The expert
68 subjects he said he knew more about than anyone, 2012–2026. Each entry records what was said, where, and what the record showed. Newest first.
“I'm the one that created MAGA, and I know what MAGA wants better than anybody else.”
In the same speech he said "I'm getting very good at running for President" and, on wind energy, "I really do know that subject well." The remark came during the 2026 midterm campaign; on September 22, 2026 Roll Call ran the headline "Voters to Republicans: Fix the Biden economy."
“I know more about that museum than the people that built it.”
Trump made the claim after a tour of more than two hours of the newly opened library. In the same remarks he said of Roosevelt's time in North Dakota, 'I know what it takes to do that. It's tough,' and of the Panama Canal, 'I've studied it long and hard.'
“Nobody else knows the answer to that, BUT I DO!!!”
The post revisited the June 27, 2024 CNN debate and asked whether Trump's performance made Biden 'choke' and lose the election or whether other factors were responsible, before asserting that only Trump knows the answer. The post did not state what that answer was.
“But to be honest with you, housing is all about interest rates. I know more about housing than anybody in history. No President has ever done—I built a lot of housing. And they can pass all the bills they want. It's about interest rates.”
On May 22, 2026 he said Congress was "on the cusp of passing the most important piece of housing legislation in a generation" and that he supported the House-passed bill. On June 24, 2026, asked whether he would veto the housing bill, he said "I'm not signing the housing bill. I want to see what happens with SAVE," and repeated: "I know housing better than anybody maybe anywhere. It's all about the interest rate."
“Nobody understands this better than me, as I was a victim of the worst and most illegal abuse of FISA in our Nation's History, by Radical Left Lunatics who lied to the FISA Court to spy on my 2016 Presidential Campaign in their attempt to RIG the Election in favor of Crooked Hillary Clinton.”
The post called for a "clean 18-month extension" of FISA Section 702 while keeping reforms from the previous reauthorization. The Justice Department Inspector General's review, released December 9, 2019, examined the four FISA applications targeting Carter Page in 2016 and 2017 and whether they complied with DOJ and FBI policies and the government's obligations to the FISA court, and made nine recommendations to the FBI.
“So it's—there is criminality. Maybe it's with the contractor, but—because I know more about contractors than any human being maybe that's ever lived.”
He said the Federal Reserve headquarters renovation was costing "$3- to $4 billion" and that he could have done it for $25 million. During his July 24, 2025 tour of the site he said the cost had risen from $2.7 billion to $3.1 billion; Chairman Powell replied he had not heard that figure and that the document Trump handed him added a third building, the Martin building, which was finished five years earlier.
“I'm very cognizant of law enforcement, perhaps more than anybody in history.”
The claim followed his August 11, 2025 announcement of a federal law-enforcement and National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C., where he said 'if you're competent, it's easy. If you're incompetent, it's impossible. But I'm very competent,' and his August 21, 2025 address to the deployed officers and Guard members. In the same January 2026 remarks he said 'Trump was right about everything' and cited praise for 'the best political instincts of any politician in 150 years.'
“Nobody understood tariffs like I understood tariffs.”
On April 2, 2025 he said 'I've been talking about it for 40 years,' and on May 8, 2025 that tariffs 'are the most misunderstood thing, maybe in any form of business.' The Tax Foundation estimated the 2025 average effective tariff rate at 7.7 percent, the highest since 1947, costing about $1,000 per household in 2025 and $820 in 2026. On February 20, 2026 the Supreme Court ruled in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that the president cannot impose tariffs under IEEPA and ordered refunds with interest.
“I don't say that lightly because I know more about deals than anybody. That's what my whole life was based on.”
He had told President Zelenskyy on February 28, 2025, 'My whole life is deals. I know pretty good.' The Alaska summit with Putin on August 15, 2025 ended without an agreement ('There's no deal until there's a deal'). On October 13, 2025 he attended a signing ceremony in Egypt for a Gaza ceasefire, declaring 'the end of an age of terror and death.' At Quantico he also pledged $1 trillion in 2026 defense spending, up from $895 billion.
