President Trump will tackle Congress on Tuesday night time to promote his imaginative and prescient for his second administration, as he seeks to remake American authorities and exams the boundaries of govt energy.
The speech comes after a blitz of govt actions looking for to purge a federal paperwork he views as disloyal and in any other case reshape home and international coverage. In pursuing his agenda, Mr. Trump has repeatedly made false statements and claims lacking evidence, together with that Ukraine began the struggle with Russia and that variety applications on the Federal Aviation Administration led to a plane crash this yr.
The president’s tackle is anticipated to the touch on the key cuts that he and Elon Musk’s Division of Authorities Effectivity have ordered for federal applications and the federal government’s work drive. He’s additionally anticipated to trumpet his immigration crackdown and his strikes to impose steep tariffs in an effort to bolster home manufacturing.
Mr. Trump’s remarks on these points over the previous few weeks supply a preview of potential speaking factors. Right here’s a fact-check:
What Was Stated
“We had been richest — the richest, comparatively — from, consider this, from 1870 to 1913. That was our richest as a result of we collected tariffs from international nations that got here in and took our jobs and took our cash, took our all the pieces, however they charged tariffs.”
— at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Feb. 22
False. Mr. Trump is unsuitable that the USA was richest throughout the Gilded Age, and he’s overstating the impression of tariffs. He’s additionally unsuitable that the nation grew much less affluent in 1913, when a everlasting federal revenue tax was launched.
A White Home spokeswoman famous that wages and the economic system grew quickly throughout the Gilded Age, however didn’t present proof of unparalleled prosperity in that period. America is way richer now than it was throughout that point, even when accounting for inflation. From 1870 to 1913, the nation’s gross domestic product grew to just about $1 trillion from about $190 billion, and to $10,000 from $4,800 per capita. These figures have continued to rise precipitously, reaching practically $20 trillion and greater than $58,000 per capita in 2022.
Relative to different nations, the USA was simply as wealthy or richer within the post-World Struggle II period than within the Gilded Age. America was the third-largest economy in 1870, after China and India, however had turn into the world’s largest by 1920, making up about 23 % of worldwide G.D.P. It remained the world’s largest economic system till 2014, when China took the lead.
Inequality, although, reached a peak throughout the Gilded Age. America had one of many highest rates of economic disparity in the world in 1910. Estimates of U.S. inequality, utilizing a standard global metric, fell after the introduction of taxes aimed toward wealthier folks however rebounded considerably in latest many years.
The U.S. economic system did develop at a speedy clip within the Gilded Age, however tariffs weren’t the only real issue, stated Richard White, a historian at Stanford College and an knowledgeable on the Gilded Age. He famous different causes, together with the U.S. seizure of Homeland and the inhabitants’s doubling from 1860 to 1890, largely due to immigration.
What Was Stated
“We now have discovered a whole lot of billions of {dollars} of fraud up to now.”
— earlier than a bilateral assembly with President Emmanuel Macron of France on Feb. 24
This lacks proof. The White Home spokeswoman stated the Division of Authorities Effectivity had recognized a whole lot of billions of {dollars} in fraud within the federal authorities. However even the federal government overhaul group itself doesn’t purport to have discovered that a lot in particular financial savings or fraud.
In keeping with Mr. Musk’s group, it has generated $105 billion in savings, as of Sunday. The initiative’s web site contains particulars for canceled contracts that it says whole about $8 billion in financial savings and broad descriptions for round $10 billion in terminated grants and $660 million in terminated leases. That’s a complete of roughly $20 billion, with the remaining showing unexplained.
As The New York Instances and different information retailers have documented, the $20 billion in financial savings can also be not verified. The initiative has updated its website periodically to handle errors akin to contracts erroneously listed as worth billions however truly price tens of millions, contracts that had been counted a number of instances and contracts which have long ended or were not actually canceled.
The federal Authorities Accountability Workplace estimated final yr, earlier than the creation of DOGE, that the federal government loses $233 billion to $521 billion a yr to fraud. However it’s unclear if any of the Trump administration cuts introduced to date had been canceled funds for fraudulent companies.
