Table A1.

Examples of four presidential claims versus facts.

Presidential Claim	Fact
27 February 2020-Trump claimed the outbreak (coronavirus) would only be temporary	Anthony Fauci (director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) warned the public of higher rates of community-spread infections
4 July 2020-Trump announced that “99% of COVID-19 cases are totally harmless”	WHO confirmed 15% of cases to be severe and 5% to be fatal
Trump stated that the media were exaggerating the impacts of COVID-19 leading up to elections	During election season (October 2020), cases reached an all-time high at a rate of nearly 100,000 new cases per day
Trump cited a CDC article and intentionally distorted its findings by declaring they found 85% of mask-wearers caught the virus	CDC cites mask wearing to be a highly efficient method of reducing transmission and preventing COVID-19