Fact-checking Trump's economic claims ahead of his State of the Union address

[Miles Archer]

Fact-checking Trump’s economic claims ahead of his State of the Union address

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-nation/2026/02/22/factcheck-trump-economy-sotu-2026-preview/stories/202602220099

As preparation for what we might hear in Tuesday night’s speech, we offer a guide to a dozen of Trump’s recent claims about the economy, most of which we’ve written about before. They touch on inflation, economic growth, manufacturing, wages, jobs, the deficit, stock market and more.

Proud of federal data showing that economic growth in the second and third quarters of 2025 exceeded expectations, Trump in Iowa on Jan. 27 falsely claimed that “under my leadership, economic growth is exploding to numbers unheard of. They’ve never had them before.”

After declining by an annualized rate of 0.6% in the first quarter of 2025, which covers the three months from January to March, real gross domestic product (meaning it has been adjusted for inflation) grew at a rate of 3.8% in the second quarter of 2025 and at a rate of 4.4% in the third quarter, according to estimates from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

But those were not record-setting numbers. They were the largest quarterly increases since the economy expanded at a rate of 4.7% in the third quarter of 2023, under President Joe Biden.

[kwolf68]

1. Very little of what will be said tomorrow

Will be true. It will be lies, verbal flatulence, mendacities of a madman and general chaotic insanity.

I worry he will use the SOTU to ban the Democratic Party.

I won't be watching a single minute of it.