WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s glowing account of progress under his watch Wednesday was out of tune with the experience of price-squeezed Americans and the story told by some of his government’s own statistics.
In a speech from the White House, Trump assailed the record of his Democratic predecessor and boasted expansively about his record so far. Not all of those boasts were credible.
Among them:
On inflation
TRUMP: He blamed Democrats for handing him an “inflation disaster,” “the worst in the history of our country,” and said that now, the prices of turkey and eggs have come down and “everything else is falling rapidly. And it’s not done yet. But boy, are we making progress.”
THE FACTS: His claim that prices are falling rapidly is not seen in the inflation numbers, which are about where they were when he took office, after having fallen significantly before the end of Joe Biden’s presidency. Nor is it true that the Biden era gave the country its worst inflation ever.
The consumer price index was 3% in September, the same rate as in January, a tick up from 2.9% in December, Biden’s last full month in office. In an AP-NORC poll this month, the vast majority of U.S. adults said they’ve noticed higher than usual prices for groceries, electricity and holiday gifts in recent months.
Biden-era inflation peaked at 9.1% in June 2022, a consequence of supply chain interruptions, potentially excessive amounts of government aid and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine driving up food and energy costs. Americans have known even worse and more sustained inflation than that: higher than 13% in 1980 during an extended period of price pain. By some estimates, inflation approached 20% during World War I.
Inflation had been falling during the first few months of Trump’s presidency, but it picked back up after the president announced his tariffs in April.
On investment
TRUMP: “I secured a record-breaking $18 trillion of investment into the United States.”
THE FACTS: Trump has presented no evidence that he’s secured this much domestic or foreign investment for the United States. Based on statements from various companies, foreign countries and the White House’s own website, that figure appears to be exaggerated, highly speculative and far higher than the actual sum.
Even the White House website offers a far lower number, $9.6 trillion, and that figure appears to include some investment commitments made during Biden’s presidency.
Trump has routinely claimed rosy investment numbers, without offering the details to support them. Trump nailed down some of the investment terms in an October trip to Japan and South Korea, but they’re over multiple years and it remains to be seen how ironclad those commitments and others will be.
A landslide?
TRUMP: “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.”
THE FACTS: Trump won a decisive victory but hardly a landslide one, however you define a landslide. Trump, who became president with 312 electoral votes, won fewer than Democrats Barack Obama in 2008 (365) and 2012 (332) and Bill Clinton in 1992 (370) and 1996 (379).
The electoral performance of those men pales in comparison with the sweeps by Franklin Roosevelt in 1936 (523), Lyndon Johnson in 1964 (486), Richard Nixon in 1972 (520) and Ronald Reagan (525) in 1984.
Trump did win more popular votes than his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, but not quite a majority of them. His win in 2024 ranks among the more narrow.