“I'm very good at grass, because I have a lot of golf courses all over the place. I know more about grass than any human being, I think, anywhere in the world.”
Trump was announcing plans to regrass Washington's parks with new sprinkler systems 'just like Augusta.' He repeated the theme on September 5, 2025: 'I'm very good at grass. You know, grass has a life, just like you have a life, right?' In both cases he tied the claim to owning golf courses.
“I know more about low-income housing than luxury housing. I know about everything real estate.”
Repeats: August 22, 2025 ('I know more about low-income housing than probably almost anybody'); January 29, 2026 Cabinet meeting ('I built a lot of low-income housing. I made a lot of money building low-income housing. I know more about it than anybody'), where he said he would not let a proposed low-income project in the Pacific Palisades proceed and called interest rates 'the biggest factor' for housing; and May 22, 2026 in Suffern, New York ('I know more about housing than anybody in history'). As of September 2026 inflation stood at 3.4 percent and the Fed was expected to raise rates.
“There is no way America could recover from such a judicial tragedy, but I know our Court System better than anyone, there is no one in history that has gone through the trials, tribulations and uncertainties such as I, and absolutely terrible, but also amazingly beautiful, things can happen.”
The post warned that a court ruling against his tariffs would mean "1929 all over again, a GREAT DEPRESSION!" On February 20, 2026 the Supreme Court ruled against the tariffs in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump; he called the ruling "deeply disappointing," said he was "ashamed of certain Members of the Court," and thanked Justices Thomas, Alito and Kavanaugh for their dissents.
“Yeah, we're going to put sanctions. I don't know that sanctions bother him. You know, they know about sanctions. I know better than anybody about sanctions and tariffs and everything else. I don't know if that has any effect, but we're going to do it.”
He had threatened new sanctions on Russia if Moscow did not agree to a peace deal by the following week, while saying he did not know whether sanctions bother Putin. On August 15, 2025 he instead met Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, and said afterward that "there's no deal until there's a deal" and that he would call NATO and President Zelenskyy about the meeting.
“Nobody had to explain that to me. I know better than anybody what's good for the Market, and what's good for the U.S.A. If it weren't for me, the Market wouldn't be at Record Highs right now, it probably would have CRASHED!”
The post disputed a Wall Street Journal report that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had explained to him that firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell would be bad for the market. He did not fire Powell; four days later he toured the Fed's headquarters with Powell to dispute renovation costs. Powell's successor, Kevin Warsh, was sworn in as Fed chair on May 22, 2026.
“Well, I love it. I know it better than anybody.”
Repeats: July 27, 2025 ('no President knew how to build a ballroom'), September 2, 2025 ('I think nobody knows more about construction than me'), March 19, 2026 ('I know more about contractors than any human being maybe that's ever lived'), June 10, 2026 on swimming pools ('Only a person that does it, like me'), and August 20, 2026 ('I was very good at real estate, like maybe the best, in a lot of ways. I did it better than anybody, I think'). Fortune reported the White House ballroom was announced in July 2025 at $200 million and rose to $400 million; East Wing demolition began in October 2025, and the White House budgeted $377 million for repairs in fiscal 2026 plus $174 million more for fiscal 2027.
“But rich people are—I think I know more about deductions than any human being on Earth. But you know, the truth is that people that are middle-income people that buy a car and actually have to borrow money...”
The remark, which drew laughter in the room, came as Trump argued for a deduction of car-loan interest for middle-income buyers who "actually have to borrow money." He offered no comparison with tax professionals or IRS data to support the claim.
“And as a lifelong New Yorker, nobody knows the Irish better than me. I know too much about the Irish.”
The line opened a reception for Ireland's prime minister, whom Trump introduced as 'a very special man, doing incredibly well and very popular' and 'a very popular guy, which is not easy in Ireland.' The remarks focused on Irish-American heritage rather than economic or trade policy.
