President Trump will handle Congress on Tuesday evening to promote his imaginative and prescient for his second administration, as he seeks to remake American authorities and assessments the bounds of govt energy.
The speech comes after a blitz of govt actions in search of 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 missing proof, together with that Ukraine began the conflict with Russia and that variety packages on the Federal Aviation Administration led to a airplane crash this yr.
The president’s handle is anticipated to the touch on the foremost cuts that he and Elon Musk’s Division of Authorities Effectivity have ordered for federal packages and the federal government’s work power. 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 attainable speaking factors. Right here’s a fact-check:
What Was Stated
“We have 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 international locations that got here in and took our jobs and took our cash, took our every thing, however they charged tariffs.”
— on the Conservative Political Motion Convention on Feb. 22
False. Mr. Trump is flawed that america was richest in the course of the Gilded Age, and he’s overstating the influence of tariffs. He’s additionally flawed that the nation grew much less affluent in 1913, when a everlasting federal earnings tax was launched.
A White Home spokeswoman famous that wages and the economic system grew quickly in the course of the Gilded Age, however didn’t present proof of unparalleled prosperity in that period. The USA is way richer now than it was throughout that point, even when accounting for inflation. From 1870 to 1913, the nation’s gross home 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 almost $20 trillion and greater than $58,000 per capita in 2022.
Relative to different international locations, america was simply as wealthy or richer within the post-World Struggle II period than within the Gilded Age. The USA was the third-largest economic system in 1870, after China and India, however had grow to be the world’s largest by 1920, making up about 23 % of world G.D.P. It remained the world’s largest economic system till 2014, when China took the lead.
Inequality, although, reached a peak in the course of the Gilded Age. The USA had one of many highest charges of financial disparity on the planet in 1910. Estimates of U.S. inequality, utilizing a customary international metric, fell after the introduction of taxes geared toward wealthier folks however rebounded considerably in current many years.
The U.S. economic system did develop at a speedy clip within the Gilded Age, however tariffs weren’t the only issue, mentioned 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 Place of birth and the inhabitants’s doubling from 1860 to 1890, largely due to immigration.
What Was Stated
“Now we have discovered a whole lot of billions of {dollars} of fraud thus far.”
— earlier than a bilateral assembly with President Emmanuel Macron of France on Feb. 24
This lacks proof. The White Home spokeswoman mentioned 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 financial savings, as of Sunday. The initiative’s web site consists of 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 lower than $20 billion, with the remainder showing unexplained.
As The New York Instances and different information retailers have documented, the roughly $20 billion in financial savings can be not verified. The initiative has up to date its web site periodically to deal with errors corresponding to contracts erroneously listed as value billions however really value hundreds of thousands, contracts that have been counted a number of occasions and contracts which have lengthy ended or weren’t really 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 this point have been canceled funds for fraudulent providers.
Whereas Mr. Trump and different officers have solid spending with which they disagree as wasteful, fraud entails deception or misrepresentation. For instance, DOGE has mentioned that it has canceled leases at underused and vacant properties and that there’s “loads of obtainable workplace area for the present workforce.” It didn’t point out fraud in these leases.
What Was Stated
“Europe has given $100 billion. The USA 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 america’ monetary help for Ukraine in its struggle in opposition to Russia’s invasion, understating Europe’s, and misrepresenting the proportion of loans and grants that every has given.
Official and unbiased estimates of American support to Ukraine present it’s about half of Mr. Trump’s determine. The Congressional Analysis Service reported that Congress has appropriated $174 billion in support for Ukraine for the reason that 2022 fiscal yr. The Pentagon’s inspector basic 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 mentioned included misplaced commerce with Russia due to financial sanctions in addition to the conflict’s inflationary influence. However misplaced commerce and inflation additionally affected Europe, which was one among Russia’s greatest buying and selling companions earlier than the conflict. Mr. Trump, at different occasions, has conceded that the quantity of support america has supplied to Ukraine is perhaps lower than $350 billion.
The European Union has estimated that its member states made obtainable about $145 billion in support, with tens of billions extra dedicated.
Mr. Trump has some extent that the majority of American support has been in grants and direct help fairly than loans, however he’s overstating the proportion of loans the European Union has supplied.
The Pentagon’s inspector basic famous that america supplied about $20 billion, or roughly 10 % of whole support, in loans. Compared, the European Union says it has supplied about 35 % of whole support, roughly $50 billion, in loans.
Confronted with an expansionist Russia and an unpredictable American president, European leaders are additionally trying to improve their very own army 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 exquisite 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 lodge, for slightly little bit of nothing, what they’ve accomplished. A lodge 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 1000’s of migrants in accommodations, however Mr. Trump is essentially flawed about the place the migrants have been housed, the funds and the Biden administration’s function.
In 2023, Congress created the Shelter and Companies Program, which within the 2024 fiscal yr doled out about $640 million in grants to teams and localities that present shelter and different providers to migrants. This system doesn’t instantly pay for lodge rooms or resolve the place precisely migrants are housed.
New York Metropolis obtained round $190 million whole within the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years, in line with federal knowledge.
However the metropolis has spent way over what it has obtained 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, the town spent almost $1 billion on housing migrants at 119 accommodations from September 2022 to August 2024. Most have been finances or midscale properties, receiving a mean 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 have been in Manhattan.
Luxurious accommodations in Manhattan typically have a lot larger charges. They’d a income per room of round $440 in 2024 and a mean day by day price of greater than $560, in line with an estimate by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The Trump Worldwide Lodge & Tower, a luxurious lodge overlooking Central Park, costs $475 to $700 per evening for the standard room.
The $59 million determine Mr. Trump cited is the worth of one of many grants awarded to the town within the 2024 fiscal yr by the federal authorities, not the quantity paid to any single lodge.
