Trump Made 26 Questionable Claims in Address to Congress – Rezazade

His speech was long, contradictory and full of manipulations. Many of his claims have been repeatedly refuted, but he continues to use them. Here are 26 statements that turned out to be false, misleading or taken out of context.

“We won by a large margin in the number of votes and won in districts 2,700 to 525.”

This is manipulation. Unlike 2016, this time Trump did win by a small margin of 1.5%, which was the smallest gap since 2000 and the fourth smallest since 1960. In terms of districts, most of the ones he won were small in population. Trump won 2,633 districts to Kamala Harris’ 427, but that doesn’t mean he had much more support from voters. According to the Brookings Institution, the districts Harris won produce 62% of the U.S. GDP, while Trump’s districts produce just 38%.

“Illegal border crossings last month were the lowest on record.”

That’s not true. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, there were about 8,300 illegal border crossings in February. That’s an average of 100,000 per year. But in the first half of the 20th century, before World War II, and in the 1960s, that number was much lower, between 10,000 and 30,000 per year.

“Hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants cross the border every month, and almost all of them are murderers, drug dealers, gang members, and mentally ill people who are being released into our country.”

This is a fabrication. While the number of illegal immigrants has indeed been at record levels under Joe Biden’s administration, there is no evidence that “almost all” of them are criminals or mentally ill. Nor is there any evidence that other countries are intentionally releasing their prisoners or psychiatric patients into the United States. Trump seems to be appealing to the events of 1980, when Fidel Castro allowed 125,000 Cubans to leave for the United States in the so-called “Mariel exodus.” Among them were indeed former prisoners and psychiatric patients, which caused a public outcry.

“I pulled the United States out of the unfair Paris climate agreement that cost us trillions of dollars.”

This is not true. Each country determined its own commitments under the Paris Agreement, so Trump’s comment makes no sense. He could simply change the commitments proposed by the Obama administration, since the agreement is non-binding. It also contained no provisions that would prohibit the United States from building coal-fired power plants or allow China or India to build them. Trump’s cost estimates were based on industry-funded studies that did not take into account the potential benefits of reducing emissions.

“We have ended the economic nightmare inherited from the previous administration.”

This is absurd. Trump inherited an economy with low unemployment, controlled inflation, and steady growth. A month before the 2020 presidential election, The Economist magazine called the U.S. economy “a model for the world.”

“The United States has suffered its worst inflation in 48 years, and perhaps in its entire history.”

This is not true. The 2022 inflation peak was the highest in 40 years, but not the highest in U.S. history. Inflation hit 9% in June 2022, while it was even higher in the 1970s, at 13.3%. In 1946, when Trump was born, inflation was 18.1%.

“Biden let egg prices get out of control.”

Egg prices rose because of bird flu, not Biden’s policies.

“We found hundreds of billions of dollars in fraud.”

This is unconfirmed. The Office of Government Efficiency reported $105 billion in savings, but details are lacking. Some of the claims about fraud have been proven false or exaggerated.

“Europe spent more money buying Russian gas than it did on aid to Ukraine.”

This is not true. Although the EU spent more on Russian energy than on financial aid to Ukraine in 2024, this does not include military and humanitarian aid. The EU’s total spending on Ukraine’s support far exceeds the purchase of Russian gas and oil.

“The US spent $350 billion on Ukraine, while Europe spent only $100 billion.”

This is not true. The US has allocated $183 billion in aid, of which $140.5 billion has been spent or planned. The EU has allocated $198 billion and spent $145 billion.

“We have hundreds of thousands of federal employees who are not coming to work.”

This is a lie. Trump equates remote work with absenteeism. At the same time, only 10% of civil servants work completely remotely, while 54% work exclusively in the office.

“$1.7 trillion has been invested in America in the last few weeks.”

This is a dubious figure. Much of this is old commitments from Apple and Saudi Arabia that have nothing to do with Trump.

“It used to be 1 in 10,000 children had autism, now it’s 1 in 36. Something’s wrong.”

This is manipulation. The diagnostic criteria for autism have expanded, which partly explains the increase in diagnoses.

“38,000 workers died building the Panama Canal.”

This is an exaggeration. The real death toll is around 6,000.

Trump has once again used false and manipulative claims to bolster his political narrative.