Donald Trump turned more than a few heads over the weekend as he told reporters that 300 million people died from drugs last year. The comment came as the president was defending the fatal strike by the U.S. on a Venezuelan boat.
Earlier in the month, Trump ordered a U.S. military strike on a boat suspected of carrying drugs smuggled from Venezuela. The strike resulted in the deaths of 11 people which the Venezuelan government denies were gang members. When asked by reporters whether the strike was illegal the president can be heard saying, “what’s illegal are the drugs that are on the boat and the drugs being sent into our country, and the fact that 300 million people died last year from drugs.”
— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) September 15, 2025
BREAKING: Trump just had a stunning cognitive slip. Asked about Venezuela, he said: “What’s illegal is the fact that 300 million people died last year from drugs.”
America has 340 million people total. Is it time for the 25th Amendment? pic.twitter.com/5VEZW3EEZK
300 million is a lot. For context the population of the whole of the U.S. is around 340 million, meaning if what the president said was true, almost 90% of the population died from taking drugs last year, by the end of this year I guess there won’t be anyone left.
Donald Trump’s ridiculous claim explained
Sometimes it feels like Trump just pulls supposed “facts” out of thin air on the fly. His statement makes absolutely zero sense and is just factually wrong no matter how you look at it. While some were quick to suggest that perhaps the president was talking about worldwide deaths, even then, the number is nowhere near that high.
While Trump’s statement certainly seemed as though he was talking about deaths in America, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he meant worldwide. Well, according to the World Health Organization, the actual number of drug related deaths across the globe is around 600,000.
That’s a far cry from the 300 million Trump was claiming, where on earth did he get these numbers?
Is he losing it?
On X plenty of people were quick to call out Trump’s false facts and suggest that it might be a sign of his declining mental faculties. “Trump pulls numbers out of his butt like a magic proctologist,” wrote one individual on X, “How can even his maga supporters not realize he has lost the plot[?]” asked another. “Time to take Grandpa’s keys away,” added a third.
This is just another example of a mental slip that suggests Donald Trump may not be up for the job of leading the country anymore. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen him completely fabricate facts. Who can forget his wild claims about Haitian immigrants eating people’s pets in Ohio? The man needs to be constantly fact-checked and the scariest part is that some people will believe his lies without question.
