Military: what they said and what the record shows
What right-wing public figures said about the military, set against what happened and the record. 18 claims.
- “And every servicemember recently received a Warrior Dividend of $1,776.”
- “Last year, the Navy and Air Force and Space Force all surpassed their recruiting goals by 5 months early, and the numbers are through the roof.”
- “In the meantime, by copy of this Statement, I am informing Local Governments, as I did in Los Angeles when they were rioting at the end of the Biden Term, that…”
- “They killed 300,000 people last year—drugs—these drugs coming in. They killed 300,000 Americans last year, and that gives you legal authority.”
- “And I'm pleased to say that 2025 was the Navy's single best recruiting year ever.”
- “But, on top of all this, we'll deliver a hard-earned pay raise of 3.8 percent to every soldier, sailor, airman, coastguardsman, space guardman, and marine…”
- “You know, we have 45,000 soldiers in South Korea. We have 45,000 soldiers in Germany—52,000, actually.”
- “You know, we had a 92 percent approval rating at the VA, 92 percent. Now, it's down into the 40s.”
- “I could tell you about the elevators on a tremendous aircraft carrier, the Gerald Ford ... This was a ship that was supposed to cost $2.5 billion. It cost $19…”
- “So of the 18 missiles, six of them self-destructed in air, and the rest of them landed outside of the military base and areas where there are no people.”
- “Remember Syria and Turkey, remember they were having the problem. And I brought our troops back home. We had 5,000 troops sitting in between two armies, Syria…”
- “They own those F-18s that they were so afraid of and the planes and the helicopters, best helicopters in the world, Apaches, some of them brand-new. They own…”
- “We're bringing them back, we're bringing them back, just so you know, we're bringing them back from Iraq. We're down to 2,000 soldiers in Iraq.”
- “We have the newest, finest military we've ever had, and gave our great warriors their largest pay raises in many, many decades.”
- “We were supposed to be in Syria for 30 days. We've now been there for 10 years.”
- “You haven't gotten one in more than 10 years—more than 10 years. And we got you a big one.”
- “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.”
- “122 vicious prisoners, released by the Obama Administration from Gitmo, have returned to the battlefield. Just another terrible decision!”