“I also think that Russia wants to make a deal because in a certain a different way that only I know—they have no choice either.”
No deal followed. On April 24, 2025 Trump posted 'Vladimir, STOP!'; on May 25 he wrote that Putin 'has gone absolutely CRAZY!'; and the August 15, 2025 Alaska summit ended with 'There's no deal until there's a deal.' On September 23, 2025 he called Russia 'a paper tiger,' and he was still holding bilateral talks with President Zelenskyy in Ankara on July 8, 2026.
“Look, I would know that better than anybody, because I was weaponized more than any human being in the history, probably, of the world, and I won the election in a landslide”
The answer came to a question about the resignation of the lead prosecutor in the Eric Adams case. Eight days later at CPAC he said, 'To stop the weaponization of Federal law enforcement—I know about that, I think, better than any human being on Earth.' PBS's July 2024 summary of his four criminal cases recorded a May 30, 2024 conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records in Manhattan, the July 15, 2024 dismissal of the classified-documents case, and the federal and Georgia election cases then unresolved.
“I think I know interest rates much better than they do, and I think I know it certainly much better than the one who's primarily in charge of making that decision.”
He had previewed the claim at an August 2024 Mar-a-Lago news conference: 'I made a lot of money. I was very successful. And I think I have a better instinct than, in many cases, people that would be on the Federal Reserve or the chairman.' On April 29, 2025 in Macomb County, Michigan he said of Chair Jerome Powell, 'I know much more than he does about interest rates, believe me,' and on September 13, 2026 at Doonbeg, Ireland, 'I know more about formulas than anybody, and we're the best credit in the world.' As of September 15, 2026, with Trump's nominee Kevin Warsh as chair, inflation was running at 3.4 percent against the Fed's 2 percent target and markets priced a better-than-90-percent chance of a rate increase rather than a cut.
“I know the weapons better than anybody because I'm the one that bought them”
The claim introduced his statement that he understands the nuclear program 'maybe better than anybody' because his uncle taught at MIT. As president he told the UN General Assembly on September 23, 2025, 'I know, and I get to view it all the time: "Sir, would you like to see?" And I look at weapons that are so powerful that we just can't ever use them.'
“the one program I hated to upgrade, hated it, was the nuclear program. And I understand it maybe better than anybody. My uncle was at MIT, a professor, the longest serving professor in the history of MIT.”
Snopes found that John Trump was one of MIT's longest-serving professors but not the longest, and that his degrees were in electrical engineering and physics rather than 'nuclear, chemical, and math.' Trump himself later put his uncle's tenure at 41 years (July 24, 2026). He repeated the family-credential argument on June 12, 2025 ('my uncle is a big shot at MIT, the smartest guy'), on March 13, 2026 in Hebron, Kentucky ('That means I have much better blood'), and on July 24, 2026 ('My uncle was very big into nuclear for 41 years at MIT, but they've advanced somewhat since those days').
“He understood China better than anybody but me. I understood him better now. We both understood.”
The tariff program Trump and Peter Navarro designed began March 4, 2025 with duties on Canada, Mexico and China; the Tax Foundation put the 2025 average effective tariff rate at 7.7 percent, the highest since 1947, with an estimated cost of about $1,000 per household. On February 20, 2026 the Supreme Court ruled in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that the president could not impose tariffs under IEEPA, requiring refunds with interest. On June 3, 2026 Trump revised the ranking: Navarro 'Knows more about China than any human being on Earth except for—I would say President Xi knows a lot more.'
“Nobody knows the banking industry better than me, and I'm not going to let them take advantage of you any longer.”
Trump was accusing banks of discriminating against conservatives and religious groups. At Davos on January 23, 2025 he accused Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon of refusing to bank conservatives; both banks denied the claims to Fortune. At a March 7, 2025 White House digital-assets summit he told crypto executives who described regulators pressuring banks, 'I know that feeling also. Maybe better than you do.'
“Perhaps nobody is more aware of the drug problem in our country than I am. I worked very hard on it for four years plus.”
