Liars lie, that's what they do.
Trump’s imaginary numbers, from $1.99 gas to 1,500 percent price cuts
President Donald Trump made a promise at a reception last week for Republican lawmakers that was as impossible as it was specific: He would drive down drug prices by as much as 1,500 percent — “numbers that are not even thought to be achievable,” he said.
A price cannot drop by more than 100 percent, but Trump went on to make several other precise but clearly false numerical claims. The cost of gasoline had fallen to $1.99 a gallon in five states, he said; according to AAA, it was over $3 in every state. Businesses had invested $16 trillion in America in the past four months, he added; the entire U.S. economy last year was worth less than $30 trillion.
Trump is hardly the first politician to toss out figures that wilt under scrutiny. But he attaches precise numbers to his claims with unusual frequency, giving the assertions an air of authority and credibility — yet the numbers often end up being incorrect or not even plausible. The bogus statistics are part of Trump’s long history of falsehoods and misleading claims, which numbered more than 30,000 in his first term alone.
“He uses statistics less as a factual statement of, ‘Here is what the best data says,’ and more as rhetorical construct to sell an idea,” said Robert C. Rowland, professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas who has studied Trump’s rhetoric. “I think he uses statistics as something to make whatever he is saying look better. He will choose a statistic based on what he thinks he can credibly say, and frankly, there are not strong limits on that.”
Trump has made little secret of his disdain for research and expertise. Yet he routinely reaches for numbers or statistics, often grandiose ones, when seeking to hammer home the failures of his adversaries, the grandeur of his accomplishments or the boldness of his promises.
At the July 22 reception for GOP members of Congress, the president waxed expansive about his goals for the future, including a plan to cut drug prices.
“This is something that nobody else can do,” Trump said. “We’re going to get the drug prices down — not 30 or 40 percent, which would be great, not 50 or 60. No, we’re going to get them down 1,000 percent, 600 percent, 500 percent, 1,500 percent.”
At the same event, Trump mocked Democrats for claiming that consumer prices were rising when, he said, they were falling precipitously. “Gasoline is … we hit $1.99 a gallon today in five different states,” Trump said, as the lawmakers applauded. “We have gasoline that’s going down to the low $2’s, and in some cases even breaking that.”
Trump tangled with numbers again last Thursday in an appearance with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell, whom he has hinted he might fire. The president complained that a renovation of two Fed headquarters buildings was expected to cost $3.1 billion, prompting Powell to shake his head and respond, “I’m not aware of that.”
Trump handed Powell a sheet of paper, saying the $3.1 billion figure number had just come out. “You’re including the Martin renovation,” Powell said, looking at the paper. “You just added in a third building, is what that is.” Trump said, “It’s a building that’s being built,” and Powell countered: “No, it was built five years ago. We finished Martin five years ago.”
Trump was also specific in the weeks before the July 3 passage of his sweeping budget bill, which extended tax cuts from his first term. If his bill did not pass, he warned on May 30: “You’ll have a 68 percent tax increase. That’s a number nobody’s ever heard of before. You’ll have a massive tax increase.”
He reiterated that figure in a June 26 speech from the White House, adding, “Think of that: 68 percent.”
Financial experts were predicting taxes would go up about 7.5 percent if the legislation failed — still a substantial hike but far from the 68 percent figure. The White House has declined to comment and several fact-checkers tried unsuccessfully to determine where Trump’s number was coming from, speculating that Trump was conflating it with the proportion of Americans who would see their taxes go up.
Republican pollster Whit Ayres said it is important to get numbers right, but that Trump is unique.
“In many ways, Donald Trump is sui generis in the way he uses numbers,” Ayres said. “I don’t think you can use the way he uses numbers as an example for how other politicians might effectively use numbers. I will simply say that accurate numbers are a lot more compelling than inaccurate numbers.”
In February 2024, Trump was found guilty in a civil fraud case after the New York attorney general said he had inflated his net worth by as much as $2.2 billion annually. The judge found, for example, that Trump described his luxury apartment as being 30,000 square feet when it was actually 10,996. He has appealed the verdict.
Trump was also credited with inventing the tactic of inflating the number of floors in a skyscraper by claiming that a high atrium counted as several floors.
As president, Trump sometimes appears concerned with how numbers sound rather than what they reflect. In his first term, he suggested cutting coronavirus tests as a way to get the number of cases down. More recently, he has focused on the size of America’s trade deficit with various countries, though most economists say that has little to do with the fundamentals of those trade relationships.
