Updated February 24, 2026 at 8:17 PM PST
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President Trump delivered the first official State of the Union address of his second term on Tuesday night. The speech gave Trump the opportunity to tout accomplishments and outline his agenda for his administration's second year.
It comes at at time when Americans are divided on whether Trump's first year has been a success. A new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll shows that six in 10 believe the country is worse off than last year and that a majority think the state of the union is not strong.
Reporters from across NPR's newsroom are fact checking his speech and offer context — on topics like immigration, the economy, tariffs and trade and foreign policy. (Newest fact checks show up first below.)
Drug cartels as FTOs
TRUMP: "For years, large swaths of territory in our region, including large parts of Mexico, really large parts of Mexico, have been controlled by murderous drug cartels. That is why I designated these Cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, and I declared illicit Fentanyl as a Weapon of Mass Destruction."
Under Trump, the State Department has designated a number of drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, or FTOs. This is a novel use of the designation, which has traditionally been used to go after overseas entities that have threatened the security interests of the U.S., such as al-Qaida or ISIS. This pivot in definition of FTO has raised some concern among those who were previously involved in the designation process and other counterterrorism experts. They say that responding to criminal narcotics enterprises that operate from a profit motive is fundamentally different from disrupting networks that sow ideological and violent opposition to the U.S. government.
— Odette Yousef, Domestic Extremism Correspondent
Iranian protesters killed
TRUMP: “And just over the last couple of months, with the protests, they've killed at least — it looks like 32,000 protesters — 32,000 protesters in their own country. They shot them and hung them."
Iran's security forces unleashed a brutal crackdown against protesters in January. The Human Rights Activist News Agency has put the death toll at more than 7,000, though various human rights groups say the number could be even higher. Iran's government has acknowledged more than 3,000 deaths in clashes, a figure that includes protesters and security force members.
— Greg Myre, national security correspondent
Was Iryna Zarutska killed by an immigrant?
TRUMP: "She had escaped a brutal war only to be slain by a hardened criminal set free to kill in America — came in through open borders. Mrs. Zarutska, tonight, I promise you we will ensure justice for your magnificent daughter, Iryna."
Iryna Zarutska was fatally stabbed on August 22, 2025 while riding the light rail line in Charlotte, N.C. Zarutska, who was 23, was stabbed by 34-year-old DeCarlos Brown Jr., who has a reported history of mental health issues.
In tonight's address, Trump claimed Brown was an immigrant released into America thanks to an open border policy. There is no evidence of this. Local media has reported that Brown was born and raised in Charlotte and had spent time in and out of North Carolina jails.
— Jasmine Garsd Immigration Correspondent
"I ended eight wars"
TRUMP: “In my first 10 months, I ended eight wars.”
President Trump has had diplomatic successes, but his repeated claim that he's ended eight wars is an exaggeration.
Perhaps his biggest success to date was brokering a ceasefire in the Israel and Hamas war in Gaza last October. However, Israel has continued to carry out airstrikes, killing hundreds of Palestinians since the truce was announced. Israel alleges many ceasefire violations by Palestinian militias.
Trump's list also includes Israel and Iran. Israel and the U.S. exchanged airstrikes with Iran for 12 days last June before Trump declared a truce. However, none of the longstanding issues were resolved, and Trump is again threatening to attack Iran.
— Greg Myre, national security correspondent
Iran's nuclear program "obliterated"
TRUMP: “That's why, in a breakthrough operation last June, the United States military obliterated Iran's nuclear weapons program with an attack on Iranian soil known as Operation Midnight Hammer. For decades, it had been the policy of the United States never to allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.”
Trump again repeated his oft-stated claim that the U.S. "obliterated" Iran's nuclear program during one day of bombing in Iran last June. There's a broad consensus that combined U.S. and Israeli strikes inflicted major damage on Iran's nuclear program. However, Iran has not allowed international inspectors to examine their nuclear facilities, making a precise assessment impossible.
In addition, Trump has not explained why he's considering a new round of attacks on Iran's nuclear program if it was 'obliterated' just months ago.
— Greg Myre, national security correspondent
Foreign investment
TRUMP: "In 12 months, I secured commitments for more than $18 trillion pouring in from all over the globe."
Trump referenced this figure, but a White House website of total investment at both home and abroad sits at under $10 trillion. And other analyses have found that number inflated as well.
— Saige Miller, Washington Desk Producer
Oil and natural gas production
TRUMP: "American oil production is up by more than 600,000 barrels a day ... American natural gas production is at an all time high because I kept my promise to drill, baby, drill."
