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here.”
“That was Ronald Reagan’s America — welcoming and inclusive,” Mr. Spitz said. “He knew that immigrants contributed to the fabric of American society and keeping them out was never a focus of his policy.”
Asked whether Reagan tried to build a border wall, H. W. Brands, a historian and the author of “Reagan: The Life,” simply replied, “No, he did not.”
“The most famous line of his presidency was about tearing down walls — ‘Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall’ — not building them,” Mr. Brands said.
And Kelly D. Barton, an archivist at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif., said he has “not been able to find any indication of Reagan being directly involved in attempts to get a border fence/wall built.”
“The issue did not come up in any of his public speeches and statements as President, or any other source that I was able to check,” Mr. Barton said Friday in an email to The New York Times.
What Trump Said
The facts
Whether or not President Trump has been “tougher” on China and Russia than any other president is subjective.
