Throughout his presidency, Trump has repeatedly and blatantly lied to the American people to cover up for the fact that he has failed to deliver on his promises or meaningfully improve the well-being of middle-class families.
We know tonight’s State of the Union will be no different, so here are the facts in advance on some of Trump’s most frequent and egregious lies:
TRUMP’S LIE: “The only thing I’ve done is create maybe the best economy in the history of our country.”
FACT: The gap between the richest Americans and everyone else has grown under Trump’s watch.
FACT: Last year, the stock market had its worst year since the 2008 financial crisis.
FACT: Consumer confidence fell to its lowest levels in over two years.
FACT: Americans are more pessimistic about the future of the economy than they’ve been in nearly two decades.
FACT: The Trump Shutdown cost our economy $11 billion, including $3 billion permanently lost according to the CBO.
TRUMP’S LIE: “And our employment numbers are phenomenal, the best in over fifty years. So I think I’ve been given a lot of credit for that.”
FACT: Trump’s tax law has not created the jobs he promised. Only 4 percent of companies say they boosted hiring because of the tax cuts.
FACT: During Trump’s first two years, the economy has added jobs at a slower rate than during Obama’s last two years.
FACT: 800,000 federal workers and more than one million contractors went more than a month without a paycheck because of Trump’s shutdown.
TRUMP’S LIE: “The Only Way You Have A Strong Border Is You Need A Physical Barrier. You Need A Wall.”
FACT: A border wall would not keep opioids out of the country.
FACT: Trump is manufacturing a “crisis” at the border despite border apprehensions remaining near historic lows.
FACT: The majority of illegal immigration did not occur at the southern border.
FACT: The border wall is not a national security necessity, according to Trump’s own nation’s top intelligence officials.
FACT: Both of Trump’s homeland security secretaries have dismissed the efficacy of a border wall.
TRUMP’S LIE: “We’re going to discuss our massive tax cuts that are growing paychecks all over our country. They’re creating jobs and expanding the American Dream.”
FACT: Corporate profit growth hit a 6-year high, and corporations used their massive tax breaks for a record-high $1 trillion of stock buybacks.
FACT: Workers did not benefit. 60 percent of voters said they had not seen an increase in their paychecks as a result of the Trump tax law.
FACT: The Trump tax law has not created jobs. Only 4 percent of companies say they boosted hiring because of the tax cuts.
FACT: The federal deficit swelled by more than 40 percent compared to a year ago largely because of a sharp decline in corporate tax revenues, and the CBO said the Trump tax law would add $1.9 trillion to the debt over the next decade.
FACT: Trump’s corporate tax cut did not spur a business investment boom that the White House said would boost wages and job creation.
TRUMP’S LIE: “We are reducing drug prices tremendously.”
FACT: Despite Trump’s promises, pharmaceutical companies have already raised prices on more than one thousand drugs in the first few days of this year, including increases of nearly 10%.
FACT: The biggest drug companies announced more than $50 billion in stock buybacks after the Trump tax law, but made no plans to lower drug prices.
FACT: Trump’s drug pricing plan did nothing to lower costs, and could actually increase out-of-pocket costs for millions of patients.
TRUMP’S LIE: “I have actually done more than I promised. We’ve done a lot even with the veterans.”
FACT: Trump’s government shutdown disproportionately hurt our nation’s veterans.
FACT: Coast Guard active-duty service members and pension recipients missed paychecks and payments because of Trump’s shutdown.
FACT: Trump’s VA is planning to betray millions of veterans by rerouting billions of dollars from veterans’ hospitals into the private sector.
FACT: Trump’s VA set aside $6.2 million last year to advertise its crisis hotline to reach vulnerable veterans and prevent suicides, but it spent less than 1% of that budget.
FACT: Veterans have not been able to get the GI Bill payments they need and earned because of failures at Trump’s VA.
TRUMP’S LIE: “I have a better relationship with every one of them that any other president has had. Every one. And they respect us again. They respect us again.”
FACT: Global approval of the U.S. hit a new low under Trump.
FACT: Trump damaged relationships with key allies, and the decline of America’s standing left openings for other countries to fill the leadership void.
FACT: Donald Trump praised dictators like North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un; congratulated authoritarians after undemocratic elections; and he extended a warm invitation to Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte, who has openly defended the murder of journalists and extrajudicial killings.
TRUMP’S LIE: “From the day I took the oath of office, I’ve been fighting to drain the swamp. And sometimes it may not look like it, but, believe me, we are draining the swamp.”
FACT: The lobbying industry has boomed, while Trump has watered down lobbying restrictions and issue broad ethics exemptions to members of his administration.
FACT: More than a dozen of Trump’s top appointees have been forced out amid ethics scandals, including three Cabinet secretaries in the last year.
FACT: Trump’s culture of corruption has permeated his administration with an endless string of misuse of taxpayer dollars, conflicts of interest, and concealing information.
FACT: Trump himself has continued to profit off the presidency through numerous conflicts of interest, and he has wasted tens of millions of dollars traveling to his own properties and golf courses.
TRUMP’S LIE: “We’ve Made A Lot Of Progress That Has Not Been Reported By The Media, But We Have Made A Lot Of Progress As Far As Denuclearization Is Concerned … Things Are Going Very Well With North Korea.”
FACT: Our nation’s top intelligence officials testified last week that North Korea is not moving toward complete denuclearization.
