President Donald Trump’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday was littered with quite a few false claims, lots of which have been debunked earlier than.
Trump was inaccurate about all kinds of topics. They included inflation within the US, local weather insurance policies each within the US and overseas, immigration, his function in settling worldwide conflicts, and his standing in opinion polls. Here is a truth verify of a few of his remarks.
Trump’s accomplishments and recognition
Trump and wars: The president claimed, “I ended seven wars, and in all cases, they were raging, with countless thousands of people being killed. This includes Cambodia and Thailand, Kosovo and Serbia, the Congo and Rwanda — a vicious, violent war that was — Pakistan and India, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Armenia and Azerbaijan.”
But Egypt and Ethiopia weren’t really at battle throughout Trump’s time within the White House. They have a long-running and unresolved dispute about a major Ethiopian dam project on a tributary of the Nile River, however that is not a war, so Trump couldn’t have ended one there. Similarly, whereas Trump has beforehand claimed to have prevented the eruption of a brand new battle between Serbia and Kosovo — offering few particulars about what he was speaking about — these nations weren’t in an actual war both throughout Trump’s present time period or throughout his first time period, once they signed an financial normalization settlement brokered by Trump’s administration in 2020.
In addition, Trump hasn’t really ended the battle involving the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. The peace settlement brokered by the Trump administration and signed by the DRC and Rwanda in June did not involve the insurgent coalition, allegedly backed by Rwanda, that has seized territory within the jap DRC, and NCS reported from the bottom this week: “The scores of militia groups that have fought for three decades in one of the most protracted and complex conflicts in the world are still engaging in deadly fighting, and US President Donald Trump’s claimed peace deal for the nation feels like a distant dream.”
Trump’s significance and success in addressing the opposite 4 conflicts he talked about could be debated. Notably, whereas Pakistan has heaped praise upon Trump for taking part in a crucial function in brokering its May ceasefire with India, India has rejected the declare that he did so and stated it resolved the battle immediately with Pakistan.
Trump’s ballot numbers: The president claimed, “I was very proud to see this morning I have the highest poll numbers I’ve ever had. Part of it is because of what we’ve done on the border. I guess the other part is what we’ve done on the economy.” It’s theoretically doable Trump noticed some personal polling that gave him dramatically higher numbers than public polling has produced, however his standing in public polling is nowhere close to his highest ever — the truth is, it’s down considerably from the start of this 12 months.
A New York Times polling average put Trump’s approval score at about 43% as of Tuesday (with 54% disapproval), down from 52% approval within the first week of his second time period in January (with 43% disapproval).
Similarly, a polling average produced by data journalist G. Elliott Morris put Trump’s approval score at about 42% as of Tuesday (with about 54% disapproval), down from about 51% approval within the first days of his second time period (with about 39% disapproval). And a polling average produced by data journalist Nate Silver put Trump’s approval score at about 44% as of Tuesday (with about 53% disapproval), down from about 52% approval within the first days of the time period (with about 40% disapproval).
NCS’s Poll of Polls common had Trump at 41% approval as of Tuesday (with 57% disapproval), down from 48% approval in our first common of this time period in early February (with 49% disapproval). And Trump’s common rankings for his dealing with of immigration and the economic system have each fallen from optimistic territory to unfavourable territory because the starting of the time period, the averages from Morris and Silver present.
Inflation and the economic system
Inflation: Trump baselessly claimed that “inflation has been defeated” below his management. This is vaguer than his frequent false claim that there’s now “no inflation,” however there’s no foundation even for the vaguer model. Inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index, has been worsening since May after hitting a four-year low in April. It was about 2.9% in August, up from about 2.7% in July; the August determine was practically an identical to the 3% rate in January, the final partial month of the Biden administration Trump stated left him an “economic calamity.”
Grocery costs: Trump additionally claimed that below his management, “grocery prices are down.” False. Average grocery costs have elevated throughout Trump’s presidency, although the costs of some particular person objects have fallen; Consumer Price Index figures present that common grocery costs have been about 1% higher in August than they have been in January, when Trump returned to the White House. And whereas we ought to be cautious to not learn an excessive amount of into any single month of knowledge, the rise in grocery costs from July to August was about 0.6%, which was the highest month-to-month jump since late 2022.
Electricity payments: Trump stated electrical energy in Europe is rather more costly than in China or the US, which is generally correct. But then he added, “And our bills are coming way down.” In truth, US electrical energy costs are spiking, rising greater than twice as quick as total costs; Consumer Price Index figures present they have been about 6.2% larger in August than they have been a 12 months prior and about 4.9% larger in August than they have been in January.
Foreign funding: Trump, speaking about “new investment into the United States,” claimed, “In just eight months since I took office, we have secured commitments and money already paid for $17 trillion.” This determine is unproved at finest. Just a day in the past, Trump’s personal White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, used a a lot decrease determine, saying Trump “has secured nearly $9 trillion in US investment.” She did say “we expect that number to be upwards of $15 trillion very soon,” however Trump didn’t clarify how an extra $8 trillion supposedly materialized in a day — and even Leavitt’s $9 trillion determine ought to be handled with skepticism, since it’s heavily based on imprecise semi-commitments from overseas nations that will by no means materialize.