In the same speech Trump claimed 'We got drug use down 18% in the White House.' CDC provisional data show U.S. drug-overdose deaths peaked at roughly 111,000 in a 12-month period spanning 2022-2023, after rising through his first term; the CDC updates the provisional counts monthly. The speech offered no source for the 18 percent figure.
“I think nobody probably knows him better in terms of the discussions that we have or that we're having this morning. So, I knew him very well. I got to know him.”
In the same interview Trump called Putin's recognition of breakaway Ukrainian regions 'pretty savvy'; Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022. In his second term Trump said on March 30, 2025, 'I've known him for a long time. We've always gotten along well,' then on May 25, 2025 wrote that Putin 'has gone absolutely CRAZY!' and on July 8, 2025 said 'We get a lot of bull--t thrown at us by Putin.' The August 15, 2025 Alaska summit ended with Trump saying 'There's no deal until there's a deal,' and on September 23, 2025 he called Russia 'a paper tiger.'
“I know more about wind than you do. It's extremely expensive, kills all the birds, it's very intermittent, got a lot of problems.”
CBS News' fact check put wind-turbine bird deaths at roughly 234,000 a year versus about 2.4 billion killed by cats and 599 million by building-glass collisions; the Energy Department said turbine kills were less than 0.02 percent of songbird populations. Trump kept the theme up in his second term: in Scotland in July 2025 he called wind 'the worst form of energy, the most expensive form of energy' and 'a con job'; at an August 26, 2025 Cabinet meeting he said, 'I'm trying to have people learn about wind real fast and I think I've done a good job'; and at the July 24, 2026 White House Correspondents' dinner he said, 'I really do know that subject well.' IRENA data cited by Euronews showed wind 53 percent cheaper than the cheapest fossil alternative.
“He doesn't know Black Americans like I do.”
Six weeks later, Pew Research Center's validated-voter study of the 2020 election found Black voters backed Biden 92 percent to 8 percent for Trump. Trump repeated a version of the claim on April 17, 2026, telling a Turning Point USA audience in Phoenix, 'I did great with the Black vote, the African American vote, and they understand this better than anybody.'
“I know everything about energy. I know so much about energy.”
In the same speech he argued that 'our new forms of alternative energy just aren't powerful enough' and blamed California blackouts on renewables. Industry data cited by Euronews in July 2025 showed global wind power was 53 percent cheaper than the lowest-cost fossil-fuel alternative, with onshore wind costs down 56 percent since 2010, and wind supplied 28 percent of Germany's electricity in 2024. CBS News reported in October 2020 that building new wind or solar was cheaper than keeping an existing coal plant running.
“When it's right—nobody knows the deal better than I do. When it's right, I'll meet. But right now it's not right.”
Trump was explaining why he would not meet Speaker Pelosi and Senator Schumer on a second relief package, saying Democrats wanted 'a trillion dollars to bail out badly run States.' No deal was reached until Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 in late December 2020 with $600 payments per adult. On December 27, 2020 Trump said he would sign it while demanding $2,000 checks and promising 'Much more money is coming'; the payments stayed at $600.
“I lived with it in the private sector, so I know it better than anybody, where you'd go years and years”
Trump made the claim while promoting regulatory relief for construction permitting, citing his years as a developer. He returned to the theme on April 8, 2025 at a coal-production event, saying, 'I was the king of zoning. I got—I did well.' The claim rests on his private-sector experience rather than any comparison with permitting experts.
“I know South Korea better than anybody. It's a—very tight. Do you know how many people are in Seoul? Do you know how big the city of Seoul is?”
Asked why the U.S. was testing fewer people per capita than South Korea, he answered his own question: "Thirty-eight million people. That's bigger than anything we have." Seoul's population is about 10 million according to the city government, so the figure was off by roughly 28 million.
“I know insurance companies better than anybody. They just don't do that. But now there's a spirit like I have not seen.”
