CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale on Thursday said he could “go on and on” about the litany of falsehoods President Donald Trump delivered Wednesday in his White House address to the nation, and didn’t mince words on “News Central” when he was asked what he saw.
“I saw a whole bunch of false claims,” Dale told host Kate Bolduan.
Bolduan went on to play a clip from the speech in which Trump said inflation “was the worst in 48 years” when he took office in January, that he has slashed drug prices by up to 600%, claimed “everything else is falling rapidly” — and said “inflation is stopped.”
“A whole bunch of claims there,” Daniel said. “None of that is true. So, inflation is not stopped. The latest inflation rate we have for September was 3.0%. That was the fifth consecutive month that the year-over-year inflation rate had increased.”
He continued, “Now, it is possible that later this morning we will get a lower rate for November, but that won’t mean that prices have ceased rising, simply that they’re rising less rapidly. It’s also not true that President Trump inherited the worst inflation of all time.”
The rate for November did indeed decrease to 2.7% Thursday, according to NBC News.
Dale explained that the 3% inflation rate Trump inherited was “the exact same rate” in September, and that while it did reach a 40-year high under former President Joe Biden in June 2022, he noted that this wasn’t an all-time high.
“Trump also claimed that the price of eggs are falling,” Dale added. “That is true, but then he said ‘everything else is falling rapidly.’ That is not even close to true, even if he’s talking specifically about grocery prices. Far more grocery items have increased in price this term than have decreased.”
Dale cited a 15% price increase in coffee since January, a hike of around 14% for ground beef and about 8% for the price of bananas, noting, “I could go on and on. Literally, dozens of items. Not true.”
He then quashed Trump’s claim that drug costs are up to 600% lower.
“Those numbers aren’t even mathematically possible,” Dale explained. “If you have a decrease of more than 100%, that means that Americans would be getting paid to acquire their medications. Obviously, that is not happening.”
Dale has debunked these unfeasible numbers before, as Trump has touted even higher figures in recent past. He exposed even more falsehoods Wednesday on “The Source with Kaitlan Collins,” including Trump’s claim that he “settled eight wars” this year.
“President Trump has not settled eight wars,” Dale told Collins. “That list includes various wars, various situations that were not even wars and some conflicts that have not actually been resolved. I could go on. I don’t have time.”
The diligent fact-checker left off by noting that his full analysis will be available online.