Environment and power
Global warming and local weather change: Trump known as local weather change “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” and he additionally referred to “the global warming hoax.” He didn’t exactly clarify what he was calling the con job or hoax, however world warming is a demonstrated fact. Trump additionally baselessly prompt that scientists now use the phrase “climate change” as a substitute of “global warming” in order that they’ll’t be accused of getting issues flawed if the world finally ends up cooling; in actuality, local weather scientists use both phrases, typically saying “global warming” when referring to the long-term pattern of accelerating world temperature and “climate change” when referring to the quite a few results the world is experiencing due to that pattern.
NASA says on its web site: “‘Climate change’ encompasses global warming, but refers to the broader range of changes that are happening to our planet. These include rising sea levels; shrinking mountain glaciers; accelerating ice melt in Greenland, Antarctica and the Arctic; and shifts in flower/plant blooming times.”
For instance, a 2023 report from the UN’s local weather change panel, titled “Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report,” stated this: “Human activities, principally through emissions of greenhouse gases, have unequivocally caused global warming, with global surface temperature reaching 1.1°C above 1850-1900 in 2011-2020.” In a piece titled “Future Climate Change,” the report additionally stated this: “Continued greenhouse gas emissions will lead to increasing global warming, with the best estimate of reaching 1.5°C in the near term in considered scenarios and modelled pathways. Every increment of global warming will intensify multiple and concurrent hazards (high confidence).”
China and wind energy: Trump repeated his false declare that though China is the main producer of wind generators, “they have very few wind farms” themselves. He added, “So why is it that they build them and they send them all over the world, but they barely use them? You know, they use coal, they use gas, they use almost anything, but they don’t like wind. But they sure as hell like selling the windmills.” In actuality, China is the world chief within the era of wind energy and has huge wind farms onshore and offshore; it continues to install additional wind capacity a lot sooner than the US.
Coal and renewables: Trump referred to coal as “clean, beautiful coal,” as he often does, however coal is simply not clean; its use as an influence supply creates polluting emissions that hurt people and the atmosphere, even with technological enhancements that may scale back the emissions ranges. Trump additionally wrongly stated renewable power sources “don’t work,” saying that “they’re not strong enough to fire up the plants that you need to make your country great” and that “the wind doesn’t blow.” But power generated by wind remains to be a helpful energy supply when the wind isn’t blowing, simply as photo voltaic power remains to be a helpful energy supply when the solar isn’t shining — because the power could be stored in industrial batteries or utilizing different strategies, permitting it to be deployed as a part of an influence combine alongside with power from conventional fossil fuels.
The Paris local weather accord: Trump repeated some false claims about the Paris local weather accord from which he has withdrawn the US throughout every of his presidencies.
At one level, he wrongly stated the US was “supposed to pay like $1 trillion” below the accord. It wasn’t. The US has by no means spent or dedicated anyplace near $1 trillion in connection to the accord; Biden pledged upon taking office to pay $11.4 billion per 12 months towards worldwide local weather financing, however Congress appropriated lower than even that.
Trump additionally stated, “China didn’t have to pay until 2030.” This was complicated, nevertheless it gave the impression to be a reference to his previous false claim that the accord gave China extra time than the US to hit its targets for lowering carbon emissions. In actuality, the accord got here into impact for all collaborating nations on the identical time, November 2016, however allowed every nation to set its personal voluntary targets for lowering carbon emissions. China picked 2030 because the 12 months it deliberate to satisfy its major targets whereas the US picked 2025, however this was merely a alternative of every nation.
Biden and migrants: Touting his efforts to safe the southern border, Trump stated, “Just a year ago, millions and millions of people were pouring in, 25 million all together over the four years of the incompetent Biden administration.” The “25 million” determine is fictional; even Trump’s earlier “21 million” determine was a wild exaggeration. Through December 2024, the final full month below the Biden administration, the federal authorities had recorded below 11 million nationwide “encounters” with migrants throughout that administration, together with hundreds of thousands who have been quickly expelled from the nation; even including within the so-called gotaways who evaded detection, estimated by House Republicans as being roughly 2.2 million, there’s no approach the whole was even near what Trump has stated.
Biden and migrant youngsters: Trump repeated his deceptive declare that “the previous administration also lost nearly 300,000 children,” then shortly stated it was “more than 300,000 children.” He continued to say that many of those youngsters “have been raped, exploited and abused and sold,” whereas others are useless.
He gave the impression to be referring to a 2024 report from the Homeland Security Department’s Office of Inspector General, which stated Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported greater than 32,000 unaccompanied migrant youngsters failed to seem as scheduled for immigration court docket hearings after being launched or transferred out of custody between fiscal years 2019 and 2023. The report additionally stated that 291,000 unaccompanied migrant youngsters throughout this era weren’t given notices to seem in court docket.
There are two key issues to notice right here. First, the interval lined by the report consists of two years and 4 months below the primary Trump administration. Second, whereas the report stated immigration authorities have “no assurances” these youngsters “are safe from trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor,” it didn’t definitively assert that any of them have been being exploited or had been killed.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow on the American Immigration Council, advised NCS final summer season: “Long story short, no, there are not 320,000 kids missing. 32,000 kids missed court. That doesn’t mean they’re missing, it means they missed court (either because their sponsor didn’t bring them or they are teenagers who didn’t want to show up). The remaining 291,000 cases mentioned by the OIG are cases where ICE hasn’t filed the paperwork to start their immigration court cases.”