Trump’s Super Tuesday Speech: Review of 10 False and Misleading Claims
Former President Donald J. Trump took another step closer to becoming the Republican nominee for president of 2024 on Tuesday, sweeping up delegates and prompting his last remaining rival, Nikki Haley, to suspend her campaign. The results all but guarantee a November rematch against President Biden.
But in his 20 minute victory commentsthat painted a grim picture of the United States under his successor, Mr. Trump resorted to a series of false and misleading claims — on immigration, the economy, energy and more — some of which were variations on well-known claims.
Here’s a fact check.
WHAT WAS SAID
“They flew 325,000 migrants, across borders, into our country. So that really tells you where they’re coming from, they want open borders.”
This is misleading. Mr. Trump appeared to be referring to reports of documents obtained by a group pushing to restrict immigration. The group reported that the documents show that approximately 320,000 migrants flew to the United States in 2023 after receiving permission through a application for mobile phone started by Customs and Border Protection.
But this is not a covert effort, contrary to Trump’s characterization, and the migrants came through programs that authorized their arrival and required them to arrange their travel on commercial flights.
The app in question, CBP One, was introduced last year to require migrants to make an appointment at a port of entry to submit an asylum claim. However, the app is also used to support the processing of migrants seeking to enter the United States through other programs, said Michelle Mittelstadt, spokeswoman for the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute.
One program is one initiative in which a certain number of migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela can apply for “humanitarian parole” if they have a sponsor within the United States. Another does family reunification conditionalfor nationals from different countries who have an approved family petition.
Information about the programs is publicly available and migrants are vetted before entering the country.
WHAT WAS SAID
“We built 571 miles of wall.”
False. The Trump administration built 458 miles of border barriers – most of which reinforced or replaced existing structures. Civil servants to hang new primary barriers along just 75 kilometers where no barriers previously existed.
The southern border with Mexico is more than 3,000 kilometers long. During Trump’s 2016 campaign, he promised to build a wall across the border and make Mexico pay for it — which didn’t happen.
WHAT WAS SAID
“Our cities are overrun with migrant crime, and that is Biden’s migrant crime. But it is a new category of crime and it is violent.”
Evidence is lacking here. While there are undoubtedly examples of illegal immigrants in the country committing crimes, the available data does not support the idea that immigrants are causing an increase in crime.
In New York City, the overall crime rate has remained flat despite the arrival of more than 170,000 migrants since April 2022, a recent Times analysis found, and some key crime categories have declined.
Federal data also shows that violent crime declined in 2022 January report from the nonprofit Council on Criminal Justice found that several cities saw a decline in homicides and other violent crimes in 2023 compared to the previous year.
Moreover, multiple Analyzes in recent years do not show that immigrants, even those here illegally, are statistically linked to an increase in crimes.
WHAT WAS SAID
“We had no inflation.”
This is an exaggeration. While the inflation rate under Mr. Trump was indeed low, it was not completely non-existent Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows.
Under Mr. Trump, the inflation rate, as measured by the general consumer price index, has largely hovered around 2 percent — with the inflation rate slightly lower and higher in some months. That fell at the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and inflation reached a low of 0.1 percent in May 2020 before trending upward.
Inflation reaches a peak of 9.1 percent in June 2022; it has since fallen and stood at 3.1 percent in January. Drivers of inflation included a surge in consumer spending as the country recovered from the pandemic — with the help of government stimulus payments — and supply shortages.
WHAT WAS SAID
“We brought in a lot more revenue after we cut taxes.”
False. The 2017 corporate tax cuts signed by Trump did not increase government revenues, despite some attempts to suggest so. In fact, they have had the opposite effect.
a recent, rigorous study of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act shows that the policy adds more than $100 billion to the national debt annually. The research shows that while the tax cuts have boosted investment in the economy, they have delivered only modest — albeit less than predicted — wage growth for workers, as The Times has reported.
“There is no evidence that the tax cuts have paid for themselves or have even been completed,” said Marc Goldwein, senior vice president and senior policy director of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
WHAT WAS SAID
“We got the biggest tax cuts in history.”
False. Mr. Trump has used this refrain since his first year in the White House — and in his final speech as president. The fact is that the 2017 tax cuts ranked below several others, including the 1981 Reagan tax cut, which was the largest as a percentage of the economy.
WHAT WAS SAID
“Three years ago we were at a level: we were energy independent, we would very soon be energy dominant and today we are getting oil from Venezuela.”
This is misleading. The United States became a net exporter of petroleum in 2020, the first time in at least seventy years, and that remained the case in 2022 under Mr. Biden. The country also remains one net exporter of natural gas.
Under Mr. Biden, energy production — including oil and gas — has soared, despite Mr. Trump’s descriptions.
Yet the country continues to move on import millions of barrels of crude oil and other petroleum products per day – as under Mr. Trump – which the term “energy independence” does not convey.
WHAT WAS SAID
Covid “started in the laboratories of Wuhan, just as I said.”
This needs context. The origins of the coronavirus remain a subject of fierce scientific and political debate, although some federal agencies believe the virus escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Other experts and authorities have concluded that the virus most likely originated through natural transmission.
WHAT WAS SAID
“We haven’t lost anyone in Afghanistan for 18 months.”
This is misleading. Trump has not been the only one to oversee an 18-month casualty-free period in Afghanistan. Instead, the period in question relates specifically to combating victims and occurred under both Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden.
In early February 2020, there were under Mr. Trump two combat deaths recorded — and no one reported again until late August 2021, when an attack killed 13 U.S. troops during Mr. Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
During Mr. Trump’s presidency, 45 combat deaths among U.S. service members were reported in Afghanistan, as well as 18 “non-hostile” deaths. Defense casualty analysis system.
WHAT WAS SAID
“We left behind $85 billion worth of brand new, beautiful equipment” in Afghanistan.
False. As Mr Trump again refers to the total amount spent on security in Afghanistan over two decades – and not the value of the equipment left behind when the United States withdrew in 2021.
The United States provided $88.6 billion for security in Afghanistan from October 2001 to July 2021 and disbursed approximately $75 billion. Pentagon figures. That figure includes the amount spent on training, anti-drug trafficking efforts and infrastructure, as well as $18 billion in equipment.
CNN has done that before reported that approximately $7 billion worth of military equipment was transferred from the United States to the Afghan government during the withdrawal, citing a Defense Department report submitted to Congress.
Curious about the accuracy of a claim? Email factcheck@nytimes.com.