Trump criticizes the press for failing to report fake accomplishments

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

President Donald Trump, defending his decision to ban CNN and two other media outlets from the White House, argued Monday that the press has “an obligation” to report on his accomplishments.

But Trump immediately cited two supposed accomplishments that do not actually exist.

We don’t report that he “settled eight wars” because he didn’t. We don’t report that there is “$21 trillion pouring in” to the United States because there isn’t. Both numbers are wildly inflated.

In other words, Trump’s examples of the great news the press is supposedly failing to cover are actually examples of why an independent press is necessary to provide the facts when public officials won’t. CNN , Politico and MS NOW , the three outlets subject to Trump’s ban and now suing the White House over it, have all published stories pointing out the holes in the president’s assertions about wars supposedly ended and investments supposedly secured.

Trump spoke about the White House ban during a Monday press conference in New York City with Mayor Zohran Mamdani. When Trump was asked why he announced the ban, he said , “I’m only doing it because I think the press also has an obligation. And, you know, I won in a landslide, I won the election in a landslide. I’ve done great things, I’ve done a lot of great things. I’ve settled eight wars. We have the best economic numbers for the country, in the history of our country. We have $21 trillion pouring in.”

He criticized media coverage of himself and of the war with Iran, which he described as overly negative given that “we’ve done so well.” Then, after deriding CNN and MS NOW, he said, “I think that these outlets have an obligation to be fair.”

Trump’s claims about having won a “landslide” victory, having “the best economic numbers for the country” and that “we’ve done so well” with Iran are some combination of too subjective and too vague to debunk, though it’s clear all three can be reasonably challenged. But his claims that “I’ve settled eight wars” and “we have $21 trillion pouring in” are incorrect, as CNN has repeatedly noted when he has made the same or similar claims on numerous previous occasions.

Trump’s list of eight wars supposedly settled includes two situations that were never actually wars during his tenure: a diplomatic dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia and a mysterious supposed situation between Serbia and Kosovo. The list also includes a war, involving Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, that has not ended despite a peace agreement brokered by the Trump administration.

In addition, the list includes the war between Israel and Hamas even though Israel continues to conduct frequent attacks in Gaza despite a US-brokered ceasefire agreement. And it includes the brief 2025 conflict between Israel and Iran, though Israel proceeded to join the US in starting another war against Iran in 2026.

As for the “$21 trillion” Trump says is pouring into the US?

That figure is fiction. The White House has never been able to substantiate it.

When the president said it Monday, the White House’s own website claimed there had been “$11.2 trillion” in “major investment announcements” during Trump’s second term, not “$21 trillion,” and even the White House figure was a major exaggeration of the actual investment occurring. A detailed CNN review in 2025 found the White House was counting trillions in vague investment pledges — pledges that were about “bilateral trade” or “economic exchange” rather than investment in the US — and vague statements that didn’t even rise to the level of pledges.

The White House figure includes pledges from US-based companies as well as foreign entities. Federal data shows that new foreign direct investment in the US was about $232 billion in 2025.

安娜·莫尼梅克/盖蒂图片社

周一，唐纳德·特朗普总统为禁止 CNN 和其他两家媒体进入白宫的决定辩护，称媒体有“义务”报道他的政绩。

但特朗普立即列举了两项实际上并不存在所谓成就。

我们不会报道他“平息了八场战争”，因为他根本没有。我们也不会报道有“21万亿美元涌入”美国，因为根本没有。这两个数字都被严重夸大了。

换句话说，特朗普列举的所谓媒体未能报道的重大新闻，实际上恰恰说明了为什么在公职人员不愿提供事实真相时，独立媒体至关重要。CNN、Politico 和 MS NOW 这三家媒体都曾遭到特朗普的封禁，并就此起诉白宫。它们都发表过文章，指出总统关于战争结束和投资保障的说法存在漏洞。

周一，特朗​​普在纽约市与市长佐兰·马姆达尼共同出席的新闻发布会上谈到了白宫的禁令。当被问及为何宣布这项禁令时，特朗普说：“我这么做只是因为我认为媒体也有义务。而且，你知道，我以压倒性优势赢得了选举。我做了很多伟大的事情。我平息了八场战争。我们国家的经济数据达到了历史最佳水平。有21万亿美元的资金涌入。”

他批评了媒体对他本人和伊朗战争的报道，称这些报道过于负面，因为“我们做得这么好”。随后，在抨击了CNN和MS NOW之后，他说：“我认为这些媒体有义务做到公正。”

特朗普声称自己赢得了“压倒性”胜利，拥有“国家最佳经济数据”，以及“我们在伊朗问题上做得非常出色”，这些说法过于主观和模糊，难以一一驳斥，尽管显然这三点都存在合理的质疑空间。但他关于“我已经解决了八场战争”和“我们有21万亿美元资金涌入”的说法是错误的，CNN曾多次指出，在他之前多次发表类似言论时，这些说法都是错误的。

特朗普列出的八场所谓已解决的战争中，包括两起在他任期内从未真正爆发的冲突：埃及和埃塞俄比亚之间的外交争端，以及塞尔维亚和科索沃之间一段扑朔迷离的所谓冲突。此外，名单中还包括卢旺达和刚果民主共和国之间的一场战争，尽管特朗普政府曾斡旋达成和平协议，但这场战争至今仍未结束。

此外，该清单还包括以色列与哈马斯之间的战争，尽管以色列无视美国斡旋达成的停火协议，仍在加沙地带持续发动频繁袭击。清单还包括2025年以色列与伊朗之间的短暂冲突，尽管以色列随后在2026年与美国联手对伊朗发动了另一场战争。

至于特朗普所说的涌入美国的“21万亿美元”呢？

那个数字是虚构的。白宫从未能够证实这一点。

总统周一发表讲话时，白宫官网声称特朗普第二任期内“重大投资公告”总额为“11.2万亿美元”，而非“21万亿美元”。而且，白宫公布的数字也严重夸大了实际投资额。CNN在2025年的一项详细调查发现，白宫统计的数万亿美元投资承诺含糊不清，这些承诺涉及“双边贸易”或“经济交流”，而非对美国的投资，而且一些模糊的声明甚至连承诺都算不上。

白宫公布的数据包括美国本土公司和外国实体的投资承诺。联邦数据显示，到2025年，美国新增外国直接投资约为2320亿美元。