Just as Donald Trump has lied about ending eleventy bazillion wars, lied about the affordability crisis, and collected a fake Peace Prize from FIFA,, he has also fabricated the number of new investments flowing into the United States since taking office. Trump is also claiming credit for some corporate investments announced under Biden.
"Twenty-one trillion dollars will be the amount invested in the United States — or committed to invest — in one year," Trump said in November in a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. And then in the Oval Office this Wednesday, in between nappy time, Trump said, "In 10 months, we have $18 trillion being invested."
So, where is all this money? It doesn't exist.
CBS News took a deep dive into the matter only to find "no evidence that total commitments or new investments approach the scale the president has cited. While companies and foreign governments have announced large-scale projects since Mr. Trump's inauguration, the White House has not provided documentation showing total investments approaching $21 trillion — an amount roughly two-thirds of the annual GDP."
Via CBS News:
The administration's own list of major investments "made possible by President Trump's leadership" totaled $9.6 trillion as of the latest update in November, but even that figure is exaggerated. It includes some investments announced under President Biden and trade goals that the U.S. is also partially responsible for.
Still, they persisted. "President Trump's dealmaking has secured trillions in investments to make and hire in America, trillions in commercial opportunities for American companies, and trillions in new export opportunities," White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement, while again, providing no evidence.
Grabbing credit that belongs to Biden.
The White House list includes more than 100 corporate commitments totaling over $3 trillion. Yet some of the largest were originally unveiled years before Mr. Trump took office and were backed by federal funding under President Biden's administration.
The administration lists a $200 billion investment by Micron Technology in semiconductor manufacturing and research. However, a company spokesman confirmed $120 billion of that was previously announced in 2022 and supported by $6 billion in funding from Biden's Chips and Science Act.
Similarly, the White House attributes a $16 billion GlobalFoundries investment in U.S. chip production to Mr. Trump. However, only $3 billion is newly promised this year. A company spokesperson said the remaining $13 billion was originally announced under Biden and backed by tax credits from the Chips and Science Act.
...
The White House list also contains apparent errors, including a $3 billion pledge by Kraft Heinz that appears twice. The administration has not responded to a CBS News request for clarification.
None of this is even remotely surprising for a man who has hoodwinked a good portion of the voting bloc into thinking that a former reality show star, whose only political experience is his first term, during which he left office with negative job numbers, can somehow "Make America Great Again." Trump gifted his successor, Joe Biden, with the worst jobs numbers since Herbert Hoover.
Are we great yet?
