50 lies Donald Trump instructed in his unhinged 18 minute tackle to the nation – one each 22 seconds
The televised speech was a desperate bid to convince Americans they were imagining not being able to afford groceries, and that everything is getting better. And in doing so, he lied once every 22 seconds
Donald Trump gave an 18 minute address to the nation last night, in which he lied, on average, every 22 seconds. The speech was a desperate attempt to convince the public that it’s not Trump’s fault that they can’t afford to buy groceries. And in fact, they can afford to buy groceries now, they’re just imagining that they can’t. His “affordability tour” kicked off last week with a rambling speech to a smallish crowd in the function room of a casino, and it was such a car crash that he had to send JD Vance back to Pennsylvania yesterday to try to talk his way out of it. Meanwhile the latest polls indicate between 31 and 36% of Americans approve of his handling of the economy – a historic low following a steep decline.
So in a change to our usual daily unhinged roundup, here’s all 50 outright lies we found in Trump’s address to the nation. Not exaggerations, not culture war talking points – things he said that were flat out, unarguably, factually untrue. And we haven’t even included this one, the opening line of his speech: “Eleven months ago, I inherited a mess, and I’m fixing it.”
1. ‘When I took office, inflation was the worst in 48 years’
CPI inflation in January 2025 was 3%, which was not the highest in 48 years. It rose to 9.1% in the 12 months to June 2022, which the Bureau for Labour Statistics (BLS) said was the largest 12-month increase since 1981.
2. ‘…and some would say in the history of our country’
The highest 12 month CPI rate in the history of the US peaked at 23.7% in June 1920.
3. ‘Our border was open. And because of this, our country was being invaded by an army of 25 million people’
The total number of undocumented people in the US was estimated at around 14 million when Biden left office. (And that’s from a Conservative leaning anti-immigration think tank, the Centre for Immigration Studies.) The 14m figure was an increase of about 3.8 million since January 2021 – a bump to be sure, but not 25 million – and that was from a Covid-era low. None of this has any basis in reality.
4. ‘Many who came from prisons and jails, mental institutions and insane asylums.’
There is no evidence to suggest a high number of people entering the US between 2021 and 2024 had a criminal record, or having been detained on mental health grounds.
5. ‘They were drug dealers, gang members and even 11,888 murderers, more than 50 percent of whom killed more than one person.’
This figure is entirely made up. Hogwash. Nonsense. Absolutely untrue. He’s previously used the figure of “13,099 convicted murderers” which was also nonsense. The number appears to have originated with a real fact, though. In the entire United States, in 2024, there were 13,099 non-citizens who had a murder conviction, and who were not being detained by ICE. The vast majority of these murderers entered the country prior to the Biden administration, and many of them were in prison long before Trump took office. The figure also includes people who entered the country legally, such as green card holders and people with legal visas. So no, 11,088 murderers did not enter the US illegally in the space of four years. Neither is there any data to back up the assertion that more than 50% of them had killed more than one person.
6. ‘We had men playing in women’s sports, transgender for everybody…’
Of the estimated 332 million US citizens living in America, around 1.3 million adults and 300,000 young people 13-17 identify as transgender. Research has indicated that of those, there were unlikely to be more than 100 trans women hoping to compete in women’s sport at any level as of 2024, when Trump was elected. The NCAA, the US college sports association, said earlier this year that there are “less than 10” transgender athletes taking part at that level – across all sports. There are thought to have been about 45 ever. Statistically speaking, there are no “men playing in women’s sports”, nor is there “transgender for everybody”.
7. ‘…crime at record levels …’
Crime was not at record levels when Trump took office in 2024. According to the FBI, violent crime fell 4.5% from 2023-24 and property crime by 8.1% over the same period. The peak of violent crime in the US peaked at 758.2 per 100,000 in 1991.
8. ‘…with law enforcement and words such as that just absolutely forbidden.
At no point have the words ‘law enforcement’ been banned anywhere.
9. ‘Our country was laughed at from all over the world. But they’re not laughing anymore.’
They 100% are.
10. ‘Over the past 11 months, we have brought more positive change to Washington than any administration in American history. There’s never been anything like it, and I think most would agree.’
