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: appeal to anonymous authority - insisting something is true based on the opinion of unnamed or vague experts.
: All the experts were against travel bans, but are now all saying they are glad he did it, without specifying who said that.

: cherry picking - presenting only evidence that confirms your position, while ignoring or withholding an often more significant portion that contradicts it.
: Trump lists only countries that are worse off with Covid than the U.S., while ignoring the vast majority of countries that are better off.^[1]

: passing the buck - shifting blame onto someone else for self-exoneration or to direct attention away from those really at fault.
: For the ramifications of Covid-19 in the U.S. to China.

: exaggeration - stretching the truth to make something seem more powerful or meaningful than it actually is.
: Before the pandemic, China had their slowest economic growth in 29, not 67 years.^[2]

: exaggeration - stretching the truth to make something seem more powerful or meaningful than it actually is.
: While unemployment was near historical lows, it was not "the greatest economy ever in history" or even in U.S. history.^[3]

: fault as virtue - reframing a weakness or undesirable trait as a strength by highlighting any positive aspect of it.
: Trump suggests that his pandemic response— which was chaotic and marred by his downplaying the severity of the virus— was instead highly successful when compared to "going herd" (taking no action at all).^[4]

: appeal to anonymous authority - insisting something is true based on the opinion of unnamed or vague experts.
: The real experts wholeheartedly commended the administration's response to COVID-19, without specifying who praised it.

: red herring - throwing irrelevant information into an argument to divert attention from the real issue at hand.
: Trump shifts focus to his crowd size in Tulsa, which does not directly address the decision to hold an indoor rally during the COVID-19 pandemic.

: red herring - throwing irrelevant information into an argument to divert attention from the real issue at hand.
: Trump brings up his ratings for the Tulsa event, which does not directly address why he chose to hold an indoor rally during the Covid-19 pandemic.

: baseless claim - a bold statement that is presented as accepted or established fact, with no discernable evidence to support the claim.
: All Trump supporters don't listen to the media or public health officials, but only listen to Trump.

: passing the buck - shifting blame onto someone else for self-exoneration or to direct attention away from those really at fault.
: For the ramifications of Covid-19 in the U.S. to the governors.

: cherry picking - presenting only evidence that confirms your position, while ignoring or withholding an often more significant portion that contradicts it.
: Trump lists only states he thinks Covid rates have fallen, while ignoring the average death toll nationally has been climbing for weeks.^[2]

: passing the buck - shifting blame onto someone else for self-exoneration or to direct attention away from those really at fault.
: For the ramifications of Covid-19 in the U.S. to China.

: appeal to anonymous authority - insisting something is true based on the opinion of unnamed or vague experts.
: Some experts say you can test too much, without specifying who says that.

: half truth - a statement that is essentially true, but lacking critical information and presented as the whole truth.
: Trump credits only testing for more reported Covid cases, while ignoring the positivity rate, since testing alone can't detect Covid cases that aren't already there.^[2]

: half truth - a statement that is essentially true, but lacking critical information and presented as the whole truth.
: Trump mentions Covid testing didn't even exist when he took office, without mentioning Covid also didn't exist when he took office.

: half truth - a statement that is essentially true, but lacking critical information and presented as the whole truth.
: Trump credits only testing for more reported Covid cases, while ignoring the fact that you can't detect Covid cases that aren't already there.^[2]

: false equivalence - implying that two things are essentially the same, despite being significantly different, by focusing on anecdotal or superficial similarities.
: Between the low U.S. COVID fatality rate and the exceptionally high U.S. COVID mortality rate, ignoring that only the latter measures whether Americans are dying at a higher rate per capita than in other countries.^[5]

: innuendo - implying something negative or controversial without explicitly stating it, leaving the audience to infer the intended meaning.
: By repeatedly emphasizing "you don't know that," Trump seems to imply that South Korea's COVID numbers are not reliable, without directly accusing South Korea of falsifying statistics.

: cherry picking - presenting only evidence that confirms your position, while ignoring or withholding an often more significant portion that contradicts it.
: Trump lists only states he thinks Covid rates have fallen, while ignoring the average death toll nationally has been climbing for weeks (including in Florida and Texas).^[2]

: misleading claim - a statement with a few elements or kernel of truth, which can easily be proven deceptive or fundamentally untrue.
: The "many people" was Colin Powell, who said commanders on the ground didn't think that it was as serious a problem as the media reported.^[6]

: red herring - throwing irrelevant information into an argument to divert attention from the real issue at hand.
: Trump brings up his reading comprehension, meeting times, and global conflicts, which does not directly address whether he read the brief about Russian bounties.^[2]

: muddying the waters - introducing irrelevant information or overly complex reasoning to confuse or complicate an issue that is otherwise straightforward and easy to understand.
: Trump introduces tangential points, like prior U.S. intervention, Nicholson's job performance, and Soviet history in Afghanistan, which confuse and dilute the question about holding Russia accountable for arming the Taliban.

: false claim - a statement that is directly contradicted by fact and can be easily proven untrue.
: The U.S. troop level is indeed roughly the same as it was when Trump took office.^[2]

: post hoc - proclaiming that because something occurred after X, it was caused by X, when no causal relationship at all may exist.
: Taking the credit for defeating ISIS, when the military strategy used was largely inherited from the Obama administration.^[2]

: false equivalence - implying that two things are essentially the same, despite being significantly different, by focusing on anecdotal or superficial similarities.
: Between Clinton considering contesting the 2016 election results over foreign interference and Trump arbitrarily refusing to accept election results, despite her conceding the election even after evidence of foreign interference did emerge.^[7]

: fear mongering - spreading exaggerated rumors or dire warnings about impending danger on an issue.
: The statement exaggerates the risks of mail-in voting, using vivid but unsupported anecdotes and alarmist language like "millions of ballots going... nobody even knows where." This creates an impression of widespread fraud and corruption without offering any concrete evidence to support the claims.^[8]

: FUD - raising uncertainty and doubt about an issue while offering few specifics and no credible evidence to support the concerns.
: The statement introduces uncertainty about the integrity and timeliness of the election results, using phrases like "lots of things can happen" that may imply fraud would occur during the time it takes to count the votes. The language is vague and non-specific, raising doubt but offering no concrete evidence to justify the concerns.

: exaggeration - stretching the truth to make something seem more powerful or meaningful than it actually is.
: 10-years is the MAXIMUM penalty for damaging federal property and the 10-year penalty is not something new.^[2]

: scapegoating - assigning blame to a vulnerable target, often without justification.
: The statement blames China not only for the pandemic’s economic disruption but also for derailing broader societal progress in the U.S. The phrase 'we were all set until we got hit by China with the virus' oversimplifies the issue and channels blame toward one country, diverting attention from other domestic factors.

: trolling - making inflammatory or controversial comments to provoke a strong, emotional reaction from an opponent.

: post hoc - proclaiming that because something occurred after X, it was caused by X, when no causal relationship at all may exist.
: Taking the credit for African American economic advances that were already well underway in the final years of Obama's tenure.^[2]

: red herring - throwing irrelevant information into an argument to divert attention from the real issue at hand.
: Trump brings up feeling snubbed by John Lewis, which does not directly address how history will remember John Lewis.