Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
I humbly suggest not watching the State of the Union address tomorrow. Since Donald J. Trump will be delivering this address, it will be packed with lies anyway. Let's not give this narcissist any additional attention to stroke his fragile ego. Donald J. Trump will become apoplectic if the Nielsen ratings indicate low viewership!
having not trashed time for any trump speech since 2020, i have yet to encounter a summary that indicates he has veered from this format : 1. praise himself for xyz (truth irrelevant) 2. bash critics (especially if he has taken credit for their productive work) 3. praise anyone that has praised him (as a message they need to do more)
I put it on and watched, in spite of myself. It might just be better to know, rather than to not know. Orange Fart understands that the American voting public is an audience. (More's the pity that it's true.) I stole that thought from Michael Wolff during the podcast with Joanna Coles, "Inside Trump's Brain." There were damnable lies and theatrics and dramatics and bullshit. Along the way, some of our military were decorated. He is such a detestable, immature child.
The NY Times fact-checked Trump's speech. There were many lies and exaggerations as to be expected. Here are a few examples.
“When I last spoke in the chamber 12 months ago, I had just inherited a nation in crisis with a stagnant economy, inflation at record levels, a wide open border, horrendous recruitment for military and police, rampant crime at home, and wars and chaos all over the world. Tonight after just one year, I can say with dignity and pride that we have achieved a transformation like no one has ever seen before. A turnaround for the ages.” — President Trump
False "Mr. Trump’s claims of a historic turnaround are not backed by the facts."
“In four long years, the last administration got less than $1 trillion in new investment in the United States. And when I say less, substantially less. In 12 months, I secured commitments for more than $18 trillion pouring in from all over the globe.” — President Trump
False "Mr. Trump’s stated $18 trillion is almost double what his own White House press office has tallied ($9.7 trillion). It also includes broad pledges and previously announced projects. And more than half of that amount comes from informal pledges from foreign countries to invest in the United States that experts warn may be unrealistic."
“As thousands of new businesses are forming, factories, plants and laboratories are being built, we have added 70,000 new construction jobs in just a very short period of time.” — President Trump
This is exaggerated. "Mr. Trump promoted a large increase in construction jobs, but did not specify what period of time he was talking about. According to Associated Builders and Contractors, the construction industry added just 14,000 jobs in 2025. Builders have generally struggled over the last year because of high interest rates and the high cost of steel and aluminum. The cost of building components has been rising because of Mr. Trump’s tariffs on imports of metals."
“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.” — President Trump
This is false. "Mr. Trump is asserting that foreign countries pay U.S. tariffs, but it is American importers that pay those levies."
"The recent Supreme Court ruling that found Mr. Trump was using emergency tariffs illegally confirmed that U.S. businesses were paying the tariffs. The government is now expected to refund more than $100 billion in tariff revenue to businesses that paid them."
"It is unlikely that tariff revenue will replace income taxes any time soon. In 2024, the federal government collected $2.4 trillion in federal income taxes. Tariff revenue was around $300 billion last year, and roughly half of that will have to be repaid due to the Supreme Court ruling."
“If we’re able to find enough of that fraud, we will actually have a balanced budget overnight.” — President Trump
False. "It is implausible that all fraud in government programs would balance the federal budget. The federal deficit was $1.8 trillion in 2025. A 2024 report from the Government Accountability Office estimated that the federal government lost $233 billion to $521 billion to fraud annually, including schemes that were undetected. Eliminating all fraud in government programs across the country would reduce the federal deficit by a third."
“Under Biden and his corrupt partners in Congress and beyond, it reached a breaking point with the green new scam, open borders for everyone. They poured in by the millions and millions from prisons, from mental institutions. There were murderers, 11,088 murderers.” — President Trump
This is false. "Mr. Trump is right that record numbers of migrants entered the United States under the Biden administration, particularly in the fiscal years 2022 and 2023. But his most repeated statements warning about the level of illegal immigration and characterizing unauthorized migrants as criminals taking advantage of government handouts are inaccurate. They also wrongly describe federal data."
“We will always protect Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid.” — President Trump
False. "Mr. Trump has long promised to avoid major changes to Medicare and Social Security, and his record largely matches his rhetoric on those programs."
"But Mr. Trump’s signature legislation, the major tax and domestic policy bill passed last summer, made more than $1 trillion in cuts to the Medicaid program over the next decade, the largest reduction in the program’s history. A substantial share of the savings is expected to come through pushing more than 10 million people out of the program through more stringent eligibility checks and a new requirement that childless adults without disabilities prove they worked or volunteered a minimum number of hours each month."
