🚨 BREAKING: Karoline Leavitt PANICS as Fox News Hosts TURN on Her LIVE — The On-Air Confrontation That Left the Studio STUNNED

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump delivered a nationally televised address on Thursday night that was intended to reset his political narrative ahead of looming midterm elections. Instead, the speech appeared to underscore the vulnerabilities that have increasingly defined his second term: disputed claims, exaggerated figures, and a governing record that polling suggests many Americans view with skepticism.

The address, marked by raised volume, halting delivery and frequent departures from prepared remarks, cast Mr. Trump as a leader who had “inherited a mess” and swiftly transformed the nation’s fortunes. Nearly every major problem confronting the country, he argued, could be traced to the previous administration, while his own policies — particularly tariffs and immigration enforcement — were credited with dramatic improvements.

Yet many of the president’s assertions conflicted sharply with publicly available data.

Mr. Trump claimed that inflation was at its worst level “in 48 years” when he took office. In fact, inflation at that time hovered between 3 and 4 percent, well below the roughly 9 percent peak reached during the Biden administration and close to current levels. He also asserted that his policies had rapidly driven prices down, even as multiple economic indicators show that consumer prices remain elevated and that tariffs have contributed to higher costs for households and businesses.

On immigration, the president repeated his frequent assertion that as many as 25 million people had entered the United States unlawfully, many from prisons or mental institutions. Government statistics and independent analyses have found no evidence to support figures anywhere near that scale. Border encounters did rise sharply in recent years, but experts say the president’s numbers exaggerate those trends by orders of magnitude.

Crime featured prominently as well. Mr. Trump described American cities as having been engulfed in lawlessness before his return to office and claimed that his administration had restored unprecedented levels of safety. Federal crime data, however, show that violent crime peaked during the pandemic years and declined steadily afterward, including during the final years of the Biden administration.

The president also touted his trade record, declaring that foreign nations no longer “laughed” at the United States. But global surveys have consistently shown a decline in international confidence in American leadership during Mr. Trump’s first term, and several of the trade agreements he criticized — including the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement — were negotiated by his own administration and are now being strained by his renewed use of tariffs.

Perhaps the most striking claims came when Mr. Trump turned to the economy. He said his administration had secured $18 trillion in new investment, a figure equal to more than half of the nation’s annual gross domestic product. The White House has offered far smaller estimates, and economists note that many of the cited investments are aspirational commitments rather than realized projects. Similar promises during Mr. Trump’s first term often failed to materialize.

Tariffs, which the president once again described as his “favorite word,” were presented as the engine behind this supposed economic renaissance. Polling, however, suggests that tariffs remain among his most unpopular policies, with large majorities of Americans saying they raise prices and hurt consumers.

Health care proved to be a particularly fraught topic. Mr. Trump insisted that Democrats were responsible for looming increases in insurance premiums and claimed that his signature legislation would eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits. In reality, the law expands certain deductions for some seniors but does not end taxation of Social Security benefits altogether. Analysts warn that the expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies could lead to significant premium hikes, an issue that has already become a potent political liability for Republicans.

In one of the evening’s most unusual moments, the president announced what he called a “warrior dividend,” promising $1,776 payments to more than a million service members before Christmas. He said the money was made possible by tariff revenue. Critics quickly noted that Mr. Trump has repeatedly pledged to use tariff income to reduce deficits, not to finance new spending, and described the announcement as a transparent attempt to shore up support among the military.

The speech closed with a familiar refrain: that Mr. Trump was standing up to corruption and special interests on behalf of “productive, patriotic” Americans. For his opponents, the rhetoric rang hollow. They point to his extensive business dealings, including new ventures in cryptocurrency that he now regulates as president, as emblematic of the conflicts of interest he once decried.

Whether the address will shift public opinion remains doubtful. Surveys consistently show Mr. Trump with historically low approval ratings, and the speech offered little acknowledgment of the economic pressures many Americans say they still feel. Instead, it leaned heavily on blame, grievance and sweeping claims that fact-checkers across the political spectrum quickly disputed.

As the midterm campaign intensifies, Thursday night’s address suggested not a course correction, but a doubling down — a reminder that Mr. Trump’s political fortunes remain inseparable from his willingness to bend facts to fit a narrative, even as voters grow increasingly resistant to it.