The remark answered a question about whether insurers beyond Humana and Cigna would waive co-pays for COVID-19 treatment. Trump said he would 'love to have them do it' and that insurers historically 'just don't do that,' while offering no data on how many insurers had agreed. The claim of unmatched knowledge of the industry was not accompanied by a policy commitment in the briefing.
“Every one of these doctors said, 'How do you know so much about this?' Maybe I have a natural ability.”
At the same CDC visit he said, 'I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it.' Recorded interviews with Bob Woodward later showed that on February 7, 2020 he had privately called the virus 'deadly stuff' and 'more deadly than even your strenuous flu,' and on March 19, 2020 said, 'I wanted to always play it down.' By the time those tapes were published on September 9, 2020, more than 190,000 Americans had died of COVID-19.
“We'll have an economy based on wind. I never understood wind. You know, I know windmills very much. I've studied it better than anybody I know. It's very expensive. They're made in China and Germany mostly; very few made here, almost none. But they're manufactured tremendous—if you're into this—tremendous fumes. Gases are spewing into the atmosphere.”
Slate's fact-check found no evidence that turbine manufacturing produces more emissions than other energy sources, that wind has a particularly small carbon footprint, that fossil-fuel plants and glass buildings kill far more birds than turbines, and that the maximum sentence for killing a bald eagle in California is two years, not the ten he claimed. PolitiFact had rated his March 2019 claim that "when the wind stops blowing, that's the end of your electric" Mostly False.
“So I'm the one that did the capturing. I'm the one that knows more about it than you people or the fake pundits.”
He was answering questions about ISIS detainees after the U.S. pullback from northern Syria and Turkey's offensive. On October 13, 2019, Reuters reported that around 100 people—women affiliated with Islamic State and their children—had escaped from the Ain Issa camp guarded by Kurdish-led forces after it was shelled, with the Syrian Observatory describing "anarchy" inside.
“And I'm an environmentalist. You—a lot of people don't understand that. I have done more environmental impact statements, probably, than anybody that's—I guess I can say definitely, because I have done many, many, many of them. More than anybody that's ever been President or Vice President or anything even close to President. And I think I know more about the environment than most people.”
A New York Times analysis updated January 20, 2021 counted 112 environmental rollbacks under the administration (98 completed, 14 in progress) covering climate, clean air, water, wildlife and toxic chemicals. On January 9, 2020 he proposed rewriting NEPA regulations to set a presumptive two-year limit on environmental impact statements, citing a Council on Environmental Quality finding that the average statement took 4½ years.
“I know more about drones than anybody. I know about every form of safety that you can have. And it's all good, but it's just very minor compared to the power of a wall.”
The Washington Post's Philip Bump catalogued the claim the same day alongside more than a dozen other subjects on which Trump had declared himself the foremost expert. Former CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske said in 2020 that "the money is much better invested in technology than barriers." By January 2021, 52 miles of new primary wall had been built where none existed before.
“The Democrats are trying to belittle the concept of a Wall, calling it old fashioned. The fact is there is nothing else's that will work, and that has been true for thousands of years. It's like the wheel, there is nothing better. I know tech better than anyone, & technology.....”
Earlier that month he had said, "Technology — nobody knows more about technology than me." The shutdown that began December 22, 2018 ended January 25, 2019 with $1.375 billion for barriers rather than the $5.7 billion he sought. Former CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske later argued the money was "much better invested in technology than barriers."
“But I think the Fed is far too stringent, and they're making a mistake, and it's not right. And it's—despite that, we're doing very well, but it's not necessary, in my opinion. And I think I know about it better than they do. Believe me.”
The remark came a day after the Dow fell 831 points on October 10, 2018, when he said the Fed had "gone crazy." The Fed continued raising rates through 2018, then cut rates several times in 2019, citing a global slowdown and the effects of his trade policies. Asked the same day whether he would fire Chairman Jerome Powell, he said no.
“As you know, I campaigned on that issue; it's very close to my heart. I understand that issue better than anybody.”
