FactChecking Vice President Kamala Harris

In about 48 hours, Vice President Kamala Harris went from No. 2 on the Democratic presidential ticket to the presumptive presidential nominee, after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed her. Here, we fact-check some of Harris’ recent speeches — before and after Biden dropped out: Harris repeated the claim that former President Donald Trump “intends to cut Social Security and Medicare,” even though he did not attempt to cut either retirement program when he was president, and he has said that he will not cut them in a second term. She referred to Project 2025 — a conservative plan for deeply cutting and overhauling the federal government — as Trump’s “extreme Project 2025 agenda.” Trump has disavowed the project, which he described as “seriously extreme.” The vice president repeated one of her favorite talking points when she claimed “Donald Trump openly vowed, if reelected, that he will be a dictator on Day 1.” He said he was joking when he said he wouldn’t be a dictator “except for Day 1.” Harris left the misleading impression that Trump was to blame for the loss of “tens of thousands” of manufacturing jobs. The U.S. added more than 400,000...