Donald Trump delivered a nationally televised address on Wednesday night, and contrary to expectations from some, he did not declare war or other military action against Venezuela. Instead, Trump talked mostly about the economy.
Per CNN, the president “mounted a sustained argument for his administration’s economic success, arguing that he’d made significant progress in easing prices despite widespread voter frustration with the cost of living.” He also announced a “warrior dividend” of $1,776 for members of the military.
An analysis by CNN’s Aaron Blake said the speech was mostly targeted at the president’s base. And that started with ripping his predecessor, Joseph Biden.
“Trump repeatedly compared his economic and inflation numbers to his predecessor,” he wrote. “Former President Joe Biden’s numbers were significantly worse, in large part due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which caused economic turmoil and inflation to spike around the world.”
BREAKING: CNN’s Daniel Dale fact-checks the most outlandish lies in Trump’s speech. There’s so much that Trump yelled that wasn’t true that Dale can barely get through it all. Make sure everyone sees this and gets the facts.
pic.twitter.com/vbqRIJ73pT— Trump Lie Tracker (Commentary Account) (@MAGALieTracker) December 18, 2025
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Also on CNN, fact-checker Daniel Dale came on the air to address false claims by Trump during the speech.
“Near the end of the speech, Trump falsely claimed, ‘Inflation is stopped,'” Dale said, per the CNN transcript. “Inflation hasn’t stopped; the year-over-year inflation rate in September, 3.0%, was the same as the rate when Trump returned to office in January – in fact, if you go to multiple decimal places, the September rate was a tiny bit higher – and September was the fifth consecutive month the year-over-year rate had increased.”
Trump was also wrong, Dale said, about inflation hitting an all-time high during Biden’s presidency.
Trump also bragged that “everything else is falling rapidly,” in terms of prices, but that’s not true, either.
“Consumer Price Index data shows that a far greater number of grocery items have increased in price since he returned to office than have decreased,” Dale added. “The most recent available CPI figures at the time he spoke on Wednesday, for September, showed that average grocery prices were up about 2.7% from September 2024; about 1.4% from January 2025, the month Trump returned to office; and about 0.3% from August to September.”
Dale also disputed Trump’s claim that prescription drug prices will drop “as much as 400, 500, and even 600%,’ and also called the president’s claim about the number of wars he’s ended an exaggeration.
Photo courtesy of an X screenshot.
