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AP FACT CHECK: Trump's Misfires on Iran, Trade and That Wall

Associated Press

   WASHINGTON - In President Donald Trump's reckoning, an Iran tamed by
   him no longer cries "death to America," the border wall with Mexico is
   proceeding apace, the estate tax has been lifted off the backs of
   farmers, the remains of U.S. soldiers from North Korea are coming home
   and China is opening its wallet to the U.S. treasury for the first time
   in history.

   These statements range from flatly false to mostly so.

   Here's a week of political rhetoric in review:

   IRAN:

   TRUMP, speaking about Iranians "screaming 'death to America'" when
   Barack Obama was in the White House: "They haven't screamed 'death to
   America' lately." -- Fox News interview Friday.

   THE FACTS: Yes they have. The death-to-America chant is heard
   routinely.

   The chant, "marg bar Amreeka" in Farsi, dates back even before Iran's
   1979 Islamic Revolution. Once used by communists, it was popularized by
   Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the revolution's figurehead and Iran's
   first supreme leader after the U.S. Embassy takeover by militants.

   It remains a staple of hard-line demonstrations, meetings with current
   Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, official ceremonies,
   parliamentary sessions and main Friday prayer services in Tehran and
   across the country. Some masters of ceremonies ask audiences to tone it
   down. But it was heard, for example, from the crowd this month when
   Khamenei exhorted thousands to stand up against U.S. "bullying."

   In one variation, a demonstrator at Tehran's Quds rally last month held
   a sign with three versions of the slogan: "Death to America" in Farsi,
   "Death to America" in Arabic," '³Down with U.S.A." in English.

   WAGES and TAXES

   TRUMP: "Wages are growing, and they are growing at the fastest rate for
   -- this is something so wonderful -- for blue-collar workers. The
   biggest percentage increase -- blue-collar workers." -- remarks Tuesday
   in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

   THE FACTS: He's claiming credit for a trend of rising wages for
   lower-income blue-collar workers that predates his presidency.

   Some of the gains also reflect higher minimum wages passed at the state
   and local level; the Trump administration opposes an increase to the
   federal minimum wage.

   With the unemployment rate at 3.6%, the lowest since December 1969,
   employers are struggling to fill jobs. Despite all the talk of robots
   and automation, thousands of restaurants, warehouses, and retail stores
   still need workers.

   They are offering higher wages and have pushed up pay for the
   lowest-paid one-quarter of workers more quickly than for everyone else
   since 2015. In April, the poorest 25% saw their paychecks increase 4.4%
   from a year earlier, compared with 3.1% for the richest one-quarter.
   

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