‘We’ve taken in almost $17 trillion of investment’: Donald Trump now just pulling random numbers out of thin air

Historically, Presidents of the United States have been at least loosely tethered to reality. Sure, many of them have suppressed important information, massaged statistics, or just plain lied outright, but despite this, they’ve broadly lived in the same world as the rest of us.

Donald Trump is smashing that record, apparently hellbent on forging his own exciting new financial reality that bears zero resemblance to what’s actually happening in the world. For example, yesterday, he bloviated about the amount of investment his government has taken in the country just halfway through the first year of his term.

That figure? $17 trillion.

Trump: "We've taken in almost $17 trillion of investment." (That would be more than half the entire US GDP, so no.) pic.twitter.com/UxVskdSfK2

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 2, 2025

This is, to put it simply, ludicrous. In 2024, the total GDP of the United States – the total monetary value of all goods and services produced domestically – was $29.1 trillion. Saying he’s scored $17 trillion of investment for the country in just eight months is straight bonkers.

Total economic collapse

At this point, you may be shrugging and wondering why Trump randomly making up numbers matters. After all, he makes up everything else. Why is this important? Well, first-world economies demand accurate data to function properly, and the president just imagining numbers throws calculations out of the window, raising the specter of economic collapse.

For an example of this, look no further than the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 80s. Their economy was riddled with inaccurate data produced by people who wanted the country to appear more productive than it actually was. That created a distorted image of economic performance, which eventually led to a world superpower collapsing into chaos.

The comments sadly (but correctly) assume that Trump’s followers are too dumb to figure out they’re being played and will clap like seals at “big number”:

It's easy when over 74 million people here are SCATHING indictments of the United States Educational system!!

— Michael Whitted (@whitted_mi62193) September 3, 2025

Doubtless, the actual bean counters over at the Department of the Treasury have their heads in their hands right now. We can only pray they know the actual figures and are quietly and competently managing the economy with as little direct input from Trump as possible.

But, at this point, they’re mostly Trump appointees, so it’s probably a case of “17 trillion, sir?” *scribbles out the real figures, writes Trump’s figure in* “Wow, such great presidenting! Well done, Dear Leader!”