Fact-checking Trump’s Alabama rally: What went wrong in the president’s mobile speech

President Donald Trump delivered a midterm speech Friday that lasted more than an hour at the Mitchell Center at the University of South Alabama, mixing attacks on Democrats and praise for his administration.

Like many of his freewheeling rally speeches, Trump’s remarks in Mobile included embellished claims, contradictions, and several assertions that conflict with the available evidence.

Here’s a fact check on some of Trump’s claims:

Claim: “$3 billion from the Trump administration for the I-10 bridge project.”

Verdict: It depends on who gets the credit for the project, but it’s mostly wrong.

The Trump administration has not provided a single $3 billion grant or federal appropriation for the Interstate 10 Mobile River Bridge and Bayway project.

The largest federal grant for the project was a $550 million grant as part of the bipartisan infrastructure law signed by former President Joe Biden.

Republicans, however, praised the Trump administration for helping move the project forward and allowing construction on the first phase to begin.

This phase, estimated to cost $4.15 billion, includes a 215-foot-tall, six-lane cable-stayed bridge over the Mobile River and additional lanes along the Bayway between Mobile and Daphne.

A second phase, which remains unfunded and without a construction schedule, would replace the existing Bayway.

Trump linked the project’s groundbreaking Friday to “$3 billion” in administrative funding.

However, much of the project’s financing is tied to a federal loan under the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) that must be repaid through toll revenue.

Claim: “You know, Wesley was an All-American for four years. This guy is a monster. Get up, Wesley. I’m telling you… All-American and he spent 11 years in the NFL and he was an All-Pro. He was that good.”

Verdict: Exaggeration.

Wesley Britt, husband of U.S. Senator Katie Britt and executive vice president of 68 Ventures, played three years as a tackle in the National Football League, from 2006 to 2008, with the New England Patriots.

He wasn’t an 11-year-old in the NFL.

Britt played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide and was a third-term All-American during his senior season in 2004.

Claim: “Like this guy from Texas, he eats meat like a pig. He goes to barbecues. He’s vegan. He wore a mask three or four months ago. Anyone who wore a mask four months ago in Texas, I don’t think they’re too good.”

Verdict: Embellished Republican political attack line.

Trump was referring to Texas Democrat James Talarico, who emerges as a serious challenge to Republicans in a state that has long favored the Republican Party.

A recent poll shows Talarico narrowly leading or even running with Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton in one of the highest-profile Senate races of the 2026 midterms.

The vegan comment stems from a Republican attack on a 2022 video in which Talarico told the Texas Humane Legislation Network that it was “existential” for Americans to reduce their meat consumption.

Reportedly, Talarico’s comments were related to climate change concerns, not the fact that he personally abstains from eating meat.

“I’m an eighth-generation Texan. I was eating barbecue before Ken Paxton’s first indictment,” Talarico said in response to GOP criticism.

Talarico has since attempted to turn these attacks into a debate about affordability, noting that prices for brisket have increased 28% over the past year as the U.S. cattle herd has fallen to its lowest level in 75 years.

Claim: “We’ll do $5,000 for everyone (if the Republicans win).”

Verdict: A campaign proposal presented as a certainty which would face a significant obstacle in Congress.

Trump has repeatedly said that if Republicans retain the House and Senate, every adult American citizen would receive $5,000 through what he calls the “Trump dividend.”

PolitiFact estimated that such a payment would cost about $1.2 trillion, not $3.3 trillion, and would require congressional approval.

Even some Republicans have expressed reservations, citing concerns about the national debt, inflation and the legality of tying government payments to election results.

Claim: “We have seen the biggest drop in violent crime ever recorded” and “the murder rate is at its lowest level in 125 years, since 1900.”

Verdict: Trend partly true, although the decline began under the Biden administration.

Trump claimed the country had reached “the largest decline in violent crime ever recorded” and that the murder rate had fallen to its lowest level in 125 years.

