State of the Truth Address

FactCheck, a nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics, has monitored the factual accuracy of what was said by President Donald Trump in the State of the Union Address on February 24 2026. Their goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding.

Fact Finding the State of the Union Address

Trump SOTU Fact Check Full story here: https://www.factcheck.org/2026/02/factchecking-trumps-state-of-the-union-address/
	Trump’s State of the Union Address	Fact Checking the SOTU Address
1	Trump falsely claimed that he inherited “a stagnant economy” with “inflation at record levels.”	Annual growth in real GDP was 2.5% or higher each year under former President Joe Biden, and the annual inflation rate was down to 3% from its peak of 9.1% peak when Trump took office.
2	The president went on to claim that the economy “is roaring like never before,”	Real GDP growth in 2025 was down to 2.2%, according to a federal estimate. Also, the unemployment rate has increased slightly under Trump.
3	He misleadingly claimed that prices are “plummeting downward” because of his policies.	The annual rate of inflation has declined, but prices overall are still increasing.
4	Trump’s claim that “more Americans are working today than at any time in the history of our country,”	while accurate, doesn’t account for population growth. Job growth slowed a bit last year.
5	The president misleadingly claimed that Americans “will now pay the lowest price anywhere in the world for drugs.”	The administration’s negotiations with drug companies may have lowered prices for some specific drugs in certain situations, but there is no evidence of a widespread decline in prices.
6	The president continued to exaggerate the decline in gasoline prices, saying they are “now below $2.36 a gallon in most states.”	In no state was the average that low. And the nationwide average is $2.94.
7	He claimed to have presided over a “tremendous renewal” of religion in America,	Recent polling has found the opposite.
8	Trump claimed that $1,776 “warrior dividend” bonus checks paid to military personnel came from tariff revenue.	It was actually a reallocation of funds initially earmarked for an increased housing allowance.
9	The president repeated his unsupported claim that many immigrants came from “prisons” and “mental institutions,”	He wrongly claimed that the Biden administration allowed in “11,888 murderers.”
10	Trump boasted about stock market gains since his election	The gains were less than each of the last two years under Biden.
11	He exaggerated when he said his signature legislation eliminated tax on tips, overtime and Social Security benefits for seniors.	The tax breaks are substantial but do not apply to all individuals.
12	As he has for years, Trump insisted, without evidence, that “cheating is rampant in our elections.”	He claimed legislation was needed “to stop illegal aliens” from voting, though evidence suggests that’s rare.
13	Trump claimed that the federal budget could be balanced “if we’re able to find enough of that fraud.”	The most recent budget deficit was $1.8 trillion, more than three times higher than the highest federal estimate of government money lost annually to fraud.
14	Trump claimed that he inherited “rampant crime at home” and later boasted that “last year, the murder rate saw its single largest decline in recorded history.”	Crime and murder was down last year, continuing a trend that began in 2022.
15	Trump made the dubious claim that his increased tariffs would one day replace income taxes,	Something many economists say doesn’t add up.
16	Trump claimed that the U.S. “obliterated Iran’s nuclear weapons program” last year.	Experts have said the program was damaged but not destroyed, and Trump is now considering military action over Iran’s nuclear program.
17	Trump said “American oil production is up by more than 600,000 barrels a day,”	Crude oil production increased by 334,600 barrels per day in his first full 10 months in office.
18	He also claimed that U.S. natural gas production increased to “an all-time high” because he “kept” his “promise to drill, baby, drill.”	Production of natural gas was already at record levels before he took office.

Fact Finding the State of the Truth Address February 24, 2026

Trump’s Feb. 24 address was longer than any prior SOTU, clocking in at over 1 hour and 47 minutes, as measured by the American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

References

By Robert Farley, D'Angelo Gore, Lori Robertson, Jessica McDonald, Kate Yandell, Saranac Hale Spencer, Sanjana Juvvadi, Andrew Noh and Ashley Wang. (n.d.). FactChecking Trump’s State of the Union Address. FactCheck.org - A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center. Retrieved February 25, 2026, from https://www.factcheck.org/2026/02/factchecking-trumps-state-of-the-union-address/ 

Healthcare in Nova Scotia and Kenya

As Nova Scotia prepares to welcome continuing care assistant health care professionals from Kenya to increase the number of primary care workers in our Province, at a time when we are in serious need of more support for our residents, we may, at the same time, be reducing the ability of the healthcare system in Kenya to respond to health needs in that country.

