The big lies, checked against the record
Claims the president has repeated in public, each matched to the finding of an independent fact-checker (PolitiFact, FactCheck.org, CNN) or to the primary record. Where a claim connects to one of my sourced stories, the story is linked. This list is updated regularly and new entries are added when a claim is repeated often enough to matter.
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He said
He won the 2020 election; it was "rigged" and "stolen."
Repeated since election night 2020, through 2026 rallies and the September 2026 midterm convention.
FalseThe recordBiden won 306 to 232 in the Electoral College and by about 7 million votes. More than 60 court cases, recounts in Georgia, Arizona and Wisconsin, and Trump's own attorney general found no fraud that could change the result. PolitiFact calls this the most pervasive falsehood of any US president.
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He said
Gas is "$1.99 in many states" and "below $2.30 a gallon in most states."
Press briefing, Jan. 20, 2026; State of the Union, Feb. 24, 2026.
FalseThe recordIn January 2026 no state averaged under $2; the national average was $2.78 and the cheapest state (Oklahoma) was $2.34. On Feb. 24 no state averaged below $2.30. Four days later the Iran war began and the national average passed $4.
- PolitiFact, fact-checking the anniversary press briefing, Jan. 20, 2026
- FactCheck.org, FactChecking Trump's State of the Union, Feb. 2026
Related story: The largest oil supply disruption in history: what the Iran war did to the price of gas, diesel and everything shipped
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He said
Gas prices will "drop like a rock" as soon as the Iran war ends, "lower than they were before."
Repeated from March 2026 through the summer, including Meet the Press, June 2026.
Unsupported, contradicted by eventsThe recordEnergy experts told FactCheck.org it could take many months after a settlement for prices to return to pre-war levels. Trump declared the war over on July 8; on Aug. 31 regular gas was still $4.07, 31 percent above the day he took office, and diesel hit $6.50 in October.
- FactCheck.org, gasoline prices issue page
- FactCheck.org, FactChecking Trump's Meet the Press interview, June 2026
- FactCheck.org, N.C. Senate ad analysis with price timeline, Sept. 4, 2026
Related story: The largest oil supply disruption in history: what the Iran war did to the price of gas, diesel and everything shipped
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He said
The June 2025 strikes "totally obliterated" Iran's nuclear program; "I did it in one night."
June 2025 onward; State of the Union, Feb. 2026; prime-time address on Iran, April 2026; Truth Social, 2026.
FalseThe recordA preliminary Defense Intelligence Agency assessment said the program was set back by months, not destroyed. Experts told FactCheck.org the sites were damaged, not obliterated. Eight months later the administration launched a full-scale war over the same program, and Iran's enriched uranium remains unaccounted for.
- FactCheck.org, FactChecking Trump's prime-time address on Iran, April 2026
- FactCheck.org, State of the Union fact check, Feb. 2026
- PolitiFact, False rulings on Donald Trump
Related story: Everyone said this would happen: 50 years of warnings that Iran would close Hormuz and that bombs alone could not end its program
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He said
Without the strikes Iran would "right now have a nuclear weapon, and it could be that half of the world would be eradicated."
Meet the Press, June 2026.
Contradicted by US intelligenceThe recordThe Director of National Intelligence told Congress in March 2025 that the intelligence community assessed Iran was not building a nuclear weapon. The IAEA reported the same. Arms control experts note Iran accelerated enrichment only after Trump withdrew from the 2015 agreement in 2018.
Related story: Everyone said this would happen: 50 years of warnings that Iran would close Hormuz and that bombs alone could not end its program
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He said
He "ended eight unendable wars," and "no president's probably ever settled one war."
Repeated through 2025 and at the Jan. 20, 2026 briefing.
Mostly False / Pants on FireThe recordPolitiFact rated the eight-wars claim Mostly False: several were ceasefires or disputes that were not wars, and some have not held. The claim that no president ever settled a war was rated Pants on Fire. Five weeks after the briefing he started a new one.
Related story: Operation Epic Fury: a war of choice launched days before a deal, still unfinished eight months and $43.6 billion later
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He said
"$18 trillion," then "over $20 trillion," then "$22 trillion" in new investment is coming into the country.
