Fact Checking Donald Trump's State Of The Union Address
Trump’s Rambling State Of The Union Was Light On Actual Facts
The State of the Union is in the hands of a notorious fabricator who is greater in his own mind than he is in real life. As predicted, it was a nearly two-hour disinformation-filled propaganda program, complete with obligatory chants of USA, to shout down Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib.
Any headline that simply reports what he says without any context is doing y’all a major disservice and is arguably complicit in this charade.
Trump’s rambling speech gave the base a lot of red meat and set the tone for Congress, as if it were his army of lackeys instead of a coequal branch of the federal government. Among the many directives issued last night, Trump told Congress to dig in on his Big Lie 3.0 and interfere with 2026 elections, dismantle the Affordable Care Act without a coherent plan to replace it, and implement his drug discount card policy.
At another time, it could’ve been an annual White Citizens Committee meeting or a Klan convening.
Toward the end of his speech, Trump sounded like a racist old western talking about taming the wilderness and the country’s westward expansion. Yeah, just skip right over the genocide, rape, and theft.
And you know how, when certain white folks say we, they mean the white we, not all of us we? Yeah, that’s how he said it. He didn’t mean all of us.
Sure, they might make exceptions for folks like Sen. Tim Scott, who was clapping and cheesin with the best of them despite his alleged disappointment at the racist meme Trump’s account posted of the Obamas.
There are so many good fact checks of last night’s convening. Kudos to Politifact for attempting to fact-check the president in real time.
It’s hard to catch every single thing that comes out of his mouth. At one point, we thought we heard him call the Ukraine-Russia war a “knife fight.” He just says anything!
Trump is like a whack dude lying on his manhood to impress a girl he couldn’t get without his daddy’s money. America, girl, don’t fall for it!
Seriously, live fact-checking should’ve been at the bottom of everyscreen, every stream. But here are some key facts missing from Trump’s long-winded disinfo-fest.
Bragging about his bad economy
Trump’s claims about the economy ranged from overstating the impact of his policies to outright lies. Money, power, and respect can keep you eating right. But all the money and power won’t make America respect a liar.
As FactCheck.org explained in a detailed post
- Trump inherited a strong economy, better than the one he left Biden in 2021.
- Prices are still high, and real GDP growth slowed down in 2025.
- Job growth has been dragging. Note: He absolutely skipped over unemployment cause it doesn’t fit with his fake praise report.
- $1,776 propaganda payoff to members of the military came from “a reallocation of funds initially earmarked for an increased housing allowance,” in the 2025 legislation. Not from his BS tariffs.
- Tax relief for seniors and tipped wages is only temporary through 2028. It’s estimated 88% of seniors receiving Social Security will not pay tax on those benefits through 2028
Keeping up the failed Republican anti-ACA mission
Trump keeps claiming that he wants to do away with the ACA, every Republican’s favorite wet dream, and replace it with some great plan that isn’t actually coherent. But when he keeps saying he wants to give people money for their own use, he’s talking about health savings accounts (HSAs).
As we explained during the State of the Union, fact checks on Trump’s health care claims show that his proposals from his first term would’ve left millions without insurance.
When you look at the offerings through your job or even on the ACA, the plans with HSAs are the ones with the really high deductibles and high out-of-pocket expenses. They usually cover nothing until you hit those limits, and might work for some people.
But a policy shift would hurt millions of people and their families. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a shift to Health Savings Accounts would be a disaster for low-income marketplace enrollees.
“However, vague offers of cash are not an alternative to comprehensive coverage,” wrote CBPP.
NPR’s Fact Check explained that “even the ‘catastrophic’ or skinny plans preferred by Trump are private insurance plans, and the money paid for them goes to big insurance companies. The only way to stop payments to health insurance companies would be to bolster public health insurance options like Medicaid and Medicare.”
With the lapse of the extended premium subsidy, healthcare has already become a burden for millions, and ACA enrollment is down across many states. A February update from the Kaiser Family Foundation indicated that over 1 million people dropped out of the exchange due to premium costs.
