Verdict: False
82 fact-checksContradicted by the available evidence.
Public Citizen’s count of Trump’s canceled corporate cases holds up; its math and $3.1B figure do not
Trump’s agencies did drop cases and pardon companies, as Public Citizen says. But its totals don’t add up, and most of its $3.1 billion figure was cut by a judge under Biden.
NRC plan drops ALARA and raises emissions benchmark; public dose limit unchanged
A proposed NRC rule would scrap ALARA and lift a reactor emissions benchmark from 10 to 25 mrem a year. The 100 mrem public dose limit stays, and nothing is final yet.
DOJ complained about seven Minnesota judges; it is not investigating them
The Justice Department filed a misconduct complaint and asked the Eighth Circuit to investigate seven Minnesota judges. It is not running an investigation itself.
The Arendt quote is real; her test for totalitarianism does not fit the US
Arendt wrote the crackpots-and-fools sentence, and the record shows loyalty-driven hiring under Trump. By her own criteria, the United States is not totalitarian.
Fraternity men self-report more sexual aggression, but proof of cause is thin
Fraternity men report more sexual aggression than other college men in most studies. Whether fraternities cause that gap, or draw higher-risk men, is still unproven.
Jack Smith never gave the meme’s toll-records answer to Sen. John Kennedy
Kennedy did ask Smith about Democrats’ phone records on Sept. 29. Smith’s real answer differs from the meme, and records show Democrats’ texts were swept in.
Tesla’s lawyer did not claim a right to call Black workers the N-word
Tesla is on trial over racism at Fremont. Its lawyer argued that some uses of the N-word among Black workers are not slurs, not that the company may call workers it. No source counts his uses.
Project 2025 urged farm subsidy cuts, but Republicans enacted increases
Project 2025 never proposed bankrupting family farms. Republicans raised the farm subsidies it wanted cut, and the largest farms collect the biggest share.
Benny Johnson’s Border Claims: Real Data, False Conclusions
Johnson’s border chart cites real CBP numbers — but ‘open the border’ misrepresents Democratic policy, and the ‘replacement’ framing invokes a debunked white nationalist conspiracy theory.
A Belgian diplomats’ memo doubted the US alliance; the government disowned it
The leaked memo is real and says what the FT reports. It is an unapproved October 2025 draft by diplomats, and Belgium’s government has disowned it as policy.
Courts ruled against 18 of Cohen’s 26 charges and settled two
Rep. Steve Cohen filed 26 impeachment articles. Courts have ruled against 18 at some stage, the Supreme Court has settled two, and eight have no court ruling at all.
Lahn’s $7,500 tax claim about Sand cites two sources with no such figure
Zach Lahn says Rob Sand wants to raise Iowans’ taxes $7,500 a year. The ad’s cited sources hold no such figure, and the cuts it points to total about $3,540. False.
Chicago to NYC in 2.5 hours would outpace any maglev built or being built
A 2.5-hour Chicago-NYC trip needs a faster average than any maglev in service or under construction. The highway-over-rail spending shift the post describes is real.
El-Sayed’s $5,619 tariff figure measures Michigan importers, not households
The $5,619 is Michigan importers’ $23.2 billion tariff bill split across the state’s households. The group behind the figure says it is not what each household paid.
No-claims was one of four tests Oz cited, and those enrollees paid no premium
The administration cut 760,000 ACA enrollees and is reviewing about 419,000 more. Never filing a claim was one test among four, and all four applied to fully subsidized plans.
Trump never said the banana line, but the trade-deficit idea it mocks is his
A viral banana quote came from a parody account. On the same day, Trump did say trade deficits are money the US loses, a view trade data and tariff research contradict.
JD Vance repeated at least eight claims after they were publicly debunked
We traced claim, debunk and repeat for JD Vance’s statements since 2024. Eight fit, none was corrected, and his fact-check scorecard can’t carry the rest of the case.
