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    President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address that veered into lies and misstatements. (White House Photo by Daniel Torok)

    President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address quickly veered into lies and misstatements. (White House Photo by Daniel Torok)

    Donald Trump offered an altered reality in his State of the Union Speech last night that is so far removed from what Americans are experiencing it will haunt Republicans in the midterm elections.

    The first minute of his speech was filled with a litany of lies that set the tone for the night, a surrealistic dive down a rabbit hole of misinformation, distortions and preening braggadocio

    “When I spoke in this chamber 12 months ago, I had just inherited a nation in crisis, with a stagnant economy, inflation at record levels, a wide-open border, horrendous recruitment for military and police, rampant crime at home and wars and chaos all over the world,” he proclaimed.

    More Reading: Trump Provokes Pelosi Over Politics of Lying in 2018 State of Union Speech

    The economy was not stagnant: Real GDP grew by 2.8% for the full year, and the annual unemployment rate was 4.0%. The rate in January was 4.3% More than 1 million workers were laid off in 2025.

    Inflation was nowhere near record levels: Inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 2.9% for the year.

    Military recruit was not horrendous:  in 2024, the Army exceeded its goal by 11,000 recruits. The service has reached its retention goals for seven years straight.

    Police recruitment was not horrendous: In 2024, US police recruitment saw a slight, moderate increase, with 5% more officers hired compared to 2023.

            Key Lies and Misstatements
      • Trump falsely claimed that he inherited “a stagnant economy” with “inflation at record levels.” Annual growth in real GDP was 2.5% or higher each year under former President Joe Biden.
      • The annual inflation rate was 3%, down from its peak of 9.1% under Biden, when Trump took office.
      • The president went on to claim that the economy “is roaring like never before,” but real GDP growth in 2025 was down to 2.2%, according to a federal estimate.
      • Also, the unemployment rate has increased slightly under Trump. He misleadingly claimed that prices are “plummeting downward” because of his policies. The annual rate of inflation has declined, but prices overall are still increasing.
      • Trump’s claim that “more Americans are working today than at any time in the history of our country,” while accurate, doesn’t account for population growth. Job growth slowed a bit last year.
      • The president misleadingly claimed that Americans “will now pay the lowest price anywhere in the world for drugs.”
      • The administration’s negotiations with drug companies may have lowered prices for some specific drugs in certain situations, but there is no evidence of a widespread decline in prices.
      • He repeated his exaggerated claim that, “In 12 months, I secured commitments for more than $18 trillion pouring in from all over the globe.”
      • Trump made the unsupported claim that “the flow of deadly fentanyl across our border is down by a record 56% in one year.”
      • The president continued to exaggerate the decline in gasoline prices, saying they are “now below $2.30 a gallon in most states.”In no state was the average that low. And the nationwide average is $2.94.
      • Trump continued to make his inflated claim about ending “eight wars.”
      • He claimed to have presided over a “tremendous renewal” of religion in America, but recent polling has found the opposite.
      • Trump claimed that $1,776 “warrior dividend” bonus checks paid to military personnel came from tariff revenue, but it was actually a reallocation of funds initially earmarked for an increased housing allowance.
      • The president repeated his unsupported claim that many immigrants came from “prisons” and “mental institutions,” and he wrongly claimed that the Biden administration allowed in “11,888 murderers.”
      • Trump boasted about stock market gains since his election, but the gains were less than each of the last two years under Biden.
      • He exaggerated when he said his signature legislation eliminated tax on tips, overtime and Social Security benefits for seniors. The tax breaks are substantial but do not apply to all individuals.
      • As he has for years, Trump insisted, without evidence, that “cheating is rampant in our elections.” And he claimed legislation was needed “to stop illegal aliens” from voting, though evidence suggests that’s rare.
      • Trump claimed that the federal budget could be balanced “if we’re able to find enough of that fraud.” The most recent budget deficit was $1.8 trillion, more than three times higher than the highest federal estimate of government money lost annually to fraud.
      • Trump claimed that he inherited “rampant crime at home” and later boasted that “last year, the murder rate saw its single largest decline in recorded history.”
      • Crime and murder was down last year, continuing a trend that began in 2022.
      • Trump made the dubious claim that his increased tariffs would one day replace income taxes, something many economists say doesn’t add up.
      • Trump claimed that the U.S. “obliterated Iran’s nuclear weapons program” last year. Experts have said the program was damaged but not destroyed, and Trump is now considering military action over Iran’s nuclear program.
      • Trump said Republicans would “always protect” Medicaid. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s changes to the program reduce spending by more than $900 billion and are estimated to result in 7.5 million fewer people with health insurance.
      • Trump said “American oil production is up by more than 600,000 barrels a day,” when crude oil production increased by 334,600 barrels per day in his first full 10 months in office
      • He also claimed that U.S. natural gas production increased to “an all-time high” because he “kept” his “promise to drill, baby, drill.” Natural gas was already at record levels before he took office.
    –Source: FactCheck.org

    Crime was not rampant: U.S. violent crime dropped significantly in 2024, with a estimated 4.5% decrease compared to 2023. The violent crime rate fell to 359.1 incidents per 100,000 people, the lowest in decades.

    The border was not a wide open: Apprehensions and denied entries declined by 14% over 2023.