Jan. 2026 briefing; Sept. 2026 midterm convention; remarks abroad.
FalseThe recordThe White House's own tracker listed $9.6 trillion in January and $11.2 trillion in September, and experts told PolitiFact many of those pledges are unrealistic or will never materialize. The number he says is roughly double his own website each time.
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He said
"We have almost no inflation" and "food prices and almost every other item are rapidly going down."
Midterm convention, Sept. 9, 2026; Ohio rally, Oct. 2026.
FalseThe recordInflation was 3.0 percent when he took office and 3.4 percent in August 2026, above the Federal Reserve's 2 percent target. Prices overall continued to rise; food prices did not fall.
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He said
Tariffs are "paid for by foreign countries" and will "substantially replace" the income tax.
Inaugural address, Jan. 20, 2025; State of the Union, Feb. 2026; throughout.
FalseThe recordTariffs are customs duties paid by US importers at the port and passed on to US consumers. Income tax raises roughly ten times what tariffs do; FactCheck.org has repeatedly shown the replacement claim does not add up.
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He said
The 2025 tax law is "the largest tax cut in American history."
Repeated through 2025 and 2026.
Mostly FalseThe recordMeasured against the economy, the 2025 law ranks third among tax cuts since 1980, behind Reagan's 1981 law and the 2012 law signed by Obama. CBO estimates it adds about $4.1 trillion to deficits.
Related story: The 2026 deficit: $1.99 trillion in Treasury's year-end books, and what CBO says the 2025 tax law adds
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He said
His drug-price deals cut prices "by as much as 300, 400, 500 and even 600 percent."
Repeated through late 2025 and January 2026.
False (mathematically impossible)The recordA price cannot fall by more than 100 percent. The deals announced were for selected drugs at selected prices, mostly for government programs or a direct-purchase website, not across-the-board cuts.
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He said
"25 million" migrants entered the country under Biden.
Midterm convention, Sept. 2026, and most rallies.
FalseThe recordEstimates of the total unauthorized population during Biden's term range from 11 to 12 million. Border encounters are counted events, not unique people, and millions were turned away.
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He said
"300,000 people died last year" from fentanyl.
Press briefing, Jan. 20, 2026.
FalseThe recordCDC counted about 69,000 overdose deaths from all drugs in the 12 months ending August 2025, a sharp decline, not 300,000 from fentanyl alone.
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He said
"We're the only country in the world that has mail-in ballots. No other country does it anymore."
New York Post interview, June 2026, and repeatedly before.
FalseThe recordDozens of countries use postal voting, including Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Canada and Australia. The US military has voted by mail since the Civil War.
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He said
Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz "doesn't really affect" the United States the way it does other countries.
March 2026.
MisleadingThe recordThe US imports little Gulf crude, but oil is priced globally. Brent passed $120, US gasoline rose 41 percent in ten weeks, and diesel, fertilizer and shipping costs followed.
- FactCheck.org, gasoline prices issue page
- FactCheck.org, the context for Trump's 'take out' Los Angeles remarks, Oct. 6, 2026
Related story: The largest oil supply disruption in history: what the Iran war did to the price of gas, diesel and everything shipped
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He said
DOGE saved taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars.
2025 through 2026, by Trump and Musk.
Unverifiable; largest items were errorsThe recordGAO could not verify most of the 'Wall of Receipts'; the largest listed contracts were counted multiple times, had never been funded, or were off by factors of a thousand. Federal spending rose in FY2025 and FY2026.
Related story: DOGE's receipts and DOGE's data: what the audits and court filings actually show
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He said
His cognitive test results showed he has "extreme intelligence."
Truth Social, May 31, 2026.
FalseThe recordThe Montreal Cognitive Assessment screens for dementia; a perfect score means no impairment was detected. It does not measure intelligence.
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He said
Biden "raised the cost of housing by 40 and 50 percent" by housing "illegal aliens in all of those empty units."
July 2026.
FalseThe recordRents rose roughly 20 percent over Biden's term, driven by supply shortages and interest rates; there is no evidence migrants filled 'all' empty units or caused the increase.
Spotted a repeated claim that should be here, or an error in an entry? Send it in; corrections are logged publicly.