Trump Rally Claims Met with Extensive CNN Fact-Checking

In a recent CNN interview with Kate Bolduan, fact-checker Daniel Dale dismantled several inaccurate claims made by the President regarding inflation and the economy during a recent speech.

Dale pointed out that the President’s assertion that inflation has “stopped” contradicts official economic data. According to the latest figures, September’s inflation rate stands at 3.0 percent, demonstrating that inflation continues to affect the economy, albeit at a lower rate than its peak.

“I found that there’s a whole lot of wrongness in just those few sentences,” Dale stated, addressing the President’s economic claims.

The fact-checker also challenged the President’s claim that he inherited “the worst inflation ever.” Dale clarified that when the President took office, the inflation rate was also at 3.0 percent—exactly where it stands today. While inflation did reach a 40-year high of 9.1 percent in June 2022, the President consistently omits mentioning that it has since declined sharply to the same rate he inherited.

Another misleading assertion Dale identified was the President’s statement that “prices are down clearly overall.” With a 3 percent inflation rate and grocery prices specifically up by 2.7 percent, prices overall have not decreased. Dale noted that while some individual items like eggs have seen price reductions, the broader trend shows continued price increases, not decreases.

Dale highlighted the President’s strategic use of language throughout the speech. “He often talks about, and I’ll note, some sort of creative tenses he used during this speech. He often said prices are coming down. We are bringing prices down,” Dale observed. These ambiguous phrases, which suggest ongoing efforts rather than completed actions, are “harder to fact check, I think, by design,” according to Dale.

Bolduan agreed with this assessment, noting that stating “working to bring down prices” would be a more accurate and honest description of the current economic situation than claiming prices have already fallen.

Beyond inflation, Dale addressed several other inaccurate claims made when the President went off-prompter during his speech. These included a vastly exaggerated figure of $18 trillion in investment secured for the United States this year—a number Dale described as “not even close to true” and “nearly double” what appears on the White House website, which itself contains inflated figures.

The President also incorrectly claimed to have ended eight wars, despite several situations on his list never qualifying as actual wars during his presidency. Dale specifically mentioned diplomatic disputes between Egypt and Ethiopia, unclear conflicts between Serbia and Kosovo, and a situation between Thailand and Cambodia that has recently flared up again, contradicting the claim it was permanently resolved.

Perhaps most notably, Dale refuted the President’s frequent assertion that “the entire prison populations of both the Congo and Venezuela have been emptied into the United States,” stating there is “simply no evidence for that, whatsoever.”

This fact-check comes amid increasing scrutiny of political rhetoric as economic issues remain top concerns for American voters. While inflation has moderated from its 2022 peak, its persistence at 3 percent continues to affect household budgets across the country, making accurate economic messaging particularly significant in the current political landscape.

The disconnect between official economic data and the President’s portrayal of the economy highlights the challenges voters face in evaluating economic performance amid competing political narratives about inflation, prices, and overall economic health.