Congress is older than the voters it answers to, and those voters skew old too
The median senator is 12 years older than the median 2024 voter. Research finds lawmakers follow voters, and voters are older than the country.
The research backs later school starts and less overwork, not less homework
A viral post says nearly all research favors less homework, later school starts, more vacation and shorter shifts. Two hold up well, one partly, and homework runs the other way.
No data show trans people commit more violence; Tuberville misnamed two shooters
Two of the five attackers Tuberville named were not trans. Trans people are underrepresented among mass shooters, and no US data can measure their overall crime rate.
The $131.5M DoorDash settlement is real, but the probe began under Eric Adams
New York’s DoorDash settlement is real and, by our count, the largest by any US city labor office. The investigation behind it began under Mayor Adams, and no court ruled.
Belarus Says Its Potash Is Already Sold. A Gulf War Took Diesel to a Record.
Two posts on 21 September named the two costs squeezing American farms. One describes real damage to Russian refineries but points away from the shock that actually moved diesel. The other offers…
One Elected Republican Objected to the Press Ban. Fox News Chaired the Pool That Stopped.
A widely shared article is being read as saying two Republicans denounced the ban. Its own headline says one, and so does its text. The substantive conservative objection came from media…
The Networks Did Refuse to Replace CNN. Cameras Still Covered Trump.
Kaitlan Collins said no camera was broadcasting and sharing the footage with the wider press corps. A viral post cut the last seven words and made it a claim about every camera.
The 90% Is a Reversal Rate on Appeals, Not an Error Rate
The lawsuit is real and says exactly this. Its own paragraphs show the 90% measures appeals that were reversed, and a federal audit puts the measured error rate at 13%.
Congress Would Pass Its Own Medicaid Work Test on the First Line of a Pay Stub
The statute Congress wrote is met by hours or income. The income bar is $580 a month; a member of Congress earns $14,500. The comparison fails on the law’s own terms.
Republicans prompted McConnell’s vote; no one present reported he nearly voted no
The prompting happened and is on the record. The claim that he nearly voted with Democrats traces back to no reporter who was there.
The FBI’s relaxed bestiality rule turns on age, not coercion
Patel told the Senate the FBI’s relaxed bestiality rule shields coerced victims. The criterion reported from the June memo turns on whether the applicant was under 18, not on coercion.
Trump’s claims that oil was higher under Biden and prices are falling don’t hold
Brent closed at $109.51 on Sept 9. Oil beat that on 72 of Biden’s 1,011 trading days. Core prices, energy already excluded, are up 1.83 percent since January.
The Denial Thesis: Checking a Popular Argument About Trump’s Voters
The individual facts in the argument mostly hold. The causal story bolted onto them does not, and on the two claims where the data can test a sequence, the arrow runs the other way.
The EPA Stopped Pricing Lives Saved
A viral alert says the EPA will weigh only industry costs when limiting soot and smog. The rule text confirms the substance. Zeldin’s ‘fake news’ response does not survive it.
Does Grindr Spike at Political Conventions?
The traffic pattern is real and it is not a Republican phenomenon. The 2016 Democratic convention produced the largest spike on record. The word doing the most work is ‘crash.’
Groceries Since 2020: The Real Number Is 32%, Not 130%
A viral post says a grocery basket more than doubled since 2020. Federal data says food at home rose 32%. Both that claim and the 3% figure it attacks are wrong, in opposite directions.
US intelligence assessed Iran was not building a weapon before the strikes
Trump justified two rounds of strikes on Iran with claims of imminent weaponization. His own intelligence agencies assessed otherwise, including in writing that Iran was not rebuilding.
Trump’s Third Dividend Promise
A $5,000 check to every adult, if Republicans keep Congress. Two earlier per-person dividend promises produced no payments. The one that did pay was already funded by Congress.
America Guarantees Zero Days Off
Trump said America has too many holidays, costing billions. US law mandates zero paid holidays and zero paid vacation, alone among 21 rich countries. Japan guarantees 15.