Can you absorb an extra $500-$1,000 a month, on top of all the other prices going up? Most of us can’t.
Have you ever looked at the cost of healthcare for a single individual, let alone a family? Trust, Trump is not giving you enough money to cover your family.
And that bill they claimed was beautiful? It’s expected to leave 7.5 million people without health insurance due to $900 million in Medicaid spending cuts. So much for Republicans doing the right thing and protecting the bedrock program.
TrumpRx is a discount card, not health care
Regarding bringing down prescription prices with TrumpRx, Factcheck.org noted that some drugs have gone up, not down. As NPR reported last month, 16 major drug companies that made deals with the administration had released higher prices for some of their drugs despite negotiating with the administration to lower prices.
Pricing increases include some drugs for Type 2 diabetes and cancer. By comparison, the TrumpRx platform only applies to about 40 drugs for weight loss, fertility, and diabetes.
And as we explained last night, the site itself tells people to check their insurance because the copay might be cheaper than going through the discount card. Same with using GoodRx or any other discount card.
But let it sink in. A president of the United States of America—who has been held up in pop culture for decades as a hustler and, by some accounts, a possible con man—created a prescription platform that he’s acting as if is an innovation.
But it’s just GoodRx in Trump swag.
According to a press release earlier this month, “GoodRx is a core integration partner for TrumpRx, powering the pricing for leading brand medications.”
Prescription discount cards are not the answer to affordable health care. If Trump and friends really want to heal America and save us money, we need to look at Medicare for All or other universal health care proposals.
It’s the only way to get insurance companies out of the way, ifthat’ss what he really cares about. But it’s not. It’s all about the money.
Immigration and Crime
Trump used a case out of Charlotte, N.C., to lie about undocumented people committing violent crimes. As NPR explained last night, Iryna Zarutska’s killer was a citizen born in Charlotte with a history of mental health issues.
She was not killed by a non-citizen here because of Biden or democratic policies.
The distinction does not discount the pain her parents feel or her loss of life. But it matters when the president is trying to weaponize a tragic killing for his political agenda.
It’s not surprising his star players, like DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, are out here telling tales about deporting a cannibal. As you might have guessed, it’s not true!
The Donald also isn’t responsible for the decrease in crime he bragged about. Various analyses have shown several crime categories, including murder, have been down since 2022.
Reviewing available data, TIME explained that “there has been a steady decline in crime since a spike during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that rates were already falling before Trump returned to office—including in cities the Administration has targeted in its immigration and crime crackdowns. Experts tell TIME that the drop recorded last year is part of this larger trend and can be attributed to a kaleidoscope of factors, none of which can singularly or definitively account for the decline.”
Snatching Up Kingpins and blocking drugs
Trump bragged about efforts in drug enforcement and taking down an allegedly dangerous kingpin, but Politifact said the reference to drug cartels and kingpins required additional context.
He is so worried about kingpins that he released one from prison in December. Trump gave former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez a full pardon. Why was he in jail? Nothing major, just a 45-year bid for conspiring to import cocaine into the U.S.
And as we explained last night, Trump misstated data from Customs and Border Protection about the 98% descrease in drug seizures, mainly cannabis. But Trump claimed the amount of drugs coming into the country dropped by 97%. The difference is in the details; seizure is just what they snag, not what actually comes through.
And the CBP data is only about one type of drug that arguably shouldn’t even be illegal. In fact, Coast Guard data showed there was a 200% INCREASE in cocaine seizures in 2025. So the drugs are still getting in, and he’s letting big-time cocaine importers walk away as if nothing happened.
And this, my friends, is only a few snippets. We’ve covered the election power grab and distortions about cheating and supporting “integrity.”
You can read here, here, here, and here for more.
Tell us, what issues are top of mind for your family as the 2026 midterm primary season is underway?
SEE ALSO:
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State Of The Union 2026: This Man Be Lying Edition
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2026 State Of The Union Data Shows Trump At Odds With Reality
