A Democracy Drive Thread
Specific, checkable false statements — about money, health care, the military, January 6, disasters — with the facts that contradict them.
Every politician spins. This thread is for something different: specific claims that were false when Trump made them, often repeated after being corrected. Each entry gives the claim, the date, and the fact-check. The point is not any single falsehood but the pattern — the volume, the repetition, and the indifference to correction.
September 11, 2001
In his own words
“40 Wall Street actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan. And it was actually — before the World Trade Center — was the tallest. And then, when they built the World Trade Center, it became known as the second-tallest. And now it’s the tallest.” It was not: 70 Pine Street was taller.
February 1, 2016
In his own words
He promised a replacement plan repeatedly through his first term, including “in two weeks” several times. No plan was released.
May 11, 2016
In his own words
The IRS said an audit does not prevent anyone from releasing returns. He became the first major-party nominee in decades not to release them. Congress obtained them only in 2022, after a long court fight.
“I don’t mind releasing. I’m under a routine audit, and it’ll be released.”
August 1, 2016
In his own words
He had repeatedly attacked Obama for golfing. By November 2020 trackers counted 285 days at golf clubs, with evidence he played on at least 142.
“I’m going to be working for you. I’m not going to have time to go play golf.”
March 24, 2017
In his own words
“I never said repeal and replace Obamacare within 64 days,” he said. Fact-checkers listed dozens of times he promised to do it immediately.
“I never said repeal and replace Obamacare within 64 days. I have a long time.”
April 5, 2018
In his own words
Michael Cohen later testified that Trump directed the payment, and a jury convicted Trump in 2024 of falsifying records to hide the reimbursement.
July 31, 2018
In his own words
Shoppers do not need ID to buy groceries.
“If you want to go out and buy groceries, you need identification.”
September 4, 2019
On the ground
The Birmingham weather service office had corrected him. Commerce officials later pressured NOAA to back the president’s claim, and an inspector general found the agency’s statement violated its scientific integrity policy.
October 9, 2019
On the ground
The law cut the corporate rate from 35% to 21%, with most benefits going to shareholders and high earners.
June 20, 2020
In his own words
The White House said he was joking. Testing finds cases; it does not create them.
“When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people, you will find more cases. So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please.’”
January 10, 2024
On the ground
Gross debt rose from $19.95 trillion to $27.75 trillion, driven by the 2017 tax cuts and pandemic spending.
February 8, 2024
In his own words
The speaker does not control Capitol security in the way he claimed, and rioters carried weapons including guns, knives and bear spray.
August 8, 2024
In his own words
“With the exception of one young, fine woman, nobody died on Jan. 6.”
September 10, 2024
In his own words
It was eight years after he first promised a “terrific” replacement.
“I have concepts of a plan.”
September 30, 2024
In his own words
Biden said, “He’s lying, and the governor told him he was lying.”
“He has been calling the president, but has not been able to get him.”
October 4, 2024
In his own words
JPMorgan Chase said the post was false.
October 16, 2024
In his own words
More than 140 police officers were injured that day.
“That was a day of love.”
April 7, 2025
In his own words
He went on to describe Germans hiding Jews in attics. Critics said the comparison, made while discussing hostages’ starvation, trivialized the Holocaust.
April 22, 2025
In his own words
FactCheck.org noted that for his figure to be true, eggs would have to cost about 35 cents a dozen. Even wholesale prices had fallen only about 47%. He repeated versions of the claim for months, citing 79%, 92% and other figures.
““The cost of eggs has come down like 93%, 94% since we took office, and they’re pretty much normally priced now.””
April 30, 2025
In his own words
A day earlier she had claimed 119 million. Fact-checkers noted that about 55,000 to 75,000 Americans die of fentanyl overdoses each year.
May 1, 2025
In his own words
He claimed $1.98, then $1.88 “in three states,” then $1.99 “in five states.” GasBuddy found no station selling below $2. The national average was about $3.18.
May 20, 2025
In his own words
Sen. Maggie Hassan corrected her: habeas corpus is the right to challenge detention by the government. The White House was weighing suspending it.
“Habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country and suspend their rights.”
May 21, 2025
On the ground
The crosses were from a 2020 protest and did not mark graves. Most murder victims in South Africa are Black. He had just admitted 59 white South Africans as refugees.
May 31, 2025
On the ground
The claim comes from QAnon circles.
September 5, 2025
In his own words
Overdose deaths have never reached 300,000 in a year and fell about 24% from 2023 to 2024. He has repeatedly inflated the figure.
September 23, 2025
In his own words
He called renewable energy a “scam” and the carbon footprint “a hoax made up by people with evil intentions,” warned Europe it would be ruined by migration and green energy, and urged nations to buy American oil and gas.
““I’m telling you that if you don’t get away from the green energy scam, your country is going to fail.””
September 27, 2025
In his own words
The FBI had long acknowledged sending several hundred agents to the Capitol to help police respond after the attack began. A December 2024 inspector general review found none were authorized to break the law or encourage others to.
““FBI Agents were at, and in, the January 6th Protest, probably acting as Agitators and Insurrectionists, but certainly not as ‘Law Enforcement Officials.’””
October 12, 2025
In his own words
Nixon resigned facing impeachment for crimes in the Watergate cover-up, and dozens of his aides were convicted.
““The Ukraine Impeachment (of me!) Scam was a far bigger Illegal Hoax than Watergate.””
October 29, 2025
In his own words
The White House listed $9.6 trillion, including aspirational pledges and future purchases. Japan’s negotiator said “It’s not that $550 billion in cash will be sent to the U.S.” but loans and guarantees.
November 17, 2025
In his own words
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent blames high beef prices on migrants bringing screwworm-infested cattle north. He claimed mass migration spread the parasite and forced the U.S. to close the border to Mexican cattle. There is no credible evidence that migrants transport cattle at any scale that affects the market.
December 2, 2025
In his own words
With voters angry over prices, Trump tells his Cabinet that “affordability’s a hoax that was started by Democrats.” Weeks earlier he had called the word “a con job by the Democrats.” His own Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, called it an “affordability crisis” at the same meeting.
“Look, affordability’s a hoax that was started by Democrats who caused the problem of pricing.”
January 8, 2026
In his own words
Trump tells The New York Times that civil rights protections caused “reverse discrimination” and that “white people were very badly treated.” He said the Civil Rights Act “accomplished some very wonderful things, but it also hurt a lot of people.” The NAACP said “deception is the point” of such remarks.
“White people were very badly treated.”
January 29, 2026
In his own words
As voters worry about housing costs, Trump tells his Cabinet: “I don’t want to drive housing prices down. I want to drive housing prices up for people that own their homes.” Economists, the real estate industry and local officials say more construction and lower prices are needed to address affordability.
“I don’t want to drive housing prices down. I want to drive housing prices up for people that own their homes.”