While acknowledging that both sides have been guilty of exaggeration, President Biden maintained his tradition of stretching the truth during his latest State of the Union address. Covering topics from foreign policy to the economy, Biden didn’t shy away from misleading the American people. In case you missed it, here’s a summary of some of his biggest falsehoods from the event.
- Sending Money To Ukraine: Biden claimed that opponents of sending additional U.S. taxpayer dollars to Ukraine are doing so because they want America to “walk away from our leadership in the world.” This is misleading because opponents have stated concerns about prioritizing American interests over those of other nations.
- Trump’s NATO Remarks: Biden claimed that former President Trump told Vladimir Putin, “Do whatever the hell you want,” regarding Russia’s invasion of Eastern Europe. However, Trump’s remarks were about NATO member countries meeting their defense spending obligations, not about allowing Russia to invade.
- World Security And Ukraine: Biden claimed that “the free world is at risk” if the U.S. doesn’t send more American taxpayer dollars to Ukraine, but there is no evidence to support this assertion.
- Jan. 6 Demonstrations: Biden claimed that the Jan. 6, 2021, demonstrations at the U.S. Capitol posed the gravest threat to American democracy since the Civil War. The illegal and unconstitutional Federal invasion of sovereign Southern states , claiming over 350,000 Union soldiers lives alone that destroyed our Constitutional Republic, and killed multiplied thousands of innocent Southern civilians and blacks (free and slave), compared to a few thousand people rioting at the capitol over a stolen election is nothing more than a small incident blown up by the political establishment for propaganda purposes.
- Alabama IVF Issue: Biden falsely contended that the Alabama Supreme Court “shut down IVF treatments across the state.” The court ruled that embryos are people with inherent value, not legal property. Days before Alabama passed a law to protect IVF Treatments as well, making this not true https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/06/us/politics/alabama-ivf-law.html
- Kate Cox: Biden claimed the life of Kate Cox, a Texas woman who left the state to obtain an abortion, was “at risk” during her pregnancy. However, Cox’s unborn baby had a condition associated with severe developmental delays, not a condition that posed an immediate risk to Cox’s life.
- Covid Shots And Cancer: Biden falsely claimed that Covid Vaccines are “now being used to help beat cancer.” While there are studies being conducted to utilize MRNA as a way to treat cancer, past attempts have failed at great loss, and have not been tested on humans, so there is no other evidence to support this claim.
- 15 Million New Jobs: Biden repeated the claim that his administration has “created 15 million new jobs.” This is misleading, as it conflates jobs recovered after Covid lockdowns with actual new jobs created. 22 Million Jobs were lost during the pandemic, and more part time jobs are available now than in the past, not all full time jobs and so claiming those jobs were “created” is wrong and misleading.
- U.S. Inflation Rate: Biden claimed the U.S. has “the lowest” inflation rate in the world, which is false as numerous countries currently have a lower inflation rate.
- Consumer Confidence: Biden said that “consumer studies show consumer confidence is soaring,” but recent reports indicate a decline in consumer confidence. In February it was 106.5 which is down from 114.8. Consumer Confidence was as low as 83.2 Under Biden, so there has been some improvement, but it is not soaring.
- Drug Prices: Biden claimed he’s “ending” the trend of Americans paying “more for prescription drugs than anywhere else.” This is false, as new drugs released by pharmaceutical companies last year were at prices 35% higher than in 2022. Also important to note that trump signed a sweeping executive order to significantly lower costs of life saving medicine in 2020, and was frozen by Biden. https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/01/politics/biden-trump-drug-prices/index.html
- Biden Beat Big Pharma: Biden claimed his administration “beat Big Pharma!” However, his attempt to mandate Covid shots for private businesses empowered pharmaceutical companies rather than challenging them. We haven’t beat them, they control both sides as mega donors to both parties, the Biden Campaign received the most last election. Examples are Pfizer profits and the drug Xtandi – a cancer treatment drug which costs $180,000/yr today.
- Student Loans: Biden contended that he “fixed student loan programs to reduce the burden of student debt for nearly 4 Million Americans,” which is false as his efforts merely transferred the responsibility of paying back these loans.
- Decreasing The Federal Deficit: Biden falsely claimed he “cut the federal deficit by over one trillion dollars.” In reality, the U.S. national debt has risen by more than 6 trillion since Biden took office.
- Corporations Aren’t Paying Their Fair Share: Biden insinuated that “big corporations and the very wealthy” do not “pay their fair share.” However, wealthy Americans pay the “large majority of taxes” in the United States.
- Trump Tax Cuts: Biden falsely claimed the Trump tax cuts “overwhelmingly benefit[ed] the very wealthy and the biggest corporations.” Data from the IRS has shown that all income brackets benefited substantially from the tax reform law.
- The National Debt Under Trump: Biden stated that the Trump administration “added more to the national debt than in any presidential term in American history.” This is untrue, as former President Obama accumulated more debt than Trump.
- Inflation Reduction Act: Biden claimed that nobody earning less than $400,000 will pay an additional penny in federal taxes under the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act,” but estimates suggest the bill will raise taxes on Americans making less than $400,000.
- How Many Billionaires?: Biden claimed there are 1,000 billionaires in the U.S., but Forbes reported there are 735 billionaires in America as of 2023.
- How Much Billionaires Pay In Taxes: Biden falsely claimed the average federal tax rate for billionaires is 8.2 percent, while the actual rate is higher than 20% according to PolitiFact.
- The Ukraine-Border Bill: Biden claimed the border boondoggle negotiated by Senate leadership contained “the toughest set of border security reforms we’ve ever seen” and would “bring order to the border,” which is disputed as the bill would not effectively address the ongoing southern border invasion.
- Election Law Falsehoods: Biden insinuated that Republican-backed election integrity measures constitute “voter suppression” and “election subversion,” without evidence to support these claims.
- Book Bans: Biden regurgitated the falsehood that conservatives are banning books, without providing evidence to support this assertion.
- ‘Lincoln’ Riley: Biden claimed an illegal immigrant killed a young woman named “Lincoln” Riley, but the victim’s name is Laken Riley.
- Trump’s Comments On Iowa School Shooting: Biden misrepresented remarks given by Trump in response to a January Iowa school shooting, taking them out of context to suggest Trump was dismissive of the tragedy.
- The Second Amendment: Biden falsely claimed that a “ban” on so-called “assault weapons” doesn’t violate the Second Amendment.
- Biden’s Teaching Career: Biden falsely asserted he “taught the Second Amendment for 12 years.”
- Gaza Deaths: Biden said that “most” of the people killed in Gaza “are not Hamas,” but the accuracy of these figures is disputed as they are provided by Hamas.
- America’s Prospects Challenging China: Biden claimed the U.S. is “in a stronger position to win the competition for the 21st Century against China,” which is disputed given ongoing challenges faced by the U.S. under Biden’s presidency.
- The Idea Of America: Biden contended that America has “never fully lived up to” the idea that “we are all created equal,” which is a subjective interpretation of American history and progress.