US President Donald Trump used his inauguration address to lambast his predecessor and promise a new “golden age of America”.
After he was sworn in, he painted a picture of a struggling country, promising that “from this moment on, America’s decline is over”.
Referring to his previous election loss, Trump claimed he had “a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal” and promised to “give the people back their faith, their wealth, their democracy and indeed their freedom”.
In his speech, he made numerous claims about the state of the country and his predecessor Joe Biden’s achievements.
Here, The i Paper takes a look at the facts.
In his speech, Trump sought to blame his Democratic predecessor for wildfires spreading in California and other natural disasters.
He said: “We have a government that has given unlimited funding to the defense of foreign borders, but refuses to defend American borders, or, more importantly, its own people.
“Our country can no longer deliver basic services in times of emergency, as recently shown by the wonderful people of North Carolina, been treated so badly, and other states who are still suffering from a hurricane that took place many months ago.
“Or more recently, Los Angeles, where we are watching fires still tragically burn from weeks ago without even a token of defense. They’re raging through the houses and communities even affecting some of the wealthiest and most powerful individuals in our country, some of whom are sitting here right now. They don’t have a home any longer. That’s interesting. We can’t let this happen.”
It is not true that no defences were deployed to fight the wildfires.
Trump has previously blamed Biden and other Democratic leaders for the wildfires.
He previously wrote on Truth Social that FEMA, the federal disaster response agency, has “no money” as it is “all wasted on the Green New Scam”.
However, the claim about Federal Emergency Management Agency money being wasted on the Green New Deal, an environmental legislative proposal that was never adopted, is false.
FEMA has previously said that no money is being diverted from disaster response needs. FEMA’s disaster response efforts and individual assistance is funded through the Disaster Relief Fund, which is a dedicated fund for disaster efforts.
The funding is legally ringfenced so the money in it cannot be used for other purposes.
Verdict: False
Claim: US no longer delivering basic services
Trump used his speech to criticise the state of the nation under his predecessor, condemning the US education and health systems and vowing to end “America’s decline”.
The claim that the US is no longer delivering “basic services” – made by Trump when discussing disaster responses in the aforementioned part of his speech – is exaggerated.
Basic public services in the United States include healthcare, education, and social welfare. These services are funded by taxpayers and provided by the government or public institutions.
Trump’s economic advisers are reportedly discussing possible cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and other government welfare programmes.
Medicaid is the largest program providing medical and health-related services to low-income people in the US. Medicaid was originally available only to people receiving benefits, but was expanded to children and selected adult groups.
Verdict: False
Trump’s description of tariffs is incorrect. Tariffs are paid by US importers not by foreign countries or foreign exporters.
Critics of tariffs have argued that tariffs will be passed on to US consumers who will end up paying higher prices.
A study by the bipartisan US International Trade Commission found that Americans bore almost the entire cost of Trump’s tariffs on Chinese products in his first term.
Proponents of tariffs, however, argue that they encourage companies to produce products inside the US and hire domestic workers, rather than relying on cheaper labour abroad.
Verdict: False
Claim: New agency set up to collect tariffs
Trump said: “I will immediately begin the overhaul of our trade system to protect American workers and families. Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens.
“For this purpose, we are establishing the external revenue service to collect all tariffs, duties and revenues, it will be massive amounts of money pouring into our treasury coming from foreign sources. The American dream will soon be back and thriving like never before.”
An external revenue service to collect tariffs has existed since 1789, when it was established by George Washington. Then called the US Customs Service, it is now known as US Customs and Border Protection.
Trump has not specified whether the new agency will replace the role of US Customs and Border Protection.
Some commentators have pointed out that his speech makes it sound like this type of service does not exist, and is therefore misleading.
However, it is possible that Trump will clarify why this new agency is needed in the future.
Verdict: True
Trump said: “I will declare a national emergency at our southern border.
“All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.
“We will reinstate my ‘remain in Mexico’ policy. I will end the practice of catch and release, and I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country.”
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Describing migrant crossings as an “invasion” is hyperbole, so the statement is technically false.
But the premise – that migrant crossings have become more prevalent at the southern border – is true as they rose under President Biden.
US border officials record “encounters” with migrants – including people who attempted to cross illegally and people who tried to enter illegal but were not able to.
They rose to record high levels under Biden. Since January 2021 there have been more than 10 million encounters, including about 8 million over the southwest land border with Mexico.
Under the previous Trump administration there were 2.4 million encounters on this border, with a slowdown of arrivals during Covid.
There were 11 million illegal migrants living in the US in 2022, according to the US Department of Homeland Security.
Verdict: False
Trump falsely claimed the US experienced “record inflation” during the Biden administration.
The US inflation rate hit a 40-year high of 9.1 per cent in June 2022 but the record high is 23.7 percent, set in 1920.
Verdict: False
Claim: Record inflation was caused by ‘massive overspending’ and energy crisis
Trump said: “I will direct all members of my Cabinet to marshall the vast powers at their disposal to defeat what was record inflation and rapidly bring down costs and prices.
“The inflation crisis was caused by massive overspending and escalating energy prices, and that is why today I will also declare a national energy emergency. We will drill, baby, drill.”
Economists agree that energy prices were a leading driver of high inflation in the aftermath of the pandemic, so this is true.
Another key factor was a backlog of work orders for goods and services caused by supply chain issues due to Covid.
When Covid restrictions were lifted in the US, there was a surge in consumer demand but, because places like China still had lockdowns affecting their factories, there were not enough products to meet demand. Prices increase when demand exceeds supply.
Some – but not all – reputable economists believe that large amounts of spending and debt to prop up the US economy during Covid restrictions contributed to inflation.
Economists at the board of governors of the US Federal Reserve, for example, said they believe the funding boosted the consumption of goods without impacting production, which exacerbated the mismatch between supply and demand.
Verdict: Mostly true
Claim: US provides sanctuary for prisoners from other countries
Trump claimed the Biden administration “provides sanctuary and protection for dangerous criminals, many from prisons and mental institutions, that have illegally entered our country from all over the world”.
The claim that “many” migrants come from prisons or mental institutions has never been supported by substantial evidence from Trump’s team.
The US president has previously asserted that the global prison population is down to support similar claims but this is incorrect.
In rallies he has previously claimed that foreign governments are deliberately emptying prisons and mental institutions to send people to the US as migrants, but there is no substantial evidence of this.
Verdict: False
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Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( From ‘massive’ taxes to border ‘invasion’, fact-checking Trump’s inauguration )
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