The U.S. set an annual crude oil production record last year, rising about 400,000 barrels a day from 2024, according to the Energy Information Administration. That was not a new trend initiated by Trump — crude output rose for four years in a row. However, it's expected to drop by about 100,000 barrels a day in 2026, thanks in large part to low oil prices. Globally, the world is currently oversupplied with oil.
It is true that natural gas production is up; the EIA forecasts record natural gas production in 2026 and 2027. Natural gas prices were low in 2024 but jumped sharply last year, due in part to massive exports of liquefied natural gas from the U.S. to other countries, mostly in Europe and Asia.
Oil companies have not been on a drilling spree, as Trump's "drill, baby, drill" phrasing would suggest. According to Baker Hughes, a firm that monitors the energy industry, the number of active drilling rigs in the U.S. this week is down about 7% from this time a year ago. Low oil prices and skeptical investors have kept companies cautious. However, technological improvements have helped make U.S. oil production more efficient, squeezing more oil and natural gas out of existing wells, which has helped keep production high anyway.
— Camila Domonoske, Cars and Energy Correspondent
Voter fraud is already incredibly rare
TRUMP: "I am asking you to approve the SAVE AMERICA Act to stop illegal aliens and others who are unpermitted persons from voting in our sacred American elections. The cheating is rampant in our elections. It’s rampant."
Trump has been claiming that noncitizens are voting en masse in American elections for more than a decade.
But it's illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal races, and they have never been found to vote in anything but microscopic numbers. In the rare cases they do vote, research has found it's often due to misunderstandings about the rules, as opposed to an attempt to influence election results, as Trump often claims.
Still, since Trump took office for his second term, his government has put more resources than ever before toward trying to find these voters. They've found very little.
"Even states that are looking everywhere to try to amplify the numbers of noncitizens … when they actually look, they find a surprisingly, shockingly small number," said David Becker, an election expert who runs a nonprofit that has been tracking noncitizen voting audits across the country.
In Michigan, an audit after the 2024 election found 16 alleged noncitizen votes out of the state's roughly 5.7 million cast. In Iowa, it was 35 votes out of 1.67 million cast.
Experts often note that for immigrants without legal status, it doesn't make sense to risk prison, deportation and family separation to cast one ballot — especially because the inherent paper trail of voting makes it very easy to get caught.
Trump correctly noted that not every state requires voters to show photo ID at the time they cast a ballot. But he oversimplified the dozen or so states that don't have such a requirement in implying that anyone can easily vote without being verified by officials first.
Federal law already requires identity verification for all voters at registration, by mandating they provide a valid driver's license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number. People who don't register in person are also required to provide ID the first time they vote, regardless of the state they live in.
The SAVE America Act that Trump referenced tonight isn't expected to garner the requisite 60 votes in the Senate needed to overcome a legislative filibuster, but you can still read a breakdown of what's in the proposed Republican election overhaul here.
— Miles Parks, Voting Correspondent
Congressional stock trading ban faces tough odds for passage
TRUMP: “As we ensure that all Americans can profit from a rising stock market, let's also ensure that members of Congress cannot corruptly profit from using insider information. They stood up for that? I can't believe it. I can't believe it. Did Nancy Pelosi stand up if she's here? Doubt it. Pass the 'Stop Insider Trading Act' without delay. I wasn't sure if anybody even on this side was going to applaud for that. I was – I’m very impressed."
Congress has unsuccessfully pursued a stock trading ban for their members for years. Members of both sides of the aisle have put forth proposals that have drawn broad, bipartisan support. However, those efforts have fallen short of becoming law.
Those failures have spanned several House speakers, including former Speakers Nancy Pelosi and Kevin McCarthy. Pelosi's husband, Paul, has drawn attention as a venture capitalist who has been active in trading.
This time around, the GOP-led Stop Insider Trading Act has little chance of passage, currently without much bipartisan support.
— Claudia Grisales, Congressional Correspondent
DHS and terrorism prevention
TRUMP: “As we speak, Democrats in this Chamber have cut off all funding for the Department of Homeland Security — it's all cut off. All cut off. They have instituted another Democrat shutdown, the first one costing us two points on GDP. Two points we lost on GDP, which probably made them quite happy, actually. Now they have closed the agency responsible for protecting Americans from terrorists and murderers."
