Trump’s remarks taken out of context — the “right president” he referred to was himself.
Fact-checking reporter: Chiu Shao-an
Managing editor: Chen Wei-ting
The original publication can be read here.
A video has recently circulated online showing U.S. President Trump saying, “If you have the right president, I don’t think it will happen,” with the accompanying claim that Trump was implying Lai Ching-te is a troublemaker. However, a review of the original context of his remarks shows that the “right president” Trump referred to was himself, not Lai Ching-te.
- The video is from a White House press conference on May 11, 2026, where a reporter asked whether the Trump–Xi meeting would address Taiwan. Trump said that Taiwan and Ukraine come up frequently, and claimed the Russia–Ukraine war happened because “the election at the time was rigged.” He argued the Taiwan issue follows a logic similar to Ukraine’s, saying “if you have the right president, the conflict won’t happen,” and stressed that he has a good relationship with Xi Jinping, so there should be no problems. Taken in context, the “right president” refers to Trump himself, not Lai Ching-te, as the rumor claims.
- A translation expert pointed out that the passage as a whole refers to Trump losing the previous election — had he won, the Russia–Ukraine war would not have happened. Therefore, “president” refers to Trump.
- An international relations scholar who reviewed the video explained that the “right president” should refer to Trump himself, while implying that former U.S. President Biden was the cause of the Russia–Ukraine war.
The rumor excerpts a clip of Trump’s remarks from the May 11 White House press conference, takes his statements out of context, and draws erroneous inferences from them.
Background
On May 13, U.S. President Trump departed for Beijing, China, to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
A message circulating online claims that “Trump implied Lai Ching-te is a troublemaker,” and is accompanied by a video of U.S. President Trump saying, “If you have the right president, I don’t think it will happen.”
Fact Check
Checkpoint: The original context of Trump’s remarks
Trump compared Taiwan to the situation in Ukraine, saying that if the right president had been in office at the time, the Russia–Ukraine war would not have happened
(1) A reverse image search of screenshots from the circulating video shows that it comes from a White House press conference on May 11, 2026. Media outlets such as CNBC and ABC News also livestreamed the press conference that day.
Reviewing the press conference footage, the circulating clip comes from the White House press conference (01:05:30–01:06:42). The fact-check center presents the verbatim Chinese and English transcript in graphic form to restore the original context:
A reporter asked whether Taiwan would be discussed at the Trump–Xi meeting. Trump noted that the Taiwan question comes up often, as does the issue of Ukraine. He said the Ukraine issue was handled very badly and that the Russia–Ukraine war broke out because “the election was rigged.” (Note: In November 2020, Biden won the U.S. presidential election, but Trump claimed the election was rigged; in January 2021, large numbers of his supporters protested and stormed the Capitol.)
He also drew an analogy between the Taiwan issue and the war in Ukraine, saying, “If you have the right president, the conflict won’t happen,” and then emphasized that his relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping is very good and that he does not want anything to happen to Taiwan.
From the above, Trump’s remarks never mentioned Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te; from the situation he described, the “right president” refers to himself.
(2) An assistant professor at a graduate institute of translation noted that language is inherently flexible, so there is indeed room for interpretation. However, in Trump’s statement, “(If) you have the right president, I don’t think it will happen,” with or without the “If,” “president” should refer to Trump himself.
This is because he had earlier said, “That would have never happened had the election not been rigged, that would have never happened.” This passage refers to Trump losing the previous election — had he been elected, the Russia–Ukraine war would not have happened. From this, the entire passage is about Trump himself.
Yen Chen-shen, adjunct research fellow at National Chengchi University’s Institute of International Relations, also reviewed the video and pointed out that the “right president” Trump mentioned at the press conference should refer to Trump himself, while implying that former U.S. President Biden was the cause of the Russia–Ukraine war.
(3) A review of domestic and international media coverage — including Reuters, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, United Daily News, Liberty Times, China Times, TVBS, SET, and EBC — found no reports claiming that “Trump implied Lai Ching-te is not the right president.”
Reposted from the TFC website in collaboration with StopFake as part of the Ukraine–Taiwan Initiative for Election Information Resilience.