"The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office also projected this week that tax changes in the bill will harm Medicare’s long-term financing and speed up the exhaustion of the trust fund that pays for the program’s hospital care benefit."
At the end of the night, after all the lies and bullshit,, he still is the dictator. Nothing has changed.
Which is why I fixed myself a nice dinner (with dessert) last night. Enjoyed a little Britbox mystery series and went to bed. I probably feel a lot better today than those that watched the main event.
Comments
I hear you.
This is another excellent reason to avoid the broadcast!
There are all bullshit, this will be BS squared.
having not trashed time for any trump speech since 2020, i have yet to encounter a summary that indicates he has veered from this format :
1. praise himself for xyz (truth irrelevant)
2. bash critics (especially if he has taken credit for their productive work)
3. praise anyone that has praised him (as a message they need to do more)
There were many lies and exaggerations as to be expected.
Here are a few examples.
“When I last spoke in the chamber 12 months ago, I had just inherited a nation in crisis with a stagnant economy, inflation at record levels, a wide open border, horrendous recruitment for military and police, rampant crime at home, and wars and chaos all over the world. Tonight after just one year, I can say with dignity and pride that we have achieved a transformation like no one has ever seen before. A turnaround for the ages.”
— President Trump
False
"Mr. Trump’s claims of a historic turnaround are not backed by the facts."
“In four long years, the last administration got less than $1 trillion in new investment in the United States. And when I say less, substantially less. In 12 months, I secured commitments for more than $18 trillion pouring in from all over the globe.”
— President Trump
False
"Mr. Trump’s stated $18 trillion is almost double what his own White House press office has tallied ($9.7 trillion). It also includes broad pledges and previously announced projects. And more than half of that amount comes from informal pledges from foreign countries to invest in the United States that experts warn may be unrealistic."
“As thousands of new businesses are forming, factories, plants and laboratories are being built, we have added 70,000 new construction jobs in just a very short period of time.”
— President Trump
This is exaggerated.
"Mr. Trump promoted a large increase in construction jobs, but did not specify what period of time he was talking about.
According to Associated Builders and Contractors, the construction industry added just 14,000 jobs in 2025. Builders have generally struggled over the last year because of high interest rates and the high cost of steel and aluminum. The cost of building components has been rising because of Mr. Trump’s tariffs on imports of metals."
“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.”
— President Trump
This is false.
"Mr. Trump is asserting that foreign countries pay U.S. tariffs, but it is American importers that pay those levies."
"The recent Supreme Court ruling that found Mr. Trump was using emergency tariffs illegally confirmed that U.S. businesses were paying the tariffs. The government is now expected to refund more than $100 billion in tariff revenue to businesses that paid them."
"It is unlikely that tariff revenue will replace income taxes any time soon. In 2024, the federal government collected $2.4 trillion in federal income taxes. Tariff revenue was around $300 billion last year, and roughly half of that will have to be repaid due to the Supreme Court ruling."
“If we’re able to find enough of that fraud, we will actually have a balanced budget overnight.”
— President Trump
False.
"It is implausible that all fraud in government programs would balance the federal budget. The federal deficit was $1.8 trillion in 2025. A 2024 report from the Government Accountability Office estimated that the federal government lost $233 billion to $521 billion to fraud annually, including schemes that were undetected. Eliminating all fraud in government programs across the country would reduce the federal deficit by a third."
“Under Biden and his corrupt partners in Congress and beyond, it reached a breaking point with the green new scam, open borders for everyone. They poured in by the millions and millions from prisons, from mental institutions. There were murderers, 11,088 murderers.”
— President Trump
This is false.
"Mr. Trump is right that record numbers of migrants entered the United States under the Biden administration, particularly in the fiscal years 2022 and 2023. But his most repeated statements warning about the level of illegal immigration and characterizing unauthorized migrants as criminals taking advantage of government handouts are inaccurate. They also wrongly describe federal data."
“We will always protect Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid.”
— President Trump
False.
"Mr. Trump has long promised to avoid major changes to Medicare and Social Security, and his record largely matches his rhetoric on those programs."
"But Mr. Trump’s signature legislation, the major tax and domestic policy bill passed last summer, made more than $1 trillion in cuts to the Medicaid program over the next decade, the largest reduction in the program’s history. A substantial share of the savings is expected to come through pushing more than 10 million people out of the program through more stringent eligibility checks and a new requirement that childless adults without disabilities prove they worked or volunteered a minimum number of hours each month."
"The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office also projected this week that tax changes in the bill will harm Medicare’s long-term financing and speed up the exhaustion of the trust fund that pays for the program’s hospital care benefit."