Five days after surviving an assassination attempt, Donald Trump formally accepted the GOP presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention on Thursday, July 18.
Trump’s speech marked the end of the four-day RNC in Milwaukee that drew thousands of conservative activists and elected officials. Others speakers on Thursday included former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, wrestling icon Hulk Hogan and Trump’s attorney Alina Habba.
During his speech, Trump talked about issues such as the economy and immigration policy.
VERIFY fact-checked these claims from his speech.
THE CLAIM
Trump said that during his presidency, the U.S. had the “best economy” in its history, adding that the U.S. had “no inflation” and incomes were “soaring.”
THE SOURCES
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
- World Bank
- Texas A&M University analysis written by economics professor Dennis Jansen, Ph.D.
- Wisconsin Watch interview with Josh Bivens, chief economist at the Economic Policy Institute
THE ANSWER
Trump’s comments about the economy are exaggerated.
The unemployment rate did fall to record levels during Trump’s presidency and inflation was low, though not 0%. However, the annual percentage change in gross domestic product (GDP), another key marker for the economy, didn’t set any records under Trump. His claim about soaring incomes is also missing key context.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data show the unemployment rate under Trump did fall to levels that had not been seen since the 1950s.
In September 2019, the unemployment rate fell to 3.5%. Unemployment had not been that low since 1953, the BLS data show.
But the record low during Biden’s term so far is slightly lower at 3.4%, BLS data show.
As for GDP, the annual increases during Trump’s presidency were similar to those seen during former President Barack Obama’s administration and were lower than those seen during other presidential administrations, data from the World Bank show.
Real wages, or those adjusted for inflation, did see their highest increase over one presidential term since the 1970s under Trump. But the large increase in real wages was due in part to low-wage workers being laid-off disproportionately during the COVID-19 pandemic, experts say. You can read more about that here.
THE CLAIM
Trump claimed that under Biden, “groceries are up 57%, gasoline is up 60% and 70%, mortgage rates have quadrupled."
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
Former President Trump exaggerated the rate at which prices rose under President Biden. It’s true that prices have risen during Biden’s term, but not as dramatically as Trump claimed.
Here are the statistics since Biden took office:
Groceries: Increased by about 21%, not “57%,” according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Gas prices: Increased by approximately 45%, not “60-70%,” according to AAA and the Energy Information Administration. When Biden took office, gas prices averaged $2.42 a gallon. Now they average $3.50 a gallon.
Average 30-year mortgage rate: More than doubled, but not “quadrupled,” according to Freddie Mac. When Biden took office, the average rate was 2.77%. Now, it’s 6.77%.
THE CLAIM
Trump claimed Biden has proposed drastic tax hikes. “This is the only administration that said, ‘We’re going to raise your taxes by four times what you’re paying now.’”
THE SOURCES
- Two analyses from budget-focused think tanks
- The Congressional Budget Office
THE ANSWER
This claim is false.
The White House released its latest budget proposal in March, which is just a starting point for the lengthy negotiations to come. Estimates vary on exactly how much more revenue this budget would generate.
But we found multiple independent analyses by budget-focused think tanks that put the estimate at about $4.4 trillion over ten years. That’s about a 7% increase – nowhere near quadrupling.
Most of that increase is coming from increases in corporate taxes and taxes on the highest individual earners.
House Republicans argue that the actual tax increase could be more like $7 trillion.
But even that would only amount to an 11% increase.
THE CLAIM
Trump implied that undocumented immigrants are eligible to receive Social Security and Medicare benefits. He said, “Democrats are going to destroy Social Security and Medicare because all of these people, by the millions, they're coming in. They're going to be on Social Security and Medicare and other things, and you're not able to afford it."
THE SOURCES
- Social Security Administration (SSA)
- The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA)
- The Congressional Research Service (CRS)
- Julia Gelatt, associate director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute
THE ANSWER
Contrary to Trump’s claim, undocumented immigrants are not eligible to receive Social Security and Medicare benefits.
Under federal law, unauthorized immigrants, who are sometimes called undocumented immigrants, “are not eligible for most federal benefits,” with some exceptions for things like emergency Medicaid, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
But those exceptions don’t apply to regular Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits.
There are some noncitizens who can qualify for Social Security and Medicare benefits, but they must be legally residing in the U.S. and meet other eligibility requirements, Julia Gelatt, associate director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute, explained.
THE CLAIM
“They just hired, as you know, 88,000 (IRS) agents to go after [service industry workers] even more.”
THE SOURCES
- U.S. Treasury Department
- The Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
- IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig
- Inflation Reduction Act of 2022
THE ANSWER
Lawmakers have previously claimed that $80 billion allocated to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) through the Inflation Reduction Act will allow the agency to hire 87,000 new agents tasked with auditing middle-class Americans. This has been a popular talking point repeated by many conservative lawmakers over the last year.
The text of the Inflation Reduction Act doesn’t specify a number of new hires for the IRS. The 87,000 number comes from a May 2021 report from the Treasury Department that estimated more funding allocated by President Joe Biden’s administration would allow the IRS to hire nearly 87,000 full-time employees by 2031.
But, if that number is accurate, not all of those employees will be agents tasked with audits.
The IRS said in its strategic operating plan released in April that the agency plans to hire nearly 20,000 new employees by the end of fiscal year 2024. This includes over 7,239 hires in enforcement, as well as nearly 6,500 in taxpayer services and over 3,800 in operations support.
An estimated 52,000 IRS employees across departments are expected to leave or retire in the near future, the federal agency previously said.
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