FACT: Researchers just discovered a secret ballistic missile base in North Korea — one of at least 20 undisclosed sites across the country.
TRUMP’S LIE: “Opioid prescriptions are down 17 percent. The doctors are just prescribing stuff, but they’re down because they know they’re being watched and we’re going after them if they’re abusive. We’ve done a very good job with respect to that.”
FACT: Trump ignored his own opioid commission’s advice by failing to declare the opioid crisis a full-on national emergency, settling instead for a more limited declaration that lacked new funding sources.
FACT: A report from the Government Accountability Office found that Trump’s declaration of a public health emergency led to very little.
FACT: Trump’s decision to promote the use of short-term junk insurance plans would lead to more policies that don’t cover substance abuse treatment.
FACT: Trump’s budget would have limited access to existing opioid treatment options by repealing the ACA.
FACT: Trump’s budget sought to undermine the office that coordinates White House drug policies.
FACT: Trump tried to cut $250 billion from Medicaid, which helps about one in three Americans who need substance abuse treatment.
FACT: Trump tried to cut $688 million from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
FACT: Trump’s ACA sabotage could cause millions more Americans to become uninsured, nearly one-third of who require mental health or substance abuse treatment.
FACT: Trump’s decision to make it easier for states to impose Medicaid work requirements could hurt those fighting drug addiction.
FACT: Despite hard evidence that the Affordable Care Act has helped extend opioid treatment, Trump has repeatedly promised to fully repeal the law, and his administration has backed a lawsuit to gut the ACA.
TRUMP’S LIE: “People will give us credit and health care will give us credit because we’re straightening our health care. It was a mess, Obamacare. We got rid of the individual mandate. We’ve done so much with health care.”
FACT: Trump’s health care sabotage is forcing premium increases as high as double digits on millions of Americans this year, and millions more are priced out of the market and unable to afford coverage at all.
FACT: New rules proposed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would increase out-of-pocket costs, drive up premiums, and put health care out of reach for many Americans.
FACT: Trump immediately celebrated a court ruling in favor of a lawsuit he backed to overturn the ACA, which would take health care coverage away from around 20 million Americans, and put as many as 130 million Americans with pre-existing conditions at risk of losing key protections.
TRUMP’S LIE: “We will get great health care for our people. That’s a repeal and replace handled a little bit differently.”
FACT: The Trump administration issued new guidance encouraging states to skirt the ACA’s current income and coverage standards for federal health insurance subsidies.
FACT: One day after the midterm elections, Trump finalized a new rule — which now faces a legal challenge — to roll back the ACA’s requirement that employers provide birth control coverage.
FACT: Trump’s administration repeatedly slashed funds for enrollment assistance and advertising programs intended to get Americans covered.
FACT: For two years running, the open enrollment period saw a decline in health insurance sign-ups. 2019 saw a 4% drop in health insurance sign ups compared to last year because of Trump’s sabotage.
FACT: The uninsured rate increased under Trump for the first time since the ACA was implemented.
FACT: Federal contractors lost health insurance and federal workers struggled with medical bills because of the Trump Shutdown.
TRUMP’S LIE: “Look, I think something’s happening. Something’s changing and it’ll change back again. I don’t think it’s a hoax, I think there’s probably a difference. But I don’t know that it’s manmade.”
FACT: Our nation’s top intelligence chiefs warned last week that climate change is a threat to our national security.
FACT: The Trump administration tried to bury its own report showing that climate change could cost the economy hundreds of billions of dollars and lead to thousands of premature deaths if something is not done soon.
FACT: Trump’s shutdown halted enforcement of environmental protections, caused lasting damage to our national parks, and made us more vulnerable to wildfires and other natural disasters.
TRUMP’S LIE: “I think it’s a very big threat and I think I did a great thing when I terminated the ridiculous Iran Nuclear Deal. It was a horrible one-sided deal that was $150 billion plus $1.8 billion in cash and lots of other bad things.”
FACT: Trump’s top intelligence officials testified last week that Iran is not in violation of the Iran deal.
FACT: Trump’s decision to reimpose sanctions on Iran is forcing them to rethink the deal, which is working.
FACT: The IAEA has repeatedly verified that Iran was in compliance with the deal.
TRUMP’S LIE: “It also was helped by the tax cuts. Put a lot of people to work and really gave companies something where they’re now coming back into our country, they’re investing in our country, and they’re expanding in our country.”
FACT: Rust Belt jobs are still going overseas.
FACT: Trump took credit for Foxconn investing in the United States. Now they’re backtracking on their commitment to create thousands of Wisconsin manufacturing jobs.
FACT: Trump said he saved Carrier jobs. Then they moved jobs to Mexico and laid off hundreds of workers.
FACT: Trump visited Boeing to celebrate his promise to protect American jobs. Then they laid off thousands of workers, including about 200 at the same facility Trump visited.
FACT: Trump gave Kimberly-Clark massive tax breaks. They used it to lay off 5,000 workers.
FACT: Trump claimed Ford was building in the U.S. because of him. Now they plan to lay off thousands of workers.
FACT: Trump took credit for General Motors keeping jobs in Michigan. Now they’re closing plants laying off 14,000 workers.
FACT: Trump used Harley-Davidson to tout his manufacturing agenda. Then they closed a plant and laid off hundreds of workers.
FACT: Small-business optimism plunged because of the Trump Shutdown, as business owners were forced to delay plans to expand and hire.