The basis of this – that Trump v2 has brought more positive change to Washington than any administration in American history’ – is extremely debatable. There has been a lot of change in Washington, but whether it’s positive is a matter of opinion. As for the idea that “most would agree”, that’s absolutely false. Trump’s job approval is a record low 36%, indicating most people think he’s doing a bad job.
11. ‘I was elected in a landslide, winning the popular vote and all seven swing states and everything else with a mandate to take on a sick and corrupt system that really just took the wealth from people and crushed the dreams of the American people.’
Trump won the 2024 election, he won the popular vote and the electoral college. But it was not a landslide by any reasonable definition of the term. His popular vote margin was a slender 1.48 points. Joe Biden beat him in 2020 by 4.5 points and nobody called that a landslide.
12. ‘They flooded your cities and towns with illegal aliens’
As mentioned above, there were around 11-14m undocumented people in the US as of the end of 2024, roughly a 3.8m increase since the Covid-era low in 2021. But that’s out of around 348 million people. Undocumented people make up roughly 3-4% of the US population, depending on the estimate. Despite a dip during the pandemic, this figure has been roughly stable since 2016 when Trump took office.
13. ‘We inherited the worst border anywhere in the world, and we quickly turned it into the strongest border in the history of our country.’
The worst borders in the world, as per the Global Organised Crime Index’s “Territorial Integrity” resilience indicator, is a tie between Haiti, Somalia, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mali, all of which scored 1.5 out of 10 in their index. The United States as of 2025 has a score of 6.5, and that has gone down by 0.5 points since 2023.
14. We’re deporting criminals, restoring safety to our most dangerous cities. Just take a look at Washington, D.C. It’s at levels of safety that we’ve never seen before.
Crime in Washington DC was already declining when Trump took office. In 2024, violent crime dropped by 35% compared to 2023 – falling to its lowest level in 30 years. Since Trump took office, violent crime has continued to decline at roughly the same rate.
15. I’ve restored American strength, settled eight wars in 10 months, destroyed the Iran nuclear threat, and ended the war in Gaza, bringing for the first time in 3,000 years peace to the Middle East, and secured the release of the hostages, both living and dead.
We’ll take these all as one, because they’re all contentious – but in the same sort of ‘we’ll see’ sort of way. We’re already seeing that the “settled eight wars in 10 months” was not true. Fighting has continued in at least two out of the eight conflicts Trump claims to have “settled”. And while a ceasefire in Gaza seems to be broadly holding, nobody really knows what happened 3,000 years ago that is acting as the benchmark. Also, while the living hostages have been released, Hamas has yet to return the remains of one deceased hostage, Ran Gvili, whom they say remains buried under rubble from past bombardments and will require heavy equipment to recover his remains.
16. I am bringing those high prices down and bringing them down very fast
Right, we’re into the affordability section. Buckle up. Everything in this section is wrong. According to figures released this morning, US inflation spiked 0.2% in November, and 2.7% in the last 12 months. The CPI index on food rose by 0.1% over the last two months, and 2.6% in the past year. Prices are still going up, and by the look of today’s numbers, they’re going up faster than they were a year ago.
17. Let’s look at the facts. Under the Biden administration, car prices rose 22 percent, and in many states, 30% or more.
No idea where the 30% comes from. The 22% increase under Biden is more or less accurate on the average car price. Unfortunately it ignores the fact that average car prices rose by an eye-watering 36.4% during Trump’s first term.
18. ‘Gasoline rose 30 to 50%’
While there was a 31.2% year on year spike in 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, this fell fairly rapidly between 2022 and 2024. The overall increase during Biden’s term was around 9.6%. Again, during Trump’s first term from 2016-21, gas prices increased by around 40.4%.
19. ‘Hotel rates rose 37%’
Average US Hotel rates rose by 27.5% from 2021-24, according to the American Hotel and Lodging Association.
20. Airfares rose 31 percent.
According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, prices rose by 24.% during Biden’s presidency
21. The price of a Thanksgiving turkey was down 33 percent compared to the Biden last year
According to the Agriculture Department, the price of Turkeys has increased in the last year – from $1.18 to $1.66 per pound fresh, and $0.98 to $1.68 per pound frozen. A survey by the Farm Bureau estimated the price of a 16 pound turkey was $25.67 in 2024, compared to $21.50 this year – which is about a 16% decline – nowhere near 33%.