Measles, Migration, and the Missing Evidence
Donalds blamed Biden-era immigration for the 2026 measles surge. CDC data: 16 of 2,903 cases involved international visitors. The cause is declining vaccination.
The Oval Office Warnings Before the Iran War — What the WSJ Record Actually Shows
A viral rewrite converts Trump’s pre-war deliberations into an ignored secret warning. The WSJ shows one camp advised attack, one warned off; Trump chose the wrong one.
Fact-Check: Trump’s August 2026 Canada Trade Claims — ‘Ripping Off,’ the $200B Subsidy, ‘Don’t Need Canada,’ and a False Auto History
Trump’s ‘ripping off,’ ‘$200B subsidy,’ and ‘don’t need Canada’ claims rated alongside Greer’s false Auto Pact history and Canadian counterclaims.
Fact-Check: Did Trump Target the French Language in Canada? His Administration’s Paper Trail Says Yes.
Trump denies targeting Canada’s French language. The US listed Quebec’s language law as a trade barrier and demanded French-media subsidy cuts. Polling shows 85% of Quebecers backed Carney.
Fact-Check: Attorney General Todd Blanche on Meet the Press, August 16, 2026
Two claims rate False: Blanche on presidential direction (the Bondi episode contradicts the “never”) and his Biden clemency description (Jan. 17 commutations were non-violent).
FinCEN’s CTA Rollback: A Claim-by-Claim Fact-Check of the August 2026 Beneficial Ownership Exemption
FinCEN permanently exempts U.S. entities from BOI reporting and deletes collected data, going further than courts required in a move that serves both small businesses and anonymity-seekers.
Did Fauci’s Texts Prove He Knew Vaccines Caused Miscarriages?
Texts show Fauci flagged a theoretical miscarriage mechanism in 2021. The viral claim he knew and hid it is False; a transparency question remains Contested.
El-Sayed, Rogers, and the Misattributed 9/11 Claim
Rogers said El-Sayed ‘believes America deserved 9/11.’ That quote belongs to Hasan Piker. El-Sayed rejected it on camera. The live debate is his refusal to condemn it.
Did Trump Serve in the Military?
Trump never served. Five Vietnam-era draft deferments, a disputed bone spurs diagnosis, and a private military school do not add up to military service. Verdict: False.
Fact-Check: Eight Outlets, One Flawed Argument — The “Liberal Media Is a Myth” Graphic
[Corrected] A viral graphic claims eight outlets prove no liberal media. CNN is false. The test: WaPo, LA Times, ABC, CBS accommodated — under owners with divergent partisan profiles.
Trump’s Midnight Munitions Post: Five Claims, Five Verdicts
ATACMS are gone, Patriots are down two-thirds, and WWII built far more factories. Five claims from Trump’s midnight post, rated.
Peru, not the US, had the world’s highest confirmed COVID-19 death rate
RFK Jr.’s claim that the U.S. had the highest COVID death rate globally is false. Peru’s confirmed rate was nearly double the American figure. Among peer nations, the U.S. story is worse.
The Fine Print on Utility Money: Haley Stevens’ Senate Claim, Examined
Stevens denied taking utility money for her Senate campaign. FEC records show $5,000 from DTE and Consumers Energy PACs reached her Senate account via her House committee’s transfer ledger.
