Politics'None of What You Heard Him Say There Was True': Anderson Cooper Refutes Donald Trump's Inflation Claims
Anderson Cooper brutally fact-checked Donald Trump's baseless claims on inflation and the economy.
Oct. 16 2026, Published 11:56 a.m. ET
CNN host Anderson Cooper directly refuted President Donald Trump’s claims about a cooling economy, stating, “None of what you heard him say there was true.”
The brutal fact-check aired during the Wednesday, October 14, broadcast of Anderson Cooper 360°. Cooper criticized Trump for focusing on vanity projects and AI clips on Truth Social instead of addressing the persistent affordability crisis.
During recent campaign rallies leading up to the midterms, Trump claimed prices were "tumbling down," oil was falling, and inflation was lower. He also asserted at an Arizona rally that the nation was in a "golden age" and doing better than ever before.
'Not True'
'None of what you heard him say here was true,' said Anderson Cooper of the president's economic claims.
“The words of a man who says he wants voters to pretend that he is on the ballot, telling them things they see with their eyes are not true,” Cooper said.
Cooper countered these claims by citing the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The data showed that consumer prices rose faster than expected, reaching 3.7 percent in September, up from the previous year.
While Trump claimed oil prices were dropping, market data cited during the segment showed oil trading at $106 a barrel, with gas averaging $4.33 a gallon nationally.
Anderson Cooper Fact-Checks Donald Trump's Inflation Claims
Anderson Cooper used brand new data on rising inflation to throw water on Trump's claims.
“Inflation not down. It’s up. Prices not coming down. They’re going up. Oil not coming down. None of what you heard him say there was true,” he added.
Cooper referenced a CNN "Poll of Polls" showing that only 33 percent of voters believed Trump was doing a good job, directly contradicting the narrative that the country felt it was in an economic golden age.
Cooper blasted the president’s “continued painting a picture for voters that most now neither see nor feel,” adding that the dubious “golden age” is a fantasy of the fabulist president’s.
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The CNN star then played a video of Donald Trump gushing about his $5 million new helipad as Americans struggle to pay their bills.
“Voters, according to polling at least, do not seem to see it that way,” Cooper said. “Red-state voters [keep telling CNN reporters] that the president is not doing enough to address their problems.”
“As for what he is doing, well, let him tell you again,” Cooper said, playing a video of Trump gushing over his new $5 million helipad.
'The Actual Inflation Numbers Aren’t Good'
Anderson Cooper noted that the POTUS' helipad brag was probably not a good idea.
“That was probably not in the teleprompter,” Cooper deadpanned.
In a Thursday, October 15, analysis, CNN’s Daniel Dale characterized Trump's campaign trail rhetoric as an overt attempt to replace official data with invented metrics, saying, "The actual inflation numbers aren’t good for President Donald Trump and his party. So Trump has come up with something of a solution: use fake inflation numbers.”
