President Donald Trump defended his administration’s economic record and tough immigration policies in a combative 108-minute State of the Union address, the longest in modern history, as poll numbers slumped ahead of the midterm elections.
President Trump boasted that inflation was plummeting and gas prices were falling. He also defended his immigration efforts, which have caused chaos in Democratic-run cities and resulted in the deaths of two Americans shot by immigration officials.
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
President Trump called on members of Congress to stand and show their support if they agree that “the American government’s first duty is to protect Americans, not illegal aliens.” This drew a long standing ovation from Republicans and silence from seated Democrats, prompting President Trump to say, “You should be ashamed.”
President Trump’s speech is lacking: It acknowledges the fourth anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war, which he vowed to end during the presidential campaign. He also did not mention the release of government files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The issue came into focus after President Trump undermined efforts to free some of Epstein’s victims, even though they were present.
Dozens of Democrats skipped Trump’s speech and attended outdoor events, including a rally on the National Mall. Representative Al Green, D-Texas, was removed from the House of Representatives as Trump began his speech, holding a sign that read “Black people are not monkeys,” referring to a recent video Trump posted on Truth Social depicting President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys. (The video was later deleted, and the White House said it was posted in error.)
A rare moment of bipartisan cheer occurred when President Trump introduced the Olympic gold medal-winning men’s hockey team and announced plans to award goaltender Connor Hellebuyck with one of the highest civilian awards, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The following is a fact-check of some of President Trump’s statements.
economy
Inflation has eased somewhat during President Trump’s second term, but calling it a “plummet” is an overstatement.
The year-on-year increase rate in January 2026 was approximately 2.4%. That’s lower than the year-ago rate when he took office in January 2025, but it was already down from a peak of about 9% in summer 2022 under former President Joe Biden.
By Biden’s final month in office, year-over-year inflation was about 2.9%. The Fed aims to keep inflation at about 2% year over year.
Inflation fell more slowly under the Trump administration compared to the one he inherited.
Prices for some products have fallen during President Trump’s second term, while prices for others have increased.
Gasoline prices fell by about 6%, and prices for new and used cars fell by just under 1%.
Food prices rose by about 2%, electricity by 6.3%, housing by 3.4%, medical by 3.2%, and apparel by 1.8%.
Wages on President Trump’s watch have so far risen faster than inflation.
President Trump claimed that gas prices are “currently below $2.30 a gallon in most states.”
If you look at the average across states, President Trump is wrong. According to the American Automobile Association, no state has an average below $2.30 per gallon. It may be lower depending on individual stations.
The state with the lowest average price in the nation on February 24 was Oklahoma, at $2.37 per gallon. Arkansas, Kansas and Mississippi are other states with average prices below $2.50 per gallon. Gasoline prices in nine other states ranged from $2.50 to $2.60 per gallon.
As of Feb. 23, two stations in Oklahoma were charging $1.99 per gallon, as were three in Kansas and two in Texas, according to gas pricing app GasBuddy.
“When I visited the great state of Iowa just a few weeks ago, I even saw that gas was $1.85 a gallon,” Trump said. But a woman who was present at the speech fact-checked him. It was $2.69 a gallon at a station outside President Trump’s speech venue in Iowa. At the time, the state average was $2.57 per gallon, and GasBuddy had only four stations in the state selling for less than $2 per gallon.
Gasoline prices have fallen during President Trump’s second term, dropping from an average of $3.11 a gallon nationally when he took office to $2.92 a gallon the week of February 16th.
President Trump’s claims about drug prices
“I will also end the dramatic increase in prescription drug prices the likes of which we have never seen before,” he said.
President Trump said prescription drug prices for Americans have fallen to some of the lowest in the world, by “more than 300, 400, 500, 600 percent, all now available on a new website called TrumpRX.gov.”
This is a mathematical exaggeration that overstates the savings on the new TrumpRx.gov website. A 100% reduction in the price of a drug means that the drug costs $0. Reducing prices from 300 percent to 900 percent means drug companies will pay the people who are getting the drugs, rather than the other way around.
Discounts on TrumpRx.gov are largely limited to weight loss and fertility drugs that many Americans must pay out of pocket because their insurance plans often have limited or no coverage. For example, the site offers Cetrotide, a drug used as part of infertility treatment, for between $316.12 and $22.50. This is a 93 percent discount. It also offers Wegovy pills for $1,349 to $149 per month. This is an 89% discount.