Fauci’s Diary and Masks: What the Viral Claim Gets Backward
Viral posts claim Fauci’s released diary proves ‘everything he was pushing about Covid was a lie’ on masks. The specific diary entry cited — March 31, 2020 — says the opposite…
Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism: What 40 Years of Research Shows, and What RFK Jr. Changed at the CDC
More than 40 large-scale studies covering 5.6 million children found no vaccine-autism link. The claim’s only scientific source was fabricated for money and retracted in 2010. Under RFK Jr., the CDC…
Trump’s Saudi Nuclear Post: The “No Enrichment” Claim Doesn’t Match the Signed Deal
A real civil nuclear cooperation agreement was signed July 22, 2026 — but the deal Trump signed does not prohibit enrichment (it contains a pathway to an enrichment facility via a joint study, and…
Trump’s Canada Wildfire Post: Negligence, Tariffs, and What the Science Says
Three of six claims are False (Canada ‘refused to engage,’ ‘willful negligence,’ and adding pollution costs to tariffs — which have no legal mechanism post-IEEPA); two are Misleading (forest…
Fact-Check: Trump’s Digital Equity Act ‘Victory’ Post — What the Court Actually Ruled
A federal judge struck down one race-targeted provision but simultaneously ordered Trump’s Commerce Department to reinstate over $1.25 billion in canceled broadband grants; advocates called it their…
McConnell Rehab Photo: AI, Recycled, or Real?
Forensic experts and four independent fact-checkers found no evidence the July 12 rehabilitation photo was AI-generated or recycled from 2023; all three viral claims rate False, though the…
Trump Claims DC Crime Is Down 95%: What the Numbers Actually Show
DC crime is down 20% overall and homicides 38% year-to-date in 2026 — significant, but nowhere near the 95% Trump claimed; the ‘Italian Embassy’ he praised is the US Ambassador’s Residence in Rome,…
NY Millionaire Flight and $5K Rents: What the Data Shows, and What Mamdani Has to Do with It
The CBC tax-revenue and rent figures are real, but the viral post misattributes a 12-year trend to a mayor who has been in office six months and misrepresents undocumented immigration as the cause…
Trump Threatens to Block the Housing Bill Over the SAVE America Act
Trump’s post is accurate on the Housing Bill’s passage but misleads on three fronts: the 97% Republican polling figure lacks any identified source, the SAVE America Act as passed by the House does…
The “Black-on-White Crime Epidemic” Claim: What the Government’s Own Numbers Say
The raw figures in the viral post are mostly real. The epidemic they are arranged to prove is contradicted by the same government tables they came from.
Trump’s ‘National Scallops Day’: What the Post Gets Right, Leaves Out, and Gets Wrong
The NOAA action opening the Northern Edge of Georges Bank is real, but the post misattributes a 32-year-old Clinton-era closure to Obama and Biden, falsely credits Biden as co-creator of the…
‘The UAE Sent $580 Million Directly to Trump’: Checking the Viral Crypto Bombshell
A viral video says the UAE bought half of Trump’s crypto company and funneled $580M ‘directly to the President.’ The deal is real and serious — but the number is inflated and ‘directly’ is wrong.
Did the Supreme Court ‘Take Restrictions Off Political Spending’?
Trump says the Court removed limits on political spending; a critic says it lets billionaires buy elections. It struck one limit, on coordinated party spending. Here’s what fell and what it changes.
Did Trump Buy a Taser Maker’s Stock Before ICE Sought a $220M Deal?
A viral tweet says Trump bought Axon stock two weeks before ICE went looking for $220M in tasers, and that it’s ‘super illegal.’ The trade is real and CNBC-documented. The ‘illegal’ part is not.
Fact-Checking ‘Trump’s Biggest Failure’: The Op-Ed vs. the Data
A Common Dreams column calls Trump the biggest failure in recent presidential history. Its sourced numbers mostly hold; ‘hyperinflation’ and ‘tanked the economy’ do not.
Trump’s Gas Price Post: Six of Seven Claims Fail the Numbers
WTI crude settled at $70.56 on June 29, not $68; gas prices had already fallen 53 cents/gallon in one month; $2.50/gallon is mathematically impossible at current crude costs; no federal price…
Did the USAID Cuts ‘Do Nothing’? Checking Musk’s ‘Not a Single Name’
Musk says no one can name a person who died from his aid cuts, and the ‘millions’ are false. A NYT columnist named four; models estimate hundreds of thousands of deaths already.