He was describing companies that close U.S. plants and ship products back tax-free, and said "We're stopping it." Census Bureau and BEA data released March 6, 2019 showed the 2018 goods and services deficit was $621.0 billion, up $68.8 billion (12.5%) from 2017; the goods deficit rose 10.4% to $891.3 billion.
“I've made a lot of deals. I know deals, I think, better than anybody knows deals. You never really know.”
He was discussing prospects for a deal with North Korea ahead of the June 12, 2018 Singapore summit. At the second summit in Hanoi on February 28, 2019, he and Secretary Pompeo decided "it wasn't a good thing to be signing anything" and left without an agreement; Pompeo said the teams had worked for weeks toward "a big step" beyond what the two leaders agreed in Singapore.
“You will spend so much—nobody knows more about construction than I do. You will spend so much—you're going to make it so hard that you can't run a D8—you know what that is, right—through the doors.”
His signature construction project was the border wall. By January 2021, 458 miles had been built, of which 373 miles replaced existing barriers and 52 miles were new primary wall where none stood before. Former CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske said in 2020 the barrier cost "multi-millions of dollars" per mile plus maintenance and that "the money is much better invested in technology than barriers."
“I know more about wedges than any human being that's ever lived”
The question was whether North Korea was trying to drive a wedge between the United States and South Korea; Trump added, "but I'll let you know." He met Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June 2018 and again in Hanoi on February 27–28, 2019, where the talks ended without any agreement: "we decided not to do any of the options ... sometimes, you have to walk," he said.
“I know the details of taxes better than anybody. Better than the greatest C.P.A. I know the details of health care better than most, better than most.”
In the same interview he said he knows more about "the big bills" debated in Congress "than any president that's ever been in office." Ten months earlier, on February 27, 2017, he had told the nation's governors, "Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated." The Senate's effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act failed on July 28, 2017. The Post's Fact Checker counted 24 false or misleading claims in the 30-minute Times interview.
“And I can read the polls maybe better than anybody, because it seems that I understood the polls a lot better than many of the pollsters understood the polls, assuming they were honest polls, which I think probably many of them weren't.”
Pew Research Center's post-election analysis (November 9, 2016) found that the final round of national polls showed Clinton leading by 1 to 7 points and that, across the board, polls underestimated Trump's support; forecasters had put Clinton's chances at 70% to 99%. Pew reported "a great deal of speculation but no clear answers as to the cause of the disconnect," and did not attribute the misses to dishonest polling.
“I think I know more about the other side than almost anybody.”
In the November 6, 2018 midterm elections Democrats gained a net 41 House seats and won the House popular vote by 8.6 points, the largest margin of victory on record for a minority party, taking control of the chamber.
“If Cory Booker is the future of the Democratic Party, they have no future! I know more about Cory than he knows about himself.”
The tweet followed Booker's DNC speech criticizing Trump. Booker told CNN, "He wants us to be speculating. It sounds so sinister," and said he would respond with love and prayer. Trump did not say what he claimed to know.
“Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it. I have seen firsthand how the system is rigged against our citizens, just like it was rigged against Bernie Sanders – he never had a chance.”
He had used a similar line in April 2016 ("[N]obody knows the system better than I do"). On January 28, 2017 he signed Executive Order 13770, an ethics pledge with a five-year ban on appointees lobbying their former agency and a lifetime ban on lobbying for foreign governments. On January 19, 2021, his last full day in office, he revoked it by Executive Order 13983 without explanation, which NPR reported allowed his appointees to begin lobbying immediately.
“look, as a builder, nobody in the history of this country has ever known so much about infrastructure as Donald Trump. I build infrastructure.”
His February 2018 proposal of $200 billion in federal money meant to leverage $1.5 trillion stalled in Congress. An April 30, 2019 meeting with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer on a $2 trillion package produced no agreement after he conditioned it on passing USMCA and ending investigations. No major infrastructure bill became law during his first term.
“I understand money better than anybody and I understand it way better than Hillary.”
