President Donald Trump left social media users baffled after he claimed on Sunday that he had lowered prescription drug prices by up to 1,500%.
While in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Trump told reporters that Republicans will turn their attention to the “tremendous drop in drug prices” ahead of the 2026 midterms.
“You know, we’ve cut drug prices by 1,200, 1,300, 1,400, 1,500%,” Trump said, before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington, D.C.
“I don’t mean 50% — I mean 14, 1,500%,” he added.
Trump went on to say that he wants the United States to offer the same prices as Europe and what “other country gets.”
“So we’ll be dropping drug prices. It’ll start over the next two to three months, by 1,200, 1,300 and even 1,400%, and 500%, but not just 50% or 25%, which normally would be a lot, because the rest of the world pays much less for the identical drug,” Trump said.
Reducing the price of a product by 100% would make it free — meaning Trump’s figures, all above 500%, would point to the consumer receiving money back when purchasing an item. His claims quickly drew reactions on social media, with many users taking notice of the impossible figures.
Gregg Nunziata, a conservative lawyer, said that it is “great” to have a “numerically illiterate person unilaterally in charge of our tariff policy.”
“‘On June 15, 1992, [Dan] Quayle altered 12-year-old student William Figueroa’s correct spelling of ‘potato’ to ‘potatoe’ at the Muñoz Rivera Elementary School spelling bee in Trenton, New Jersey. He was the subject of widespread ridicule for his error.’” — @Wikipedia,” Justin Wolfers, a professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan, joked.
George Conway, an attorney once involved in Republican politics turned prominent Trump critic, called Trump an “utter moron” over his claims.
“This would mean, in essence, that consumers would be getting paid by manufacturers or retailers to receive medications—in fact, getting paid up to 11, 12, 13, or 14 times what the consumers were previously paying to the sellers for prescriptions,” Conway wrote.
In a separate post, Conway said that Trump has “shown himself to be utterly innumerate.”
A journalist noted how Trump has yet to cut drug prices — but has instead sent letters to top pharmaceutical manufacturers outlining steps of how they can bring down prices to match the lowest price offered in other nations.
“Does he know that and is lying? Or is he deluded? We have no idea,” the user wrote.
Another user chimed in: “The prescription costs $100. You go to the drug store to pick it up, and instead of paying the pharmacist, the pharmacist gives you the medicine AND $1,400! Why didn’t any previous president think of this!?”
Trump’s comments came on the heels of his firing of Erika McEntarfer, the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, over revised weak job numbers that he made clear he did not support. The independent body had released a report hours earlier showing that hiring had slowed down significantly over the last three months.
On his Truth Social platform, Trump said the “Jobs Numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad.”
“Those big adjustments were made to cover up, and level out, the FAKE political numbers that were CONCOCTED in order to make a great Republican Success look less stellar!!! I will pick an exceptional replacement,” Trump wrote in a new post on Monday.
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