Donald Trump tends to disapprove of fact-checking when news organizations alert the public to his errors of fact and judgment. But when the Republican president is fact-checked to his face, it’s even more dramatic.
Take his Oval Office meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, for example. The New York Times reported:
At one point, Mr. Trump repeated the false claim that the United States had spent $350 billion to aid Ukraine and ‘had nothing to show for it,’ while Europe had spent only $100 billion. In fact, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Europe has allocated $138 billion to the war effort, compared with the $119 billion given by the United States. Mr. Trump also mischaracterized the nature of European aid. ‘Europe is loaning the money to Ukraine,’ he said. ‘They get their money back.’
It was at that point when the French leader, apparently unable to help himself, felt the need to interject — in English.
“No, in fact, to be frank, we paid,” Macron said, explaining that his country had provided aid in the form of grants, loans and loan guarantees, just as the United States had done. “We provided real money, to be clear,” he added.
Macron corrects Trump after he claims "Europe is loaning the money to Ukraine. They get their money back."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-02-24T18:47:53.839Z
The look on Trump’s face suggested that he didn’t fully believe his French counterpart, but the fact remains that Macron’s claims are true, and the American president’s accusations are not.








