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MaddowBlog-Trump tries to show off his math skills, but flunks arithmetic
The president doesn’t use numbers and statistics like an adult; he uses numbers and statistics that he thinks sound good and make him feel better.
Trump tries to show off his math skills, but flunks arithmetic www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
— Steve Price (@slashersteve.bsky.social) 2026-02-06T17:47:21.035Z
“Whatever the claim, the president has the numbers to prove it, even if he has to make them up.â€
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-tries-to-show-off-his-math-skills-but-flunks-arithmetic
At a White House event last summer, Donald Trump boasted, “We’re going to get the drug prices down — not 30% or 40%, which would be great. Not 50% or 60%. No, we’re going to get them down 1,000%, 600%, 500%, 1,500%.”
The president said “nobody else” was capable of such a feat, adding that he’d produce “numbers that are not even thought to be achievable.”....
Or put another way, when the president said these are “numbers that are not even thought to be achievable,” he was correct, but not in the way he intended.
This came to mind on Thursday night, as Trump launched his TrumpRx.gov website. The New York Times noted:
No, really, that’s what he said.
.....This is the same president who’s so confident in his mathematical expertise that he has come up with international trade tariff rates based on formulas that only exist in his head. That’s obviously unwise, but it’s especially problematic given his unfamiliarity with how numbers work.
I’m often reminded of something Bill Lueders wrote for The Bulwark last year: “Whatever the claim, the president has the numbers to prove it, even if he has to make them up.”
It remains an important detail. The incumbent president doesn’t use numbers and statistics like an adult; he uses numbers and statistics that he thinks sound good and make him feel better.
The president said “nobody else” was capable of such a feat, adding that he’d produce “numbers that are not even thought to be achievable.”....
Or put another way, when the president said these are “numbers that are not even thought to be achievable,” he was correct, but not in the way he intended.
This came to mind on Thursday night, as Trump launched his TrumpRx.gov website. The New York Times noted:
President Trump again repeated a mathematically impossible claim that this program would reduce drug prices by “300, 400, 500 or even 600 percent.” A 100 percent discount would be a price cut to $0. For example, when listing weight loss drugs that would receive discounts, Trump said that it would cut “the price of Wegovy from more than $1,300 to $199, a 578 percent difference.”
No, really, that’s what he said.
Trump: "Novo Nordisk will be slashing the price of Ozempic from more than ,000 to 9. And the price of Wegovy from more than ,300 to 9, a 578% difference."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-02-06T00:12:04.042Z
.....This is the same president who’s so confident in his mathematical expertise that he has come up with international trade tariff rates based on formulas that only exist in his head. That’s obviously unwise, but it’s especially problematic given his unfamiliarity with how numbers work.
I’m often reminded of something Bill Lueders wrote for The Bulwark last year: “Whatever the claim, the president has the numbers to prove it, even if he has to make them up.”
It remains an important detail. The incumbent president doesn’t use numbers and statistics like an adult; he uses numbers and statistics that he thinks sound good and make him feel better.