Other pharmacies and websites sell generic drugs for 20 of the 43 drugs listed on Trump’s website, often at lower prices. Additionally, the website states that these discounts are currently “only available to patients who pay in cash” and are not available to those with insurance.
A White House official told PolitiFact that the administration plans to extend the website’s benefits to those insured through President Trump’s health care plan, which has not progressed in Congress.
immigration
Regarding illegal immigration, President Trump declared, “Over the past nine months, zero illegal aliens have been admitted to the United States.”
During President Trump’s second term, encounters with people attempting to cross the U.S. southern border illegally decreased significantly.
In January 2026, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers had nearly 10,000 encounters with migrants at the southern border, compared to more than 61,000 in January 2025.
The U.S. Border Patrol has not released migrants into the United States for eight months pending court proceedings, according to the Department of Homeland Security. That means migrants encountered by Border Patrol are immediately deported or detained.
“And with our new military operations, we have stopped a record amount of drugs from entering our country, effectively stopping them from entering our country by water and sea,” the US president said.
There is no evidence that the Trump administration’s “new military operations” have “effectively stopped” drug flow from the sea.
Trump did not provide details of what military operations he was referring to, but since September 2025, his administration has attacked at least 41 ships in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, killing about 152 people. The administration has not presented any evidence that the ships it attacked were carrying drugs.
Drug seizures by Customs and Border Protection have decreased since the strike began. However, the Coast Guard, not CBP, oversees most drug seizures at sea, especially on the high seas. And the authorities are seeing a sharp increase in the number of drug seizures.
The White House cites a decrease in CBP drug seizures as a success, while the Coast Guard also cites an increase in drug seizures as a success.
But neither increases nor decreases in drug seizures indicate how much drugs are flowing into the United States. Drug experts say the numbers are unknown. All drug seizures tell us is how much drugs are being prevented from entering the United States.
crime
“Last year we had the largest decline in the homicide rate in recorded history. If you think about it, this is the largest decline in recorded history and the lowest in 125 years,” President Trump said in a long speech.
He’s right about the biggest decline, but it’s unclear whether it’s the lowest in 125 years.
Experts predict that when the final FBI-defined murder rate for 2025 is released later this year, it will likely be the lowest in at least the past 65 years. A decline of about 20% in 2025 is likely to be the largest single-year decline on record, experts say.
I’m less certain that this is a 125-year low. Here’s why the 125-year number raises questions. Data collected between 1930 and 1960 cannot be compared with later data, and data from 1900 to 1930 includes all homicides, not just homicides. (For example, killing in self-defense is murder, but not murder.)
FBI homicide rate on track to reach lowest level in at least 60 years
Advantages of Snap
“We took a record 2.4 million Americans off food stamps in one year,” President Trump said.
This number refers to Americans expected to lose benefits after the passage of President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, not necessarily those who could have afforded to have them waived.
An August 2025 Congressional Budget Office analysis found that the law would cause approximately 2.4 million Americans to lose access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps.
The law expanded able-bodied work requirements, requiring parents with dependent children over the age of 14 to work at least 80 hours a month, volunteer, or participate in job training. It also requires adults between the ages of 55 and 64, veterans, people experiencing homelessness and those formerly in foster care to meet new requirements, but Native Americans are exempt.
Approximately 42 million low-income people receive benefits through SNAP, with an average monthly benefit of about $190 per individual, or $356 per household. Recipients can use this benefit to purchase fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy products, bread, and other foods. The majority of SNAP households live in poverty.
Trump’s account
Trump also touted his newly launched Trump Account as a savings tool for his children.
Under the program, scheduled to go into effect in July, infants born between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2028 will receive $1,000 in seed money from the federal government. Parents can make additional deposits, but are not required.
Trump said that with “modest additional contributions,” account holders can “grow their investments to more than $100,000 by the time they turn 18.”
However, this growth is not guaranteed over decades and is almost certainly not within 18 years.
According to an investment calculator maintained by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, $1,000 can grow to about $6,000 after 18 years.
If the account holder added an additional $9,000 during this time (which many Americans cannot afford), at a 10 percent growth rate, they would have generated about $60,000 over 18 years.
Although the historical average annual increase in the U.S. stock market is approximately 10%, that increase is not guaranteed. Management fees can also eat into profits.
Even a modest 2% inflation rate would significantly erode the final amount.
Finally, the amount in your account will be further reduced upon withdrawal due to taxes.
