Trump Makes 11 False Claims During Address to Troops in Japan

In a speech to US service members aboard an aircraft carrier in Japan, President Donald Trump made numerous false statements that contradict official data and historical facts.

The President repeated his claim that he won the 2020 election, despite having legitimately lost to Joe Biden. This assertion has been repeatedly debunked by election officials, courts, and independent analysts across the country.

On economic matters, Trump’s assertions diverged significantly from official statistics. He claimed grocery prices are “way down,” when Consumer Price Index data shows they increased approximately 0.3% from August to September, are up 2.7% year-over-year, and have risen about 1.4% since January when he returned to office. The August-to-September increase followed a 0.6% July-to-August jump, which was the largest monthly increase in three years.

Similarly, Trump’s declaration that “inflation has been defeated” contradicts current economic indicators. Inflation has actually been worsening since May after hitting a four-year low in April. September’s rate was approximately 3%, up from 2.9% in August, and nearly identical to the rate when he took office in January.

The President also exaggerated historical comparisons, claiming the Biden administration had “the worst inflation in the history of our country.” While inflation did reach a 40-year high of 9.1% under Biden in June 2022, this falls far short of the all-time record of 23.7% set in 1920. The cumulative inflation during Biden’s term was approximately 21%, less than half of the 49% recorded during President Jimmy Carter’s administration.

Trump’s foreign policy claims also contained significant inaccuracies. His assertion of having “ended eight wars in eight months” included conflicts that either didn’t exist during his presidency or remain ongoing. The alleged war between Egypt and Ethiopia was actually a diplomatic dispute over a dam project that remains unresolved. Similarly, there was no active war between Kosovo and Serbia during his term. The conflict involving the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda continues despite a peace agreement that was never signed by the main rebel coalition.

His statement that “no president that we know has ever ended any war” ignores numerous historical examples. US presidents have ended various wars by military victory, including World Wars I and II and the Gulf War. Presidents have also brokered numerous peace agreements: Theodore Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating between Russia and Japan in 1905, Jimmy Carter facilitated the Egypt-Israel peace treaty in 1979, and Bill Clinton played a key role in ending the Bosnian War in 1995.

The President’s economic claims included the assertion that “$17 trillion” is “pouring into the United States” from global investments. Even the White House website lists a smaller figure of $8.9 trillion in “major investment announcements,” many of which represent vague pledges rather than actual investments.

Regarding border security, Trump claimed “25 million people poured into our country” during the Biden administration. Federal records show fewer than 11 million nationwide “encounters” with migrants through December 2024, including millions who were quickly expelled. Even adding estimated “gotaways,” the total falls far below Trump’s figure.

The speech also contained smaller falsehoods, including the claim that Biden had falsely presented himself as a pilot (no record of such a claim exists) and an assertion that the US controls “92% of the shoreline” of the Gulf of Mexico, which oceanography experts describe as dramatically inflated. Most analyses indicate the US portion comprises approximately half of the Gulf’s total coastline.

These statements, delivered to military personnel stationed overseas, illustrate a pattern of misrepresentations across domestic policy, foreign affairs, and basic statistical information.