The count is up.
The receipts are here.

THE CLAIM

The White House Council of Economic Advisers chairman said tariff revenue was "paid for by China" and that the targeted countries end up bearing the cost.

WHY IT DOES NOT HOLD UP

Misleading. A tariff is assessed on the U.S. importer. The U.S. International Trade Commission found that, for the 2018-21 Section 232 and 301 tariffs it studied, U.S. importers bore nearly the full cost because import prices rose at the same rate as the tariffs. That federal finding does not support the categorical claim that China paid for the tariff revenue.

THE CLAIM

President Trump said Washington, D.C., had become a "crime-free area" and that "there's no crime."

WHY IT DOES NOT HOLD UP

False. Crime declined substantially, but it did not disappear. Metropolitan Police Department year-end data recorded 24,177 reported crimes in 2025, including 2,475 violent crimes and 127 homicides. The improvement was real; describing the city as crime-free was not.

THE CLAIM

President Trump said prices of many drugs would be "slashed by 300, 400 even 500%" starting that month.

WHY IT DOES NOT HOLD UP

False. A price cut cannot exceed 100% without making the price negative. In the same set of remarks, the White House separately described expected reductions of 80% to 90%, making clear that the 300% to 500% wording was not a mathematically possible discount.

THE CLAIM

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, President Trump said he had cut the monthly trade deficit by 77% "with no inflation."

WHY IT DOES NOT HOLD UP

False. Inflation was lower than its recent peak, but it was not zero. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that consumer prices rose 2.7% during 2025, including a 0.3% seasonally adjusted increase in December. Describing that period as having "no inflation" contradicts the government's own price data.

THE CLAIM

In an NBC News interview, President Trump said the United States had "the best crime numbers that we've had in 125 years."

WHY IT DOES NOT HOLD UP

Misleading. The FBI reported a historically large decline in violent crime in 2025, and the murder rate tied 1955 and 1956 for the lowest recorded rate. But the FBI's national crime series does not cover 125 comparable years, and its report does not say the country achieved the best overall crime numbers in that span. The favorable trend is real; the sweeping timeframe is unsupported.

THE CLAIM

President Trump said there were "11,888 murderers that Biden and his group let into our country."

WHY IT DOES NOT HOLD UP

Misleading. The figure referred to people with homicide convictions on ICE's non-detained docket, not 11,888 convicted murderers admitted by President Biden. That docket is cumulative across administrations, includes people who entered years earlier or were convicted after entry, and remains under active immigration-case management. The number does not establish the attribution Trump attached to it.

THE CLAIM

President Trump said Minnesota had "$19 billion in fraud that we know about."

WHY IT DOES NOT HOLD UP

Unsupported and misleading. Minnesota has serious, documented fraud cases, but official prosecutions and audits do not establish $19 billion as known fraud. The figure substantially exceeds the losses publicly supported by the cited government records and appears to turn estimated exposure or program spending into a proven total. Investigations remain ongoing, so the final loss may change.

THE CLAIM

The White House said the Working Families Tax Cuts had delivered a manufacturing resurgence across all 50 states, sustaining nearly six million jobs.

WHY IT DOES NOT HOLD UP

Misleading. The nearly six million jobs 'sustained' figure came from a trade-group counterfactual model, not six million observed hires or payroll gains. Bureau of Labor Statistics payroll data available when the release appeared did not show a nationwide manufacturing surge on that scale. Later data revisions do not convert a modeled jobs-protected estimate into employment actually created across all 50 states.

THE CLAIM

The White House said an oil agreement with Venezuela was "vastly expanding our current U.S. territorial proved reserves."

WHY IT DOES NOT HOLD UP

Misleading. Commercial rights to develop, manage, or buy oil in another country do not move that oil into U.S. territory or make it part of U.S. territorial proved reserves. Federal energy definitions treat long-term rights to a foreign government's reserves as foreign access; Venezuela's underground reserves remain in Venezuela.

THE CLAIM

President Trump said Chicago violence was "unchecked and at record levels" and "has never been worse."

WHY IT DOES NOT HOLD UP

False. Chicago still faced serious violence, but the Police Department's comparable late-September data showed murders down 29%, shooting incidents down 35%, and total listed crime complaints down 13% from a year earlier. Murders and shootings were also well below the department's 2021-2024 comparisons. One violent weekend does not make citywide violence "at record levels" or "never worse."

THE CLAIM

President Trump promised that if Republicans win both chambers of Congress, he would "issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000," saying the country's financial success made it possible.

WHY IT DOES NOT HOLD UP

Misleading as presented. A president cannot issue a nationwide cash payment on his own; Congress must authorize and appropriate the money. The official announcement identified no bill, enacted appropriation, funding source, eligibility rules, or delivery mechanism. Republican control would not itself create the legal authority or money for the checks, so this is a contingent campaign proposal—not an authorized dividend or a guaranteed payment.

THE CLAIM

The White House said the Working Families Tax Cuts had delivered "No Tax on Social Security."

WHY IT DOES NOT HOLD UP

Misleading. The law created a temporary, income-limited senior deduction; it did not repeal federal taxation of Social Security benefits. The IRS says the deduction is available for 2025 through 2028, phases out above specified income levels, and is based on age rather than whether a person receives Social Security.

THE CLAIM

In his United Nations address, President Trump said U.S. strikes on cartel drug boats were "destroying 97% of the drugs coming in to the ocean and sea."

WHY IT DOES NOT HOLD UP

Unsupported and misleading. The claim supplies no methodology, denominator, or government dataset for a 97% maritime interdiction rate. The Drug Enforcement Administration describes major U.S.-bound trafficking through several routes and says cartels mainly use legal ports of entry, tractor-trailers, and personal vehicles to move drugs across the southwest border. Available federal evidence does not substantiate the asserted 97% figure.

THE CLAIM

In a release summarizing President Trump's United Nations address, the White House said Iran "no longer has a Navy, an Air Force, radar, anti-aircraft equipment, or an economy."

WHY IT DOES NOT HOLD UP

False if read as a factual description. Iran's economy has been badly damaged, but it continues to function. The International Monetary Fund projects a 5.4% contraction in Iran's real GDP in 2026—evidence of a severe recession, not the disappearance of an economy. The wording may have been intended as rhetorical emphasis, but its literal economic claim does not hold up.