Since Trump took office for his second term in January 2025, there have been mounting concerns among former federal employees and field experts about a diminished capacity to counter violent extremism. Many seasoned counterterrorism officials left government service, and budget cuts have fundamentally shifted the core infrastructure that had been devoted to community-based prevention programs, data-gathering and analysis. In the case of one of these programs, the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships, the administration replaced an outgoing head with a 22-year-old without experience in law enforcement or counterterrorism. Outside of DHS, other agencies that have traditionally played a role in countering violent extremism, such as the FBI, have seen manpower diverted to immigration enforcement.
— Odette Yousef, Domestic Extremism Correspondent
Payments to insurance companies
TRUMP: "That's why I introduced the “Great Health Care Plan.” I want to stop all payments to big insurance companies and instead, give that money directly to the people so they can buy their own health care, which will be better health care at a much lower cost."
At this point, Trump's "Great Health Care Plan" isn't a comprehensive health policy, but an articulation of policy priorities that Trump has asked Congress to develop into legislation. He supports loosening rules around mandatory benefits required by the Affordable Care Act and promoting health savings accounts, which allow people to set aside pre-tax funds to pay for certain health-related expenses. Under current law, HSA funds can't be used for health insurance costs like premiums.
Even the "catastrophic" or skinny plans preferred by Trump are private insurance plans, and the money paid for them goes to big insurance companies. The only way to stop payments to health insurance companies would be to bolster public health insurance options like Medicaid and Medicare.
— Selena Simmons-Duffin, Health Policy Correspondent
Did murderers, ex-convicts and mental institution patients emigrate to the U.S. under Biden?
TRUMP: "They poured in by the millions and millions from prisons, from mental institutions. There were murderers, 11,888 murders. They came into our country."
There is no evidence of this.
A historic number of people came across the U.S. border during the Biden administration, however many were vetted. Programs like parole and the CBP One app required entry screenings and interviews.
There has also been extensive research showing that immigrants, both documented and undocumented, are less likely to commit crimes than citizens. What's more, although the number of people in immigration detention is at a historic high (near 70,000 as of earlier this month), around 74% have no criminal conviction.
— Jasmine Garsd, Immigration Correspondent
Tariffs and manufacturing
TRUMP: "Moving forward, factories, jobs, investment and trillions and trillions of dollars will continue pouring into the United States of America because we finally have a president who puts America first."
President Trump argues that high tariffs will spark a renaissance in U.S. manufacturing. But it hasn't happened yet. Factories have been in a slump for most of the last year, shedding 108,000 jobs in 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
No doubt Trump's taxes on foreign imports have allowed some U.S. factories to raise their prices. But the vast majority of factory managers, many of whom rely on foreign components, say tariffs have been a drag on their business. "Morale is very low across manufacturing in general," one unnamed factory manager told the Institute for Supply Management in December.
— Scott Horsley, Chief Economics Correspondent
Venezuelan oil "received" in the U.S.
TRUMP: “We just received from our new friend and partner, Venezuela, more than 80 million barrels of oil.”
Since the U.S. captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro last month, the U.S. government has been helping sell some of Venezuela's oil. The U.S. has worked with two Swiss oil trading companies, Vitol and Trafigura. (Both Vitol and Trafigura have pleaded guilty to bribery and settled cases with the Department of Justice during the Biden administration.)
Secretary of Energy Chris Wright says that U.S.-facilitated oil sales total more than $1 billion. However the Venezuelan government has said it has only received $300 million. In a Senate hearing last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said $200 million is in a bank account in Qatar. It's unclear where the rest of the money is and if and when it will get to the Venezuelan people.
The U.S. is the biggest producer of oil in the world and the world is currently oversupplied with oil.
– Julia Simon, Climate Solutions Correspondent
Prescription drug prices
TRUMP: “I’m also ending the wildly inflated cost of prescription drugs like it’s never happened before. Other presidents tried to do it, but they never could. They tried. Most didn’t try, actually. But they tried. They said they’d try. They couldn't do it. They didn't even come close. They were all talk and no action, but I got it done under my just-enacted most-favored nation agreements, Americans who have for decades paid by far the highest prices of any nation anywhere in the world for prescription drugs, will now pay the lowest price anywhere in the world for drugs anywhere – the lowest price. ”
This claim is not true. Americans still pay several times more money for prescription drugs than people in peer countries. The Trump administration has taken aim at drug prices in various ways, but how helpful those efforts will ultimately be — and for how many people — is not yet clear.