He had said the same thing on Today on January 21, 2016. His businesses filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy six times between 1991 and 2009, including the Trump Taj Mahal, financed with $675 million in junk bonds at 14 percent interest, which entered bankruptcy in 1991. In December 2016 he named Goldman Sachs alumni Steven Mnuchin and Gary Cohn to lead Treasury and the National Economic Council.
“There is nobody who understands the horror of nuclear more than me.”
NBC News documented his contradictory statements: he called nuclear proliferation the world's biggest problem (March 26, 2016) and said "I will be the last to use nuclear weapons" (April 28, 2016), but also "I can't take anything off the table" (September 26, 2016), suggested Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia might acquire their own weapons, and tweeted on December 22, 2016 that the U.S. "must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability."
“I think nobody knows more about taxes than I do, maybe in the history of the world. Nobody knows more about taxes. You can learn very little from a tax return.”
In the same interview he refused to say what tax rate he paid, calling it "none of your business," and he did not release his returns during the campaign. He repeated the claim on October 2, 2016 ("I know our complex tax laws better than anyone"), his campaign said he "knows the tax code far better than anyone who has ever run for President," and in a December 2017 New York Times interview he said, "I know the details of taxes better than anybody. Better than the greatest C.P.A." He had also told ABC on May 9, 2016 that "nobody knows more about taxes than I do."
“I'm the king of debt. I love debt. ... I know more about debt than practically anybody. I love debt. I also love reducing debt. And I know how to do it better than anybody.”
He told CBS's Norah O'Donnell the same year, "Nobody knows debt better than me," and told the Washington Post he would eliminate the $19 trillion national debt "over a period of eight years." Federal debt held by the public rose from $14.4 trillion in January 2017 to $21.6 trillion in January 2021, an increase of 50 percent. His businesses went through six Chapter 11 bankruptcies between 1991 and 2009.
“Nobody knows banking better than I do”
At the same town hall, asked about his claim to know Wall Street bankers better than anyone, he answered, "Better than anyone." After the election he filled his top economic posts with Goldman Sachs veterans (Mnuchin at Treasury, Cohn at the NEC, Bannon as senior adviser); Goldman's stock rose 33 percent after his victory. His own casino and hotel companies went through six Chapter 11 bankruptcies between 1991 and 2009, and he avoided personal bankruptcy in the 1990s with about $90 million from Hong Kong investors.
“I know more about renewables than any human being on Earth.”
PolitiFact rated his March 2019 claim that "when the wind stops blowing, that's the end of your electric" Mostly False, noting that power comes from interconnected regional grids with backup generation and that renewables supplied about 17 percent of U.S. electricity in 2018. A December 2019 Slate fact-check found no evidence for his claim that turbine manufacturing spews unusual fumes; studies show wind has a small carbon footprint relative to other generation.
“Because nobody knows the system better than me. I know the H1B. I know the H2B. Nobody knows it better than me. I'm a businessman. These are laws. These are regulations. These are rules. We're allowed to do it.”
Tapper's question was why voters should trust him when his own companies brought in foreign workers instead of hiring Americans. In July 2017, with him in office, his Mar-a-Lago club applied for visas to hire 70 foreign workers (15 housekeepers, 20 cooks and 35 servers) for October 2017 to May 2018, and Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida applied for six cooks. The H-2B cap was temporarily increased in 2017 under DHS Secretary John Kelly.
“Nobody knows more about trade than me.”
The U.S. trade deficit as a share of GDP rose from 2.7 percent in 2016 to 3.0 percent in 2018 and 2.9 percent in 2019. The goods-and-services trade deficit in 2020 was almost $654 billion, the highest since 2008 and 36.3 percent larger than in 2016.
“Nobody knows politicians better than Donald Trump.”
The Post's Philip Bump also recorded a March 2016 rally version in which Trump claimed to "know more about politicians than anybody." In his first year in office, with Republican majorities in both chambers, the Senate effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act failed early on July 28, 2017, when Sen. John McCain cast the deciding "no" vote; NPR called it a devastating loss for the GOP and President Trump.