22. ‘The price of eggs is down 82 percent since March, and everything else is falling rapidly.’
The price of eggs decreased by approximately 44% from March 2025 and December 2025, according to the Agriculture department.
23. ‘Under Biden, real wages plummeted by $3,000’
Under Biden the Real Median Household Income increased by $2,460.
24. ‘Under Trump, the typical factory worker has seen a wage increase of $1,300’
This is true as far as a cumulative nominal wage increase is concerned – averaging out to about a 3.5% increase – but it is not adjusted for inflation, which remains stubbornly around 3%.
25. ‘For construction workers, it’s $1,800’
See above
26. ‘For miners, we’re bringing back clean, beautiful coal, it’s $3,300’
See above. Also, “clean coal” doesn’t exist. It’s not real. The coal industry made it up.
27. ‘And for the first time in years, wages are rising much faster than inflation.’
Across the workforce wages grew by an estimated 3.5%. Average inflation across the same period was 2.7%.
Depends on your definition of “much”, but an 0.8% increase in purchasing power isn’t going to be felt a great deal by consumers.
Also, wages have been rising faster than inflation for 31 consecutive months, starting in May 2023 when [checks notes] Joe Biden was President.
28. ‘Very importantly, there are more people working today than at any time in American history.’
The 163.74 million people employed in the US in November was close to a record high – with the actual record being 163.97 million, set in April. However, as a percentage of the population it is just 59.6%, which is significantly lower than the all-time high of 64.7% in April 2000.
29. ‘Already, I’ve secured a record-breaking $18 trillion of investment into the United States’
This figure is pure fiction. It’s more than twice the $9.6 trillion figure cited on the White House’s website, includes informal pledges, aspirational goals and almost no confirmed capital investments. Half of the $9.6 trillion cited on the WH website come from commitments from UAE and Qatar, and amount to multiple times those countries’ GDP – and are highly unrealistic.
30. ‘Much of this success has been accomplished by tariffs’
None of it is accomplished by tariffs. If $18 trillion had flowed into the US in the space of a year due to companies coming to the US to avoid tariffs, there would be an explosion of manufacturing and construction in the US. There has not.
31. ‘…tariffs, which for many decades have been used successfully by other countries against us, but not anymore.’
It’s true that some countries have placed tariffs on US goods over many years. And still do. India still has 50% tariffs on some US goods, Canada has retaliatory tariffs of 25% on US steel, aluminium and auto parts, China still charges 10% on most goods and Switzerland increased tariffs on US goods, with some rates reaching 39%. In fact, most countries have some level of tariff or trade barrier on US gods.
32. ‘Companies know that if they build in America, there are no tariffs, and that’s why they’re coming home to the USA in record numbers’
US manufacturing output remains more or less flat, rising just 1% in 2025. Meanwhile, the Kearney Reshoring index, which tracks the ratio of imports to domestic output, fell by 311 points, suggesting despite tariffs the value of imports actually grew faster than US manufacturing output.
33. ‘Next year, you will also see the results of the largest tax cuts in American history …That includes no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on Social Security for our great seniors.’
OK first of all, current data shows 37% of people who get tips don’t make enough money to pay federal income tax anyway, and those that do will get a tiny, tiny refund on the proportion of their earnings that come from eligible tips. They’ll also pay payroll and state taxes on all their earnings, so “no tax on tips” is a misnomer.
For low income households, the average increase in after-tax income is estimated at about $10 a year.
Also, the “Big Beautiful Bill” did not end federal taxes on Social Security for “our great seniors”. It added a temporary $6,000 tax deduction for over 65s for three years.
34. ‘Under these cuts, many families will be saving between $11,000 and $20,000 a year’
We’re not sure about his definition of “many” here, but it’s certainly not the kind of savings that will be seen by most families.
The average annual change for low-income families will be about $700, for middle income it’ll be about $2,314, and the top 20% of earners will save about $5,700.