Trump’s imaginary numbers, from $1.99 gas to 1,500 percent price cuts
President Donald Trump made a promise at a reception last week for Republican lawmakers that was as impossible as it was specific: He would drive down drug prices by as much as 1,500 percent — “numbers that are not even thought to be achievable,” he said.
A price cannot drop by more than 100 percent, but Trump went on to make several other precise but clearly false numerical claims. The cost of gasoline had fallen to $1.99 a gallon in five states, he said; according to AAA, it was over $3 in every state. Businesses had invested $16 trillion in America in the past four months, he added; the entire U.S. economy last year was worth less than $30 trillion.
Trump is hardly the first politician to toss out figures that wilt under scrutiny. But he attaches precise numbers to his claims with unusual frequency, giving the assertions an air of authority and credibility — yet the numbers often end up being incorrect or not even plausible. The bogus statistics are part of Trump’s long history of falsehoods and misleading claims, which numbered more than 30,000 in his first term alone.
“He uses statistics less as a factual statement of, ‘Here is what the best data says,’ and more as rhetorical construct to sell an idea,” said Robert C. Rowland, professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas who has studied Trump’s rhetoric. “I think he uses statistics as something to make whatever he is saying look better. He will choose a statistic based on what he thinks he can credibly say, and frankly, there are not strong limits on that.”
Trump has made little secret of his disdain for research and expertise. Yet he routinely reaches for numbers or statistics, often grandiose ones, when seeking to hammer home the failures of his adversaries, the grandeur of his accomplishments or the boldness of his promises.
At the July 22 reception for GOP members of Congress, the president waxed expansive about his goals for the future, including a plan to cut drug prices.
“This is something that nobody else can do,” Trump said. “We’re going to get the drug prices down — not 30 or 40 percent, which would be great, not 50 or 60. No, we’re going to get them down 1,000 percent, 600 percent, 500 percent, 1,500 percent.”
At the same event, Trump mocked Democrats for claiming that consumer prices were rising when, he said, they were falling precipitously. “Gasoline is … we hit $1.99 a gallon today in five different states,” Trump said, as the lawmakers applauded. “We have gasoline that’s going down to the low $2’s, and in some cases even breaking that.”
Trump tangled with numbers again last Thursday in an appearance with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell, whom he has hinted he might fire. The president complained that a renovation of two Fed headquarters buildings was expected to cost $3.1 billion, prompting Powell to shake his head and respond, “I’m not aware of that.”
Trump handed Powell a sheet of paper, saying the $3.1 billion figure number had just come out. “You’re including the Martin renovation,” Powell said, looking at the paper. “You just added in a third building, is what that is.” Trump said, “It’s a building that’s being built,” and Powell countered: “No, it was built five years ago. We finished Martin five years ago.”
Trump was also specific in the weeks before the July 3 passage of his sweeping budget bill, which extended tax cuts from his first term. If his bill did not pass, he warned on May 30: “You’ll have a 68 percent tax increase. That’s a number nobody’s ever heard of before. You’ll have a massive tax increase.”
He reiterated that figure in a June 26 speech from the White House, adding, “Think of that: 68 percent.”
Financial experts were predicting taxes would go up about 7.5 percent if the legislation failed — still a substantial hike but far from the 68 percent figure. The White House has declined to comment and several fact-checkers tried unsuccessfully to determine where Trump’s number was coming from, speculating that Trump was conflating it with the proportion of Americans who would see their taxes go up.
Republican pollster Whit Ayres said it is important to get numbers right, but that Trump is unique.
“In many ways, Donald Trump is sui generis in the way he uses numbers,” Ayres said. “I don’t think you can use the way he uses numbers as an example for how other politicians might effectively use numbers. I will simply say that accurate numbers are a lot more compelling than inaccurate numbers.”
In February 2024, Trump was found guilty in a civil fraud case after the New York attorney general said he had inflated his net worth by as much as $2.2 billion annually. The judge found, for example, that Trump described his luxury apartment as being 30,000 square feet when it was actually 10,996. He has appealed the verdict.
Trump was also credited with inventing the tactic of inflating the number of floors in a skyscraper by claiming that a high atrium counted as several floors.
As president, Trump sometimes appears concerned with how numbers sound rather than what they reflect. In his first term, he suggested cutting coronavirus tests as a way to get the number of cases down. More recently, he has focused on the size of America’s trade deficit with various countries, though most economists say that has little to do with the fundamentals of those trade relationships.
