Coby Howell

We all knew he was lying about the Reflecting Pool. The problem is that he lies so often that it’s almost impossible to keep up. So I asked AI to compile claims from just the past twenty-four months and then checked them against official data, contemporaneous reporting and independent fact-checks. Here is a partial list of 86 lies: 1. He promised to bring prices down “starting on Day One.” Grocery prices remained high and continued rising. 2. After winning, he admitted that prices are very hard to bring down once they have gone up. 3. He said egg prices had fallen 93 percent. They had not fallen remotely close to 93 percent. 4. He said he inherited the highest inflation in American history. He inherited an annual inflation rate of 2.9 percent. 5. When corrected, he changed the claim to the worst inflation in 49 years. That was also false. Annual inflation reached 23.7 percent in 1920. 6. He said there was virtually no inflation during his first term. Consumer prices rose approximately 8 percent. 7. He repeatedly claimed he had already brought inflation down, including during periods when the annual inflation rate was higher than the 2.9 percent reported shortly before he took office. 8. He told Congress inflation was “plummeting.” Prices were still rising overall, including major household expenses such as housing, electricity and medical care. 9. He claimed to have secured $18 trillion in new investment. 10. He then raised the figure to $19.2 trillion. 11. Even the White House’s own tracker listed far less, and its total included multiyear pledges, purchasing agreements, previously announced projects and commitments that might never become actual US investment. 12. He said America was building more factories than ever. 13. He said factory construction was rising. 14. He said the country had achieved its highest growth ever. Manufacturing employment declined, factory-construction claims depended on cherry-picked categories, and economic growth was nowhere near a historical record. 15. He called the country he inherited a dead country. The US economy grew 2.8 percent in 2024, faster than every other major wealthy economy except Spain. 16. He says foreign countries pay his tariffs. American importers pay them and frequently pass the cost on to American consumers. 17. He said the evidence overwhelmingly showed consumers did not pay his tariffs. Economic studies found that American consumers and businesses absorbed nearly all their cost. 18. He said tariff revenue came with “no inflation.” Prices continued rising, and economic research found that the tariffs themselves increased costs for American consumers and businesses. 19. He repeatedly said drug prices were down 70, 80 or 90 percent. No broad measure of prescription-drug prices showed anything close to those reductions. 20. He said Medicaid was “left the same.” The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the legislation would reduce federal Medicaid spending by roughly $930 billion over ten years. 21. He said Americans were “not going to feel any of it.” The Congressional Budget Office projected that the legislation would leave approximately 11.8 million more people uninsured. 22. He said the Medicaid changes touched only waste, fraud and abuse. Independent analyses found that the legislation reduced coverage and federal spending far beyond fraudulent claims. 23. He said he had eliminated taxes on Social Security. The law created a temporary deduction, unavailable to many beneficiaries, that expires after 2028. It did not abolish taxation of Social Security benefits. 24. He said taxes would rise 68 percent without his bill. No credible independent estimate came close to supporting that figure. 25. He then declared, “I’ve kept all my promises and much more.” 26. He publicly promised at least 53 times to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours, or even before taking office. Continued in replies…

We are supposedly at war to stop Iran from enriching the uranium we “obliterated” over a year ago. Yesterday we signed a deal to help Saudi Arabia enrich uranium. The first time the United States has ever helped another country enrich uranium on foreign soil. The Saudis refused the inspection protocol 140 other countries accept. Too intrusive, they said. Trump agreed. He signed a national security waiver to get around the rule. The Saudis paid Kushner $100 million. They put $2 billion into his firm. They put another $6 billion into LIV Golf, which pays Trump properties to host its tournaments. They signed ten billion dollars in Trump-branded real estate deals in Jeddah and Riyadh. All in just the last few years. But sure. My paintings.