Back in 2015, a commentator noted that Donald Trump had no “commitment to accuracy” in his remarks, both in public and online. That observation seems rather quaint now, but indeed, there is no situation or moment in which Trump isn’t compelled to simply lie his face off.
Lying is so much a part of who Trump is and how he expresses himself it doesn’t even occur to him that he’s doing it, nor does it occur to his supporters that what he’s doing is wrong. They don’t care. It’s the very essence of cult of personality: if he says it, it’s true, and it’s real no matter how clearly the eyes on their faces tell them it’s not.
As Jason Hreha wrote in a May 2016 Medium article, “Trump has masterfully tweaked dozens of different persuasion triggers, and has shaped the media narrative to make him seem as important, and popular.” That remains true. But when adults are going over a State of the Union speech and allowing Trump to say what he did in his March 4th address to Congress, it simply indicts those in his administration as co-conspirators in the ongoing subversion of our nation into a Russian-style oligarchic state with restricted freedoms.
To a larger extent, it also indicts the Republican Party as a whole, whose members in Congress stood up and cheered Trump’s blatant lies multiple times, as they and their party have done since becoming hijacked by Trump’s cult in 2016.
Cataloging Trump’s public lies is a near-impossible task given the sheer volume each day. Nevertheless, our friends at the Alt. National Park Service provided these notes, enhanced by yours truly, on Trump’s most notable lies, falsehoods, and untruths from his State of the Union speech. Just one day in our long national nightmare.
“We won the popular vote by big numbers and won counties in our country 2,700 to 525.”
No, he didn’t. While Trump won the popular vote in 2024, he did so by a small, 1.5 percent margin with 49 percent overall. That’s one of the smallest popular vote margins in modern history, and smaller than Biden’s four percent popular vote margin of victory in 2020. Hardly a landslide.
“Illegal border crossings last month were by far the lowest ever recorded.”
False. February had about 8,300 border encounters, far from historic lows. In the early 1900s and 1960s, annual crossings were much, much lower.
“Hundreds of thousands of illegal crossings a month, and virtually all of them including murderers, drug dealers, gang members, and people from mental institutions and insane asylums were released into our country.”
False. While crossings were high under Biden, there’s no evidence that most migrants were criminals or from institutions.
“I withdrew from the unfair Paris Climate accord, which was costing us trillions of dollars.”
False. The Paris Accord is nonbinding, and the U.S. set its own commitments, not that Trump cares — his cost estimates come from industry-backed studies that ignore climate benefits.
“We ended the last administration’s insane electric vehicle mandate, saving our autoworkers and companies from economic destruction.”
False. Biden promoted EV incentives, not a mandate. Automakers had already committed to EVs due to global trends. And who does Trump think builds electric vehicles in the first place? Someone other than autoworkers?
“I have directed that for every one new regulation, 10 old regulations must be eliminated.”
False, and weird. No reliable metric shows Trump cut more regulations than past presidents.
“We’ve ended weaponized government where, as an example, a sitting president is allowed to viciously prosecute his political opponent like me.”
False. There is zero evidence Biden directed prosecutors against Trump. Biden had more important things to focus on, like rebuilding the presidency after Trump’s first term. In fact, Trump is projecting his retribution, as he has designed his administration to prosecute political opponents like a banana republic.
“We inherited from the last administration an economic catastrophe and an inflation nightmare.”
False. Trump inherited low unemployment, falling inflation, and strong growth. Trump can deny it all he wants and live in an alternate reality, but the numbers don’t lie.
“We suffered the worst inflation in 48 years. But perhaps even in the history of our country, they’re not sure.”
False. Inflation peaked at nine percent in 2022, lower than the 1970s and post-World War II spikes, and had dropped to 2.4 percent by Nov. 2024 without triggering a recession. That’s why the rest of the world was looking to the U.S. with envy. No longer though, as Trump’s pointless tariffs are crashing markets and tanking our once-remarkable economy.
“Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control.”
Misleading. Egg prices spiked due to bird flu, not Biden’s policies.
“The appalling waste we have already identified. We found hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud.”
Unproven. Claims rely on questionable math, miscategorized spending, and false fraud allegations. The National Weather Service and National Park Service are not “waste,” unless that’s your attitude of weather forecasting and America’s Greatest Idea. Trump’s firing of inspector generals in multiple agencies, and his neutering of the FBI has, in fact, made it much easier for his administration to engage in Russian oligarch-style corruption.
“$45 million for diversity, equity, and inclusion scholarships in Burma.”
False. The funding was for scholarships in Myanmar, not DEI programs.
“$10 million for male circumcision in Mozambique.”
False. This was part of a public health initiative to reduce HIV/AIDS in Africa, something championed by President George W. Bush.
“$20 million for the Arab Sesame Street in the Middle East. It’s a program. $20 million for a program.”
False. The main funding came from private foundations, not U.S. government grants.
“$59 million for illegal alien hotel rooms in New York City.”
Misleading. New York City received a grant for migrant housing at standard, not luxury, rates.
“We have hundreds of thousands of federal workers who have not been showing up to work.”
False. Many federal employees telework, but Trump’s numbers are entirely exaggerated.
“It was one of the main reasons why our tax cuts were so successful in our first term, giving us the most successful economy in the history of our country.”
False. The economy was strong, but not the best in history — other periods have had higher growth and lower debt.
“Over the last three months about Mexico and Canada, but we have very large deficits with both of them. But even more important, they’ve allowed fentanyl to come into our country at levels never seen before.”
False. Mexico is the main source of fentanyl, not Canada.
“We pay subsidies to Canada and to Mexico of hundreds of billions of dollars.”
Misleading. Trade deficits aren’t subsidies, and Trump’s numbers are exaggerated.
“We have had $1.7 trillion of new investment in America in just the past few weeks.”
Dubious. Claims rely on recycled announcements, vague commitments, and unrelated Biden-era policies.
“Not long ago, and you can’t even believe these numbers, one in 10,000 children had autism. One in 10,000, and now it’s 1 in 36. There’s something wrong.”
Misleading. The rise is partly due to better diagnosis and broader definitions.
“But it was built at tremendous cost of American blood and treasure. 38,000 workers died building the Panama Canal.”
False. The actual number was under 6,000, mostly non-Americans. The Panama Canal has been under Panamanian control since 1999, when the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaty went into effect.
“Europe has sadly spent more money buying Russian oil and gas than they have spent on defending Ukraine, by far!”
False. Military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine exceeded energy spending.
“We’ve spent perhaps $350 billion [on Ukraine], like taking candy from a baby. That’s what happened. And they’ve [the E.U.] spent $100 billion.”
False. U.S. aid was $183 billion, while the E.U.’s total support exceeded that.
“Biden has authorized more money in this fight than Europe has spent by billion and billions of dollars.”
Misleading. The E.U. has committed and spent more than the U.S., but disbursement rates differ.
Grim stuff, but check out this clip of former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg giving his analysis of Trump’s speech. It’s a lot better than the Democrats’ “official” response.