It came to be known as Mitt Romney’s greatest error. During his 2012 run for president, the man now serving as Utah’s junior senator remarked at a closed-door fundraiser that 47% of Americans pay no income taxes and thus had no reason to vote in favor of tax cuts.

The statement was made out to be a lot worse than it was, but it proved fatal for Romney’s hopes. The idea that he would disparage or write off 47% of Americans fit perfectly into the reputation that the media had tried to create for him: as a heartless venture capitalist eager to outsource American jobs and capable even of giving people cancer by force of telepathy. Still, Romney was factually correct that a large number of Americans pay no income tax.