Whereas Mr. Trump and different officers have forged spending with which they disagree as wasteful, fraud includes deception or misrepresentation. For instance, DOGE has said that it has canceled leases at underused and vacant properties and that there’s “loads of obtainable workplace house for the present workforce.” It didn’t point out fraud in these leases.
What Was Stated
“Europe has given $100 billion. America has given $350 billion as a result of we had a silly, incompetent president and administration, 350. However right here’s worse: Europe gave it within the type of a mortgage; they get their a reimbursement.”
— at CPAC on Feb. 22, in reference to assist to Ukraine
That is exaggerated. Mr. Trump is overstating the USA’ monetary assist for Ukraine in its struggle towards Russia’s invasion, understating Europe’s, and misrepresenting the proportion of loans and grants that every has given.
Official and unbiased estimates of American help to Ukraine present it’s about half of Mr. Trump’s determine. The Congressional Analysis Service reported that Congress has appropriated $174 billion in help for Ukraine for the reason that 2022 fiscal yr. The Pentagon’s inspector normal estimated that determine was about $182 billion.
The White Home spokeswoman argued that there have been tens of billions extra in oblique prices, which she stated included misplaced commerce with Russia due to financial sanctions in addition to the struggle’s inflationary impression. However misplaced commerce and inflation additionally affected Europe, which was certainly one of Russia’s biggest trading partners before the war. Mr. Trump, at different instances, has conceded that the quantity of help the USA has offered to Ukraine may be lower than $350 billion.
The European Union has estimated that its member states made obtainable about $145 billion in help, with tens of billions extra dedicated.
Mr. Trump has a degree that the majority of American help has been in grants and direct help somewhat than loans, however he’s overstating the proportion of loans the European Union has offered.
The Pentagon’s inspector normal famous that the USA offered about $20 billion, or roughly 10 % of whole help, in loans. As compared, the European nations have offered about 42 billion euros, or a few third of whole help, in loans, in response to the Kiel Institute for the World Financial system.
Confronted with an expansionist Russia and an unpredictable American president, European leaders are additionally seeking to increase their own military spending and shoulder a heavier burden in Ukraine’s and the continent’s protection.
What Was Stated
“For 4 lengthy years, you had a president who put unlawful aliens up in penthouse suites and delightful accommodations on Park Avenue or on Madison Avenue or on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.” — at CPAC on Feb. 22
“They despatched $59 million to New York Metropolis for a resort, for a bit little bit of nothing, what they’ve carried out. A resort that was not luxurious that’s getting luxurious charges for migrants, the place they’re making a fortune.” — at a swearing-in ceremony on Feb. 12
That is deceptive. New York did home tens of hundreds of migrants in accommodations, however Mr. Trump is essentially unsuitable about the place the migrants had been housed, the funds and the Biden administration’s function.
In 2023, Congress created the Shelter and Providers Program, which within the 2024 fiscal yr doled out about $640 million in grants to teams and localities that present shelter and different companies to migrants. This system doesn’t straight pay for resort rooms or resolve the place precisely migrants are housed.
New York Metropolis acquired round $190 million whole within the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years, in response to federal information.
However the metropolis has spent excess of what it has acquired from the federal authorities to deal with migrants, because it sought to supply lodging past already-squeezed metropolis shelters. In keeping with a comptroller report, town spent practically $1 billion on housing migrants at 119 accommodations from September 2022 to August 2024. Most had been funds or midscale properties, receiving a median nightly price of $156 within the 2024 fiscal yr, in contrast with a price of round $52 for a shelter mattress. About 19 of the accommodations had been in Manhattan.
Luxurious accommodations in Manhattan usually have a lot larger charges. They’d a income per room of round $440 in 2024 and a median every day price of greater than $560, according to an estimate by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The Trump Worldwide Resort & Tower, a luxurious resort overlooking Central Park, costs $475 to $700 per night time for the standard room.
The $59 million determine Mr. Trump cited is the worth of one of many grants awarded to town within the 2024 fiscal yr by the federal authorities, not the quantity paid to any single resort.