Help for Health Care

The World Population Review website has published rankings of the world’s health care systems by Lisa Brown writing in CEOWORLD magazine, a highly-respected business publication covering everything important to ​CEOs, senior executives, business leaders, and high net worth individuals, from business to finance, politics to economics, lifestyle to travel, both at home in the United States and globally.

Rank	Country	Health Care Index (Overall)	Infrastructure	Professionals	Cost	Medicine Availability	Readiness
1	South Korea	78.72	87.16	14.23	83.59	82.3	87.89
2	Taiwan	77.7	79.05	13.06	78.39	78.99	65.09
3	Denmark	74.11	90.75	30.01	82.59	92.06	96.3
23	Canada	48.64	62.39	16.89	55.73	52.91	89.75
70	Kenya	35.16	69.92	16.86	53.1	51.23	89.62
71	Kuwait	35.09	89.14	15.32	70.55	89.2	88.98
72	Dominican Republic	34.97	66.12	21.08	51.05	62.85	92.5
89	Venezuela	32.42	71.39	17.16	52.53	53.7	89.84

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Partial list from Countries With The Best Health Care Systems

Canada is rated at number 23 in this list and Kenya is number 70. Professionals in health care are rated at just below 17 for both countries. (Brown, 2021)

These numbers beg the question about the effect on Kenya by the immigration of skilled and capable health professionals to Nova Scotia.

Lara Yacoub and Solomon Johnson writing for Spheres of Influence, a non-profit digital publication dedicated to highlighting underreported stories in global affairs and amplifying marginalized voices, report on what the closure of the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps means for residents.

Health Care, for example, is an area of particular concern due to the loss of services that many refugees rely on. According to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), in Dagahaley alone, one of the three divisions of the ​​Dadaab refugee complex, over 300 people require regular medication for “chronic diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and a variety of cancers, as well as neurological disorders.” 

Additionally in Dagahaley, about 50 people “require continued care for diabetes,” including the supply of insulin, a medication many are likely to not have access to after the closure of these camps. MSF also carries out about 700 “life-saving surgeries per year in this area of the camp, such as vital cesarean sections for mothers. (Yacoub & Johnson, 2022)

The Nova Scotia Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment / Labour, Skills and Immigration

has announced that more continuing care assistants will soon be moving to Nova Scotia to work, the result of a recent recruiting trip to Kenya. 

“One of the biggest challenges we face is finding the right healthcare professionals to fill the vacancies we have across Nova Scotia,” said Health and Wellness Minister Michelle Thompson, the Minister responsible for the Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment. “There are talented and skilled people around the world who would love to come here, and we would love to have them.”

The Province led the trip to a Kenyan refugee camp in partnership with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Health Association of Nova Scotia, and MacLeod Group, which provides senior care across Atlantic Canada, as well as refugee-focused charities The Shapiro Foundation and RefugePoint.

The new continuing care assistants are expected to start arriving in mid-2023 and will work in the continuing care sector in communities across the province. (Healthcare Workers Coming to Nova Scotia From Kenya, 2023)

The details of the possibility of refugee health care personnel to find work in Kenya, the possibility of education and experience in Canada for the refugees to return to Kenya better equipped to serve that country, and the degree to which we value the choice of these refugees to choose life in Canada even if they are in greater need in East Africa, are some of the ethical and moral aspects of this emigration that helps first world Canada and may disadvantage people of the Global South.

References

Brown, L. (2021, April 27). Revealed: Countries With The Best Health Care Systems, 2021. CEOWORLD magazine. Retrieved January 12, 2023, from https://ceoworld.biz/2021/04/27/revealed-countries-with-the-best-health-care-systems-2021/ 

Healthcare Workers Coming to Nova Scotia from Kenya. (2023, January 4). Government of Nova Scotia. Retrieved January 12, 2023, from https://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20230104001 

Yacoub, L., & Johnson, S. (2022, February 10). What the Closure of the Dadaab and Kakuma Refugee Camps Means for Residents. Spheres of Influence. Retrieved January 12, 2023, from https://spheresofinfluence.ca/what-the-closure-of-the-dadaab-and-kakuma-refugee-camps-means-for-residents/