Donald Trump’s Relationship with Truth: An Analysis
This post will be more formal that most, due to the present-day dangers of engaging in any political discourse. I’m posting this because it saddens and offends me what I’ve seen over the past several years. I will make the case that not only is Donald Trump a liar, his lies are a danger to the nation.
Donald Trump’s political career has been marked by an extraordinary number of false or misleading claims that far exceed those of previous presidents. According to meticulous documentation by fact-checkers such as PolitiFact, the scale of Trump’s false statements represents a significant departure from historical precedent.
The Washington Post’s Fact Checker database documented 30,573 false or misleading claims during Trump’s first presidential term, averaging approximately 21 erroneous claims per day. This frequency increased over time, with Trump averaging about 6 claims a day in his first year, 16 claims per day in his second year, 22 claims per day in his third year, and 39 claims per day in his final year in office. The Toronto Star separately tallied 5,276 false claims from January 2017 to June 2019, averaging 6 per day. In a 2017 interview with John Dickerson in the Oval Office Trump said he “does not stand by anything” he says.
During campaign periods, the frequency of his lies increased dramatically. In August 2020, Trump was reportedly making more than 50 false or misleading claims daily, with his record being 189 claims in a single day on August 11, 2020. This pattern has continued into his 2024 campaign and second term, with CNN documenting “Trump’s 13 biggest lies of his first month back in office” in February 2025.
Presidential historian Michael Beschloss provided this assessment: “I have never seen a president in American history who has lied so continuously and so outrageously as Donald Trump, period. Dwight Eisenhower used to say one of the most important tools a president of the United States has is that people believe what he says.”
Commentators and scholars have characterized Trump’s relationship with truth as unprecedented in American politics. Another presidential historian, Timothy Naftali described Trump as “the first president to consistently seek to create a separate reality” and noted that “He’s found that the big lie is more powerful than the little lie, and if you’re going to get away with a lie, you might as well go with the big lie.”
Do you remember his first big lie? It was the birther lie, that he doubted President Obama was born in the US. He didn’t begin this baseless conspiracy but he championed it and made it famous. He then refused to accept Obama’s long‑form birth certificate even after its release. In fact he never personally doubted it, it simply kept him in the public eye for 5 years, then when it no longer served a purpose for him he dropped it.
Self-aggrandizing Lies
Many of Trump’s lies involve exaggerating his own accomplishments. In spite of saying his wealth was self made except for a “small loan”, he actually received a $60 million loan from his dad, and received another $350 million from him later on. His personal doctor’s 2015 letter claiming he would be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency” was actually dictated by Trump. He epeatedly claimed huge charitable donations that nobody could find. Later the Trump Foundation was dissolved after authorities found a “shocking pattern of illegality,” including using foundation funds for personal and political purposes. He has repeatedly claimed his tax cut was the biggest in history, despite at least six previous budget increases since 1977 being larger. Similarly he has frequently claimed the U.S. economy under his leadership was “the best in history” despite economists pointing out that the economy performed better under several previous administrations.
Election Lies
Perhaps the most consequential of Trump’s false claims relate to elections. How about his denial that Russia interfered with his first election? He said it was a “made-up story” despite numerous government agencies confirming it had–the Russian government wanted Trump elected. He has repeatedly made false statements about the 2020 election, claiming it was “stolen” despite no evidence of fraud, which contributed to the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot. This pattern continued into 2025, when Trump began making false claims about the 2024 election that he actually won, alleging without evidence that unspecified individuals had “cheated like hell” and questioning the legitimacy of his opponent’s vote count.
Policy Lies
Trump has regularly made false claims about policy matters. During his first term he made approximately 1,400 lies or misleading claims about the coronavirus pandemic and 1,200 false or misleading claims about his impeachment. In 2024-2025, his lies about FEMA’s hurricane response included claims that the agency “spent all their funds” on “illegal immigrants” and had “no workers,” when in fact FEMA had $11 billion in its disaster relief fund and over 20,000 employees. He repeatedly claimed to have a comprehensive healthcare plan to replace the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare), saying it was coming “within weeks” or “very soon,” but he didn’t. Later he said he “essentially repealed Obamacare” but most of it is still intact. Most recently he is fond of saying his tariff policies are being paid by China, when actual economic studies show American citizens and businesses pay.
Mexico and Immigration Lies
One of the most pernicious less he told was about immigrants. “Immigrants are violent criminals and are destroying American cities” for example, and “Mexico will pay for the wall.” Trump claimed Mexico was sending “rapists” and criminals to the US. Throughout his campaign and presidency, he has told countless lies about immigration, including exaggerated crime statistics and border crisis narratives. Mexico never paid for the wall; U.S. taxpayers funded the little construction that occurred, with most of the “new” wall replacing fencing. Finally” Democrats are letting migrants in to vote illegally in federal elections.” These lies (along with the ‘stolen election’ lie) are designed to undermine faith in the electoral system and demonize immigrants.
Impact on Democratic Institutions
Scholars have noted that Trump’s pattern of dishonesty goes beyond typical political spin or occasional falsehoods. A study by Sophie Sceats found that Trump’s lies “threaten norms of democracy and border on authoritarian behavior” by undermining core democratic institutions and eroding public trust in government.
Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election culminated in the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, which some have called a “Russian propaganda technique known as the ‘firehose of falsehood'” – relentless, rapid dissemination of bogus information. This approach has been described by Steve Bannon, Trump’s former campaign CEO and chief strategist, as flooding “the zone with shit” to overwhelm the press and public.
A PR executive noted in February 2025 that this “flood the zone” tactic is designed to prevent the public from focusing on any single action or event by having them occur at such a rapid pace that controversy over specific incidents is minimized.
Legal Implications
Trump’s relationship with truth has had legal consequences. In June 2023, a criminal grand jury indicted Trump on one count of “making false statements and representations,” specifically related to hiding subpoenaed classified documents from his own attorney. He has also faced legal action related to Trump University, which New York’s attorney general described as “a classic bait-and-switch scheme” and “a scam.”
I will only touch briefly on his personal moral failings, which are just as terrible. He has cheated on every wife he has had, he has gone on multiple talk shows and said he’s sexually attracted to his own daughter, and he’s had over 40 women since the 1970s accuse him of sexual assault. Those are close to Bill Cosby numbers. Most damning of these was Jean Carroll, where Trump was found guilty of rape.
The evidence is overwhelming. Donald Trump has told far more false or misleading statements than any other president in modern history. Fact-checkers and researchers have carefully tracked thousands of these claims, which cover everything from his own achievements to elections and government policies. This pattern of dishonesty is very unusual and has continued into his second term. Experts say that this level of lying can damage trust in government and democracy. While all politicians sometimes stretch the truth, Trump’s repeated and widespread falsehoods set him apart from others who have held the office. The question is not whether he is a liar, it is what are we as American citizens, going to do about him?