Fact-Check: Trump’s Truth Social Attack on Maggie Haberman’s “Regime Change”
Trump calls the co-authored Regime Change book ‘largely fiction’ — but his own White House confirmed its accuracy. His electoral stats are mostly correct; his tape denial is unproven; his Iran…
Is Antifa a Designated Domestic Terrorist Organization?
Trump’s September 2025 order declared antifa a ‘domestic terrorist organization.’ No federal law lets him: the U.S. has no domestic designation power, and the order cites none.
Was Trump’s Iran Deal a “Catastrophic Capitulation” for Israel?
The NYT’s reporting on Israel’s shock is accurate, but its ‘none of Israel’s war aims’ verdict omits Israel’s real tactical wins, and the Lebanon-withdrawal claim remains contested.
Is the Iran War “Worse Than Vietnam”? Fact-Checking Foreign Policy’s Verdict
Foreign Policy’s facts on the 2026 Iran war check out; its ‘defeat worse than Vietnam’ verdict is a contested argument, and real upsides for Trump exist that it minimizes.
The “Two Santas” Strategy: A Fact-Check
Fact-checking the viral “Two Santa Clauses” essay on GOP vs. Democratic economic strategy: the core thesis holds up, but several headline details are wrong.
The $600M Ballroom & Three More Claims: A Fact-Check
A newsletter four claims, checked: the $300M ballroom taxpayer-free label, GOP senators balking at the Iran deal, and the WSJ retreat verdict all hold; the affordability promise does not.
Does This Deal Stink? Trump’s Crypto Firm Becomes a Bank
World Liberty Financial — the Trump-family crypto firm — is about to get a federal bank charter from Trump’s own OCC appointee. It’s legal (the president is exempt from the conflict statute) but a…
Billions for Iran, None for Health Care? A Fact-Check
A viral framing pairs one true claim with three shaky ones: the money to Iran is its own frozen assets, the US did not pay Venezuela $20 billion, and Trump did call Medicaid unaffordable amid war.
Depression Talk and Hitler Comparisons: Fact-Checking a Viral Reddit Thread
The US checks none of the Great Depression hard markers but faces real recession risk. The Hitler analogy is contested: experts document authoritarian drift, the 1930s comparison overreaches.
Noncitizen Voting: What Republicans Claim vs. What the Data Shows
State audits, Trump own disbanded commission, a federal court loss, and Heritage own fraud database all find noncitizen voting vanishingly rare, far too rare to swing elections.
3,711 Trades: A Fact-Check of Trump’s Presidential Stock Portfolio
Trump filed 3,711 stock trades worth $220M-$750M in Q1 2026 — including unsolicited purchases in companies he praised the same day, contradicting blind-trust claims and exploiting a legal exemption…
DNC 2024 Autopsy: What It Gets Right, Wrong, and Omits
The DNC’s 192-page 2024 election autopsy correctly identifies strategic failures but is riddled with factual errors, missing sections, and a glaring omission of Gaza’s electoral impact.
Did China Troll Trump? A Claim-by-Claim Fact-Check of the Beijing Summit
Five viral claims about China trolling Trump during his May 2026 state visit — one false, two true, two true-but-misframed — with sources for every detail.
Originalism When Convenient: A Case-by-Case Audit of the Conservative Supreme Court’s Own Standard
The conservative majority says it decides by text, history, and tradition. A case-by-case audit of six landmark rulings finds the method applied where it helps and set aside where it would not.
Trump Calls for Obama’s Arrest: A Fact-Check of Every Claim
Trump posted 55 times in three hours calling for Obama’s arrest on treason charges — every specific claim he made has been investigated and debunked, most of them by Trump’s own appointees.
8,499 Posts, Fact-Checked: What the President Told America From Truth Social
A data-driven, bipartisan fact-check of the most significant claims Trump made on Truth Social during his second term — 8,499 posts categorized, cross-referenced against court filings, government…