A comprehensive analysis of President Trump's 2026 State of the Union address — what's true, what's false, and what needs context. Sources: NPR, CNN, NBC, ABC, PolitiFact, BLS, CBO, GAO.
Across 1 hour and 48 minutes — the longest SOTU in modern history — the speech was heavy on victory laps and light on accuracy. The most common pattern was taking credit for trends he inherited, inflating numbers beyond what official data supports, and framing bipartisan outcomes as solely his achievements.
PolitiFact has fact-checked 1,144 of Trump's statements since 2011. Tonight's speech was consistent with that track record — mixing genuine accomplishments with substantial exaggeration and outright falsehoods, particularly on taxes, investments, immigration, and healthcare.
Only 19% of Trump's second-term campaign promises have been fulfilled per PolitiFact's MAGA-Meter. 6 in 10 Americans believe the country is worse off than last year (NPR/PBS/Marist poll).