President Donald Trump delivered what is being reported as the longest State of the Union address in history on Tuesday night, covering topics ranging from the economy and immigration enforcement to crime and elections. Throughout the speech, Trump made a number of claims that fact-checkers have since rated as exaggerated, misleading or outright false. Here is a breakdown of what he got right and where the facts tell a different story.
On food stamps, Trump claimed his administration lifted 2.4 million Americans off the program. The context here matters. That figure refers to people expected to lose eligibility under new work requirements passed in his One Big Beautiful Bill, not people who independently moved off assistance. The requirements also eliminate exemptions for veterans and people experiencing homelessness, and there is no proposed federal program to replace the lost support.
Trump claimed the Warrior Dividend payments to military service members came from tariff revenue. That is false. The Defense Department confirmed the $1,776 payments to active-duty and reserve members came from a supplemental housing fund appropriated by Congress through the One Big Beautiful Bill, delivered as a nontaxable supplement to monthly housing allowances.
On crime in Washington DC, Trump said there is “almost no crime anymore” and that murders were down close to 100% in January. This is exaggerated. According to Metropolitan Police Department data, homicides are down 67% year-to-date, but since January 1 there have still been nine homicides, 126 assaults with a dangerous weapon and 322 motor vehicle thefts in the city.
Trump claimed other presidents never came close to lowering drug prices. This is false. President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, which capped insulin at $35 a month for Medicare patients, placed a $2,000 annual cap on out-of-pocket drug costs and allowed Medicare to negotiate prices on some of its most expensive medications for the first time.
On inflation, Trump said the Biden administration delivered the worst inflation in the country’s history. That is false. When Trump took office, annual inflation was at 2.9%. The record high was around 14% in the 1980s, while the most recent peak was 8.9% in 2022 under Biden.
Trump’s claim that more Americans are working now than at any point in history is true, though job creation in 2025 was the slowest since 2020, with just 584,000 jobs added compared to more than 2 million in each of the two preceding years.
Trump claimed to have secured $18 trillion in investment commitments. This is false. The White House’s own website lists $9.7 trillion in commitments, and a Bloomberg Economics analysis found that figure to be misleading, with more than $2.5 trillion not constituting actual investments and over $250 billion announced before Trump took office.
On tax cuts, Trump said the One Big Beautiful Bill was the largest tax cut in American history. That is false. According to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, it ranks sixth largest in US history.
Trump’s claim that the murder rate is the lowest in 125 years is true, according to an independent analysis by the Council on Criminal Justice. However, crime has been declining gradually for years and did not suddenly begin falling when Trump returned to office.
Trump’s construction jobs claim of 70,000 new jobs is exaggerated. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows 44,000 construction jobs were added over the same period.
Trump’s claim about the SAVE America Act eliminating mail-in voting is false. The bill adds new voter ID and proof of citizenship requirements but would not eliminate mail voting. His broader claim that cheating is rampant in American elections is also false, with no evidence of widespread fraud found across decades of elections and tens of millions of ballots cast.