His biggest move so far has been to use tariffs as leverage to negotiate deals with more than a dozen drugmakers, and then launch a direct-to-consumer website called TrumpRx where people can buy brand-named drugs at a discount. There are only about 40 drugs currently available on the site, and those same companies Trump struck deals with raised prices on hundreds of other drugs they sell. For most people, using insurance and paying a copay for their medications will be cheaper than TrumpRx, according to an analysis by KFF.
What many peer countries do to keep the prices of prescription drugs down is to regulate those prices. President Trump and congressional Republicans have generally rejected that approach, branding it as "government price setting."
— Selena Simmons-Duffin & Sydney Lupkin, health correspondents
Data centers and electricity rates
TRUMP: "Many Americans are also concerned that energy demand from AI data centers could unfairly drive up their electric utility bills. Tonight, I'm pleased to announce that I have negotiated the new ratepayer protection pledge. You know what that is. We're telling the major tech companies that they have the obligation to provide for their own power needs; they can build their own power plants as part of their factory."
Electricity prices rose 6.3% in the last 12 months – more than double the overall rate of inflation. That's partly due to the high cost of natural gas, which is a major fuel for power plants. It's also due to increased demand, some of which comes from power-hungry data centers. Rising electricity prices were a big theme in last year's gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia.
— Scott Horsley, Chief Economics Correspondent
Declining murder rates
TRUMP: “Last year, the murder rate saw its single largest decline in recorded history. This is the biggest decline, think of it, in recorded history, the lowest number in over 125 years.”
Murders have been on a steep decline following a pandemic-era surge.
The homicide rate in 35 studied cities dropped 21% in 2025, compared with 2024, according to data from the Council on Criminal Justice.
The FBI hasn't released 2025 homicide data for all jurisdictions nationwide yet. However, the Council on Criminal Justice states "there is a strong possibility" that the murder rate will be roughly 4 per 100,000 residents. That, according to the council, would be the lowest rate ever recorded, going back to 1900. It would also mark the largest single-year percentage drop in homicides on record.
Murders and violent crime were already declining under the Biden administration. In 2024, President Joe Biden's final year in office, violent crime dropped to a 20-year low.
— Saige Miller, Washington Desk Producer
Standing by tariffs after rebuke by SCOTUS
TRUMP: "As time goes by, I believe the tariffs, paid for by foreign countries, will, like in the past, substantially replace the modern day system of income tax, taking a great financial burden off the people that I love."
The federal government has been collecting about $30 billion every month in tariffs, which is far more than it made from import taxes before Trump returned to the White House last year.
The Supreme Court struck down about half of Trump's tariffs last week, ruling that the president had exceeded his authority. Some of those levies are being replaced with alternative import taxes.
The Constitution gives Congress the power to levy tariffs — though lawmakers have delegated limited tariff powers to the executive branch.
Economists say the vast majority of tariff bills are being paid by businesses in the U.S. that import products. In some cases, those costs are being passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices.
Tariff revenue, while substantial, has fallen short of what the administration projected. This is partly because some imports have been granted tariff exemptions, and partly because importers have shifted production to countries facing lower tariff rates. Imports from China, for example, made up 12% of total imports in 2024. By last fall that had dropped to about 8%.
— Scott Horsley, Chief Economics Correspondent
Tax cuts
TRUMP: "Last year I urged this Congress to begin the mission by passing the largest tax cuts in American history, and our Republican majorities delivered so beautifully."
Congressional Republicans voted last summer to extend portions of the 2017 tax cut which otherwise would have expired last year. An analysis by the Tax Foundation found the package — the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — is the sixth largest tax cut in U.S. history, not the largest. The bill also adds new tax breaks on tips, overtime pay and Social Security benefits. The result will be somewhat higher take-home pay for many workers in 2026. The bill also cut government spending on safety-net programs such as Medicaid and food stamps.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office says the bulk of the tax savings will go to the wealthy. Middle-income households will see a smaller benefit, between $500 and $1000 a year. For families making less than $55,000 the loss of government benefits will likely outweigh any tax savings, leaving them worse off. The tax cut is also expected to encourage more business investment, which could boost future economic growth.
— Scott Horsley, Chief Economics Correspondent
Gasoline prices
TRUMP: "Gasoline, which reached a peak of over $6 a gallon in some states under my predecessor — it was, quite honestly, a disaster — is now below $2.30 a gallon in most states, and in some places, $1.99 a gallon. And when I visited the great state of Iowa just a few weeks ago, I even saw $1.85 a gallon for gasoline."