The big winners? The 1% of course, who could see take-home increases of more than $50,000 a year.
35. ‘We now have record enlistment in our military’
Monthly enlistments in early 2025 were between 13,000-15,500 – which was higher than 2023, but lower than monthly peaks seen in 2018 and 2024.
Despite the surge in new recruits, the total number of active-duty service members is still at its lowest level in about 80 years.
36. ‘…and last year we had among the worst recruitment numbers in our military’s history.’
Nope. 2021-23 was the low point, then there was a rebound starting in 2024, before Trump took office.
37. ‘In addition, I’m doing what no politician of either party has ever done. Standing up to the special interests to dramatically reduce the price of prescription drugs. …to slash prices on drugs and pharmaceuticals by as much as 400, 500 and even 600%’
Nope. Joe Biden legally authorised his Health Secretary to negotiate prices directly with manufacturers. Also reducing the price of something by more than 100% is mathematically impossible, unless you think drug companies are going to pay you to use their products.
38. ‘It’s called most favoured nation, and no president has ever had the courage or ability to get this done, until now.’
Most Favoured Nation (MFN) clauses have been a foundational principle of US and global trade policy for nearly a century. The principle requires that any trade benefit – like a lower tariff – offered to one country must be offered to all of them. George Washington negotiated a trade treaty in 1794 that offered MFN status to Britain. He might be the first to apply it to Pharma specifically, but MFN is not a new thing.
39. ‘[Obamacare] was bad health care at much too high a cost, and you see that now in the steep increase in premiums being demanded by the Democrats. And they are demanding those increases and it’s their fault. It is not the Republicans’ fault. It’s the Democrats’ fault’
The increase in Obamacare premiums is not “being demanded by the Democrats”. The increase is happening because Trump and the Republicans are refusing to extend government subsidies that prevented them from rising.
40. ‘Electricity costs surged 30 to 100 percent under Biden, and the typical family lost $5,000 to $10,000 in higher energy costs’
Residential electricity costs rose 20.6% between 2021 and 2024. The cost of that to the typical family was £1,104.
41. On Day 1, I declared a national energy emergency. Gasoline is now under $2.50 a gallon, and in much of the country, in some states, it, by the way, just hit $1.99 a gallon.
The average price at the pump as of today is $2.90 per gallon, which is low, but not as low as he says. Oklhoma has the lowest statewide average, at around $2.43 per gallon.
42. ‘And within the next 12 months, we will have opened 1,600 new electrical generating plants, a record…Prices on electricity and everything else will fall dramatically’
Nobody is expecting 1,600 new power plants to come online in 2026. An increase in capacity for the US grid is expected, but that’s largely going to be through smaller solar and battery storage projects. It’s possible he’s conflating domestic power generation with new rules allowing AI firms to build their own power plants to run their data centres. If that’s the case, it’s unlikely to have a big effect on domestic electricity prices.
43. A major factor in driving up housing costs was the colossal border invasion.
Academic research has broadly debunked the idea that there is a statistically significant relationship between illegal immigration and housing costs.
44. The last administration and their allies in Congress brought in millions and millions of migrants and gave them taxpayer-funded housing.
The Biden administration funded temporary shelter services, but these were for a limited number and for short stays. About 1,200 hotel beds were paid for at a cost of $86.9 million for six months.
45. ‘Look at Minnesota, where Somalians have taken over the economics of the state’
Roughly 1.8 to 2% of the population of the state of Minnesota is of Somali heritage. An overwhelming majority of those – 90% – are US citizens. Somalians have not taken over the economics of Minnesota.
46. ‘…and have stolen billions and billions of dollars from Minnesota, and indeed from the United States of America’
Assuming he’s referring to the wave of fraud cases in Minnesota, in which a high proportion of those involved were of Somali heritage, the total value defrauded was around $1 billion. Not nothing, for sure, but not “billions and billions”.
47. ‘Inflation has stopped…’
Inflation has not stopped.
48. ‘…prices are down…’
Prices are rising.
49. ‘America is respected’
Highly debatable.
50. ‘…and our country is back, stronger than ever before. We’re poised for an economic boom the likes of which the world has never seen’
The White House may be poised for that, but nobody else is.
