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Donald Trump frustrates fact checkers

LYNDEN, Wash. — In Lynden on Saturday, Republican Donald Trump launched a familiar attack on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

“Iraq, Libya, she voted Iraq, let's go into Iraq. I voted against it, except I was a civilian so nobody cared."

Actually, fact checkers have uncovered information that Trump supported the Iraq war.

So we wanted to know if it is true what he said about Lynden's economy.

“In Lynden, labor force, the region is 3,000 people smaller today than when Obama took office. Because you have a lot of bad deals being made, bad trade deals.”

And we also wanted to know if Trump's approach to the facts matters.

Asked if he’s worried about the many controversial things Trump has been saying, Wilfredo Rosado responded, “No I'm not. He just says what is on his mind and then if he has to retract what he says he will.”

We went to UW political science professor Mark Smith for some analysis.

“I think they (the facts) do matter. I just think other things matter too,” he said.

Like Trump's positions on immigration, trade deals and fighting terrorism.

So will fact-checking make a difference among Trump’s core supporters?

“Probably not,” Smith said. “But then again, it's just human nature. It wouldn't make much difference among Sanders core supporters or Clinton core supporters.”

But Smith says the facts matter more to people on both sides who are not hard-core supporters of either candidate.

We checked Trump’s labor force figures with the Washington Department of Employment Security. They show Trump was telling the truth about the labor force in Whatcom County.

But remember, the Great Recession was already well underway when Obama took office in 2009. And about two-thirds of the labor force lost in Whatcom County has now been restored.