According to GasBuddy, only the cheapest 10% of stations in the country are seeing prices of $2.31 per gallon or cheaper. And while gasoline was $1.85 a gallon in Iowa in early January, prices have since risen. As for $1.99 gasoline, "only 8 out of roughly 150,000 gas stations nationwide are selling gasoline below $2 per gallon," GasBuddy's Patrick de Haan wrote on Tuesday.
While the specific prices named by President Trump are exceptional rather than representative, gasoline is certainly cheaper now than it was before his inauguration. The national average gasoline price is currently at $2.92 a gallon, according to AAA, or about 22 cents cheaper than this time a year ago.
Those prices are driven by global markets, and a worldwide oversupply of oil is the dominant force keeping prices in check. Presidents do not set gasoline prices. However, politics can be a factor in global markets, and Trump has put pressure on the oil cartel OPEC to keep oil prices down.
— Camila Domonoske, Cars and Energy Correspondent
Job growth
TRUMP: "More Americans are working today than at any time in the history of our country. Think about that — any time in the history of our country, more working today, and 100% of all jobs created under my administration have been in the private sector. "
Job growth slowed sharply in the last year. U.S. employers added just 181,000 jobs in all of 2025, compared to more than 1.4 million in 2024. Hiring picked up in January of this year, but the job gains last month were concentrated in health care — an industry that is typically insulated from the ups and downs of the broader economy. Unemployment has remained low — just 4.3% in January — but that's up from 4% a year ago when Trump returned to the White House.
— Scott Horsley, Chief Economics Correspondent
Do we have the strongest and most secure border so far?
TRUMP: "After four years in which millions and millions of illegal aliens poured across our borders totally unvetted and unchecked, we now have the strongest and most secure border in American history, by far."
This is partly true.
It is not true that there have been zero crossings; for example, there were 237,538 in 2025, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. But Border Patrol encounters with migrants crossing into the United States from Mexico have fallen to their lowest level in more than 50 years, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of statistics from the federal government.
While it is true that there were a historic number of crossings during the Biden administration, it is untrue that the border was wide open for people to cross unvetted: in the final year of his administration, President Biden significantly tightened controls.
— Jasmine Garsd, Immigration Correspondent
Stock market
TRUMP: "The stock market has set 53 all-time record highs since the election. Think of that – one year – boosting pensions, 401(k)s and retirement accounts for the millions and millions of Americans, they're all gaining. Everybody's up, way up."
The stock market has enjoyed big gains over the last year, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average topping 50,000 for the first time earlier this month. In 2025, the S&P 500 index jumped 18%, after a 24% gain in 2024. The stock market rally has given a boost to many people's retirement savings. It's important to remember, however, that stock ownership is very concentrated. The richest 10% of families own 87% of all stock market wealth, while half of all Americans own little or no stock.
— Scott Horsley, Chief Economics Correspondent
Inflated claims about inflation
TRUMP: "The Biden administration and its allies in Congress gave us the worst inflation in the history of our country, but in 12 months, my administration has driven core inflation down to the lowest level in more than five years, and in the last three months of 2025 it was down to 1.7%."
Inflation has cooled in recent months. But the cost of living is still climbing faster than most people would like. A few items have gotten cheaper in the last year, such as gasoline and eggs. But housing, groceries, electricity and natural gas have all gotten more expensive.
Inflation reached a four-decade high of 9.1% in 2022, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent prices soaring around the world. By the time President Joe Biden left office, inflation had fallen to 3%. It dropped as low as 2.3% last April, before rebounding to 3% in September.
Trump's tariffs have raised the price of some imported goods, but the effects on the overall cost of living have been limited. Annual inflation dipped to 2.4% in January. (A separate measure of inflation, which is closely watched by the Federal Reserve, shows that prices are still climbing at roughly the same rate that they were a year ago.)
— Scott Horsley, Chief Economics Correspondent
A "turnaround for the ages"
TRUMP: "When I last spoke at this chamber 12 months ago, I had just inherited a nation in crisis with a stagnant economy, inflation at record levels…"
The U.S. economy was in solid shape before President Trump returned to the White House for his second term. In fact, in October 2024, The Economist had labeled the U.S. economy "the envy of the world," because it had bounced back from the pandemic recession in stronger shape than most of its peers. To be sure, many Americans were frustrated with the high cost of living, and that dissatisfaction contributed to Trump's victory the following month. However, costs have continued to climb over the last year, and that dissatisfaction is now weighing on Trump's own approval rating. Nearly six-in-ten Americans say the country is worse off now than it was a year ago, according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll.
— Scott Horsley, Chief Economics Correspondent
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