“I hope all workers demand that their @Teamsters reps endorse Donald J. Trump. Nobody knows jobs like I do! Don't let them sell you out!”
FactCheck.org's accounting of his first term found 178,000 fewer manufacturing jobs in January 2021 than when he took office in January 2017. The trade deficit in goods and services in 2020 was the highest since 2008, up 36.3 percent from 2016.
“Who knows more about lawsuits than I do? I'm the king.”
Former federal prosecutor James D. Zirin's 2019 book counted more than 3,500 lawsuits involving Trump over 45 years, including cases he lost such as the defamation suit against author Tim O'Brien. In November 2016 he settled the Trump University suits for $25 million after repeatedly saying he would not settle.
“I know more about steelworkers than anybody that's ever run for office.”
FactCheck.org found in August 2019 that steel and iron mill employment rose by 4,500 (5.6 percent) between January 2017 and June 2019 to 85,300, still 16 percent below the May 2007 level, and that his claim that no new mill had been built in 30 years was "completely wrong" (23 new mills since 1989). U.S. Steel restarted a blast furnace in March 2018 but announced plans to idle furnaces and an Indiana plant in fall 2019.
“I know more about ISIS than the generals do. Believe me.”
He repeated the theme through 2016: in June 2016 he said the generals "don't know much because they're not winning," and in July 2016 that he knew "more about offense and defense than they will ever understand." On September 6, 2016 he said he would give his generals 30 days to submit a plan to defeat ISIS. ISIS lost its last territory in Syria on March 23, 2019 under the U.S.-led Operation Inherent Resolve coalition working with Iraqi forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces, a campaign begun before he took office. By December 2018 Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had resigned over the Syria withdrawal and retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal said he would never work for Trump.
“I know more about courts than any human being on Earth. Okay?”
A year later, on November 18, 2016, he agreed to pay $25 million to settle three Trump University fraud cases (two federal class actions in California and a New York attorney general suit) covering more than 5,000 former students, after saying during the campaign that he could settle "for very little money, but I don't want to do it out of principle." The settlement included no admission of wrongdoing.
“I understand social media. I understand the power of Twitter. I understand the power of Facebook maybe better than almost anybody, based on my results, right?”
His @realDonaldTrump account had more than 88.9 million followers when Twitter permanently suspended it in January 2021 after the January 6 Capitol attack; Twitter also suspended the @TeamTrump campaign account. Facebook blocked him from posting on January 6, 2021, extended the suspension to two years in June 2021, and reinstated him on February 7, 2023.
“I used to be, George, the fair-haired boy — you know, when I was a contributor. I know more about contributions than anybody.”
On February 10, 2016 PolitiFact rated his statement "I'm self-funding my own campaign" Half True: by the end of 2015 he had put in nearly $13 million of the campaign's $19.4 million, but about two-thirds of that was loans he could recoup, and roughly 34 percent of the money came from individual donors. In June 2016 NPR reported his fundraising lagged far behind Hillary Clinton's.
“There's nobody bigger or better at the military than I am.”
The remark came while he described how he would defeat ISIS; when O'Reilly asked whether that meant sending U.S. ground troops into Syria, he answered, "I'm not telling you anything." He was exempted from the Vietnam-era draft on a claim of bone spurs in his heels. By the end of 2018, several retired four-star generals had broken with him: Jim Mattis resigned as defense secretary, Stanley McChrystal said he would never work for him, and Jack Keane called the Syria pullout a "serious strategic mistake."
“The TODAY Show should call me about who to put on the show— I know more about people who get ratings than anyone.”
The Apprentice averaged 20.7 million viewers in its first season (2003–04); by season 10 (2010–11) it averaged 4.7 million and ranked 113th. The two-hour Celebrity Apprentice finale on February 16, 2015 drew a 1.6 rating/4 share among adults 18–49. NBC cut ties with Trump in June 2015 after his comments about Mexican immigrants, and on August 13, 2015 said the show would return with a new host.
Nothing matches those filters.