Fact-Checkers Confront a Decade of Persistent False Claims from Donald Trump

Ten years after Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign launch, fact-checkers remain locked in an almost daily struggle to keep up with a torrent of misleading claims from the former and current US president. As Trump’s social media megaphone amplifies misinformation to millions, journalists and independent researchers are still battling to correct the record on themes that have defined his political brand—election fraud, economic exaggerations, conspiracy theories, and outright fabrications.

Since that first escalator descent in June 2015, Trump’s social media output has been a consistent source of controversy, setting new records for volume and frequency of false or misleading statements. Platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), Truth Social, and Facebook have become the main battlegrounds, as Trump and his allies continue to repeat claims that have been repeatedly, and publicly, debunked by major media organisations and independent fact-checkers. The following are the most commonly challenged—and enduring—falsehoods.

Most Frequently Debunked False Claims by Trump on Social Media

Election Fraud and Vote Counting

Trump’s insistence that the 2020—and later the 2024—presidential elections were “stolen” from him has been a near-constant refrain. He has alleged, without evidence, that widespread fraud, mail-in ballot irregularities, and illegal voting delivered the White House to his opponents. Phrases such as “They cheated like hell” and claims of receiving “much more than 80 million votes” in 2024 have circulated widely on social media.

Fact-check:

Multiple state and federal recounts, independent audits, and court rulings have found no evidence of widespread fraud or irregularities. Social media platforms have labelled many of these posts as “misleading” or “unsubstantiated,” yet the claims remain central to Trump’s political narrative.

Voting Methods and Comparisons

Trump has also asserted that the United States is “the only country in the world that has mail-in voting.” In addition, he has repeatedly claimed—again without evidence—that millions of noncitizens have cast ballots in US elections.

Fact-check:

Dozens of democracies, including Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom, use some form of mail-in or absentee voting. No credible evidence has been found to support claims of millions of noncitizen votes in any US election.

Economic Misinformation

Economic performance and personal credit for positive trends are hallmarks of Trump’s social media rhetoric. He has boasted that the cost of eggs dropped by “93, 94%” during his presidency and claimed that petrol prices fell to $1.98 per gallon in two US states.

Fact-check:

The price of eggs did fall, but not by nearly as much as Trump claimed—the actual drop was closer to 52%. No state saw average petrol prices below $2.70 per gallon at the time of his statement.

Conspiracy Theories and Personal Attacks

Trump has promoted conspiracy theories about his political rivals, such as alleging that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected an offer of 10,000 National Guard troops ahead of the January 6th Capitol riot. He has also repeatedly misstated his own electoral success, at one point asserting he had won Wisconsin “three times”—when, in fact, he won the state only twice.

Fact-check:

There is no evidence to support the claim that Pelosi was offered or refused additional security ahead of the Capitol attack. As for Wisconsin, Trump won it in 2016 and lost in both 2020 and 2024.

Fabricated or Altered Content

The Trump era has also seen a boom in fabricated images and manipulated videos. Among the most widely shared are a fake Trump college report card, a manufactured post about a second assassination attempt, and altered headlines falsely attributed to major news outlets.

Fact-check:

All of these examples have been debunked as forgeries or AI-generated deepfakes by reputable fact-checking organisations. Nevertheless, they continue to circulate widely and are regularly shared by Trump’s supporters.

Summary Table: The Most Frequently Debunked Trump Claims

How Fact-Checkers Respond

Fact-checkers at outlets including USA Today, CNN, the BBC, AFP, and PolitiFact employ a range of digital tools to scrutinise Trump’s statements. These include reverse image searches, deepfake and AI-detection software, and careful keyword analysis to trace the origins and context of viral claims. Major platforms, including X and Facebook, have added warning labels or removed posts flagged as misleading, but research shows that these measures are not always effective in curbing belief among committed supporters.

The sheer volume of Trump’s misleading posts—well over 30,000 documented in his first term alone—poses a unique challenge. Media organisations have built special archives and automated systems simply to keep pace with the flood of new content.

The Challenge of Impact

Despite constant correction, many of Trump’s false claims endure, amplified by repetition and the reach of social media. The “flood the zone” strategy, as described by analysts, is designed to overwhelm the information environment, making it difficult for any single rebuttal to gain traction.

Researchers have also found that, in some cases, fact-checking interventions—even when flagged by platforms as false—can harden the views of Trump’s core base, rather than persuade them otherwise.

The Broader Context

While Trump is not the first US politician to stretch the truth, the scale and frequency of his misstatements are unprecedented. Fact-checking, once a niche pursuit, is now central to American political journalism and has become a global model for countering misinformation. Still, as manipulated content becomes more sophisticated—fuelled by advances in AI and digital editing—the challenge grows ever more complex.

A decade after his first campaign launch, Donald Trump’s false claims continue to shape American politics and test the resilience of democratic institutions. For fact-checkers, the work is relentless—and likely to continue for as long as misinformation is weaponised as a political strategy.