He also cited a drop in murders of 44% in Birmingham, 91% in Washington, D.C. and 83% in New Orleans.

Nationally, homicides have fallen to their lowest levels in decades. However, crime researchers warn that modern data cannot be reliably compared with figures from 1900.

Violent crime has generally been declining since 2022, following a spike during the pandemic.

Birmingham is on pace to record its lowest homicide total in about 75 years.

In the first three quarters of 2026, the city recorded 34 homicides. Two years earlier, Birmingham reported 152 homicides, one of the deadliest years in its history.

Claim: The Biden administration “gave amnesty to 25 million illegal aliens. They wanted to give amnesty to everyone who entered the country illegally.”

Verdict: FAKE.

PolitiFact called Trump’s claim that 25 million immigrants entered illegally under Biden false.

According to PolitiFact, estimates of the nation’s undocumented population during Biden’s presidency were generally between 11 and 12 million, depending on the methodology. The highest estimate found was 16.8 million.

There is also no evidence that the Biden administration has granted a blanket amnesty to all those who entered the country illegally.

Claim: “In the last 17 months, 25 million people have flowed into our country. But in the last 17 months, zero.”

Verdict: Misleading.

Trump compared his unsupported claim of 25 million migrants under Biden with “zero” crossings during his own presidency.

Illegal crossings have declined sharply to historic lows compared to the Biden years, but they have not fallen to zero.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 8,870 apprehensions along the southwest border in August 2026 alone.

Claim: Trump said $21 trillion is being invested in the United States, in new American manufacturers, farmers, exports and more.

Verdict: FAKE.

Trump touted economic growth and said the United States was attracting $21 trillion in investment.

PolitiFact looked at a nearly identical $22 trillion claim and found it was almost double the $11.2 trillion listed on the White House’s own investment tracker.

This White House figure includes multi-year commitments, announced projects and future investments in areas such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, energy, biotechnology and manufacturing.

Claim: “We have done nothing but lower prices.”

Verdict: FAKE.

Inflation and consumer prices remain Democrats’ main lines of attack as the midterm elections approach.

Gasoline prices, for example, were more than 40% higher than in January 2025 due to market disruptions related to the Iran conflict. Diesel prices hit record highs last month.

Overall, consumer prices have increased about 4.7% since Trump returned to office, according to PBS.

Claim: “Every Democrat voted against our record tax cuts, no tax on tips and overtime, and no tax on Social Security for seniors.”

Verdict: Mixed.

The first part of Trump’s statement is correct. Democrats unanimously opposed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, adopted in 2025.

The rest of the claim is more complicated.

Trump’s description of the law as providing “no tax” on tips, overtime and Social Security overstates what the legislation actually does.

The law provides limited tax deductions and breaks rather than completely eliminating taxes on these forms of income.

Some provisions expire after 2028 unless Congress extends them.

The legislation also fails to eliminate Social Security taxes.

Instead, it provides an additional $6,000 tax deduction to many Americans aged 65 and older.

Trump’s claim that the measure represented “record tax cuts” was also disputed by independent fact-finders.

According to PBS, when taking into account the bill’s extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts, the tax savings resulting from the 2025 Trump law still rank behind the tax cuts signed into law by President Ronald Reagan (1981) and President Barack Obama (2012).

Claim: “They voted against proof of citizenship.”

Verdict: Misleading.

Trump was referring to Democratic opposition to the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote federally.

Republicans support the legislation as an election integrity measure.

Democrats generally oppose it, arguing that it addresses a problem that election officials and researchers have said is extremely rare.

Non-citizen voting in federal elections is already illegal.

Critics also argue that some eligible voters might not have immediate access to passports, birth certificates or other documents required by law.

Married women whose legal names differ from their birth certificate are frequently cited as a potentially affected group.

Republicans counter that passports and other citizenship documents can satisfy that requirement and argue that citizenship verification is a reasonable safeguard to protect the integrity of elections.