    More Reading: Trump SOTU Speech Raises Eyebrows Over Health, Mental Capacity

    The speech went down hill from there. Trump rolled out many of the long debunked lies he’s been telling since his reelection.  Fact-checkers worked overtime afterward debunking the same fabrications and misstatements.

    CNN fact checker Daniel Dale told Jake Tapper he counted “at least 15 false claims, plus a bunch more misleading claims.”

    “A lot of them were the greatest hits you hear at President Trump’s rallies. Things like, ‘U.S. elections are rife with cheating.’ They’re not. ‘The Democrats can’t win without cheating.’ That’s nonsense. ‘The mail-in ballots are crooked.’ More nonsense. That he has ended wars that never actually started, or that clearly have not ended.”

    On the economy, Trump left Republicans twisting slowly in the wind with his false picture of a new “Golden Age.” Trump laid out metrics that no Republican will be able to defend on the campaign trail.

    He said the economy was “roaring like never before.” In reality, the GDP grew just 2.2% in 2025, lower than every year of the Biden presidency, and it was only 1.4% in December.  He claimed there was “no inflation.” The inflation rate was 2.4% for 2025 and economists predict it will rise to 3% this year.

    Trump claimed food prices were falling. But food prices rose faster than overall inflation rate in 2025, with some groceries posting double-digit gains.

    Trump bellowed that foreign countries were paying tariffs. They’re not; tariffs are paid by importers and consumers. The $18 trillion in new foreign investments is a figment of his imagination. It hasn’t materialized.

    He also suggested, again, that tariff revenue could one day eliminate federal income taxes, which is pure fiction.

    Trump’s $300 billion in tariff revenue represents 6.12 percent of the estimated $4.9 trillion in revenue the federal government collected in FY 2024. It also represents 4.2 percent of the total FY 2024 budget estimated at $6.7 trillion.  In other words, a drop in the bucket.

    Gas prices are not averaging $2.30 a gallon anywhere in the nation, according to AAA.  To the contrary, gas prices are rising because of the uncertainty caused by Trump’s threats to attack Iran.

    As of late February, U.S. gas prices have risen for six consecutive weeks, with the national average increasing by  1.2 to 2 cents on average in the last week to reach begween $2.88 and $2.94 a gallon.

    Overall, the national average is up about 2.8 cents per gallon compared to a month ago. By this fall, gas prices will almost certainly be higher. The upshot: Oil prices are set by world markets, not Trump. His influence is limited at best.

    Trump said the U.S. is producing more oil than ever. But the combined number of active oil and gas rigs last year dropped 33% for their peak in 2022. Last year, 397 rigs were producing down from 589 during the last year of Biden’s administration.

    Trump said more people were working today in the United States than ever before. But the employment-population ratio, which measures the percentage of the population that is employed, is down slightly this presidential term so far.  It was 60.1% in January 2025; it’s 59.8% this January.

    Trump continued to mislead on his signature working- and middel-class tax cuts.

    “With the great ‘big, beautiful bill,’ we gave you no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on Social Security,” he said during his State of the Union address on Tuesday.

    But the tax cuts are temporary and expire in 2028.  Social Security recipients age 65 and older will continue to pay taxes on their benefits, and the cut doesn’t apply to the Social Security recipients younger than 65. Tax cuts on overtime and tips also have caps.

    Trump, in one of his more far-fetched claims, boasted that he could balance the federal budget “overnight” by eliminating government fraud. In fact, the federal budget deficit is rising. The CBO projects the U.S. federal budget deficit will hit $1.9 trillion (5.8% of GDP) in fiscal year 2026 up 8% over 2025.

    The list of false or misleading statements goes on and on, including boasts that his tax cuts are the largest in history, he ended eight wars, prompted NATO to increase defense spending, significantly reduced crime in Washington, D.C., or uncovered massive fraud in Minnesota.

    Curbing illegal immigration was his most accurate boast during the speech, but he muddied the message with mistatements and outright lies.

    He called immigrant crimes against Americans a major problem under Biden, but studies have shown that immigrants commit fewer violent crimes than citizens.

    He also blamed an immigranyt for the murder of Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee, who was stabbed to death on a Charlotte, NC, light rail train in Sept. 2025. But the murderer, Decarlo Dejuan Brown Jr., is a 34-year-old U.S. citizen.

    While cracking down on illegal immigration has always been a strong-point for Republicans, voter support has tanked over the heavy-handed tactics of masked, heavily armed federal ICE agents in Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis.

    In a pre-speech poll, a majority of viewers said they most wanted to hear Trump talk about the economy and the cost of living. After the speech, 53% said they were satisfied with the speech and 45% were dissatisfied with the lack of focus, according to CNN.

    The State of the Union Speech could be view as the de-facto beginning of the 2026 midterm elections in November, but analyst say it’s unlikely Republicans got much of an election bump.

    Some 40% of speech-watchers, which skewed Republican by 13 points, reported having no confidence in his ability to make the cost of living more affordable.

    As of early 2026, Democrats held a six-point advantage on the generic congressional ballot, and six-in-ten voters report feeling worse off than a year ago, a significant headwind for the GOP.

    Despite Trump’s focus on economic success during his 2018 SOTU address,  a “blue wave” swept the midterms and Democrats gained 40 net seats to take control of the House.

    Watch the speech below: