Fact check: Trump told NBC that he never promised not to start a new war. He did, repeatedly

President Donald Trump told a bunch of lies before he abruptly walked out of an interview that aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” One of them was about what he had promised Americans about war.

While discussing the Iran war Trump started this year, NBC anchor Kristen Welker pressed him on what had changed from the campaign promise she described as “no new wars.” The president responded to this line of questioning in several ways – you can read the full transcript here – but one of his claims was this: “First of all, I didn’t guarantee no war.” Later, he said, “So when you say I promised – I didn’t promise anything. I don’t like these endless wars. This is not an endless war.”

In fact, Trump repeatedly promised in 2024 that the US would not have any wars during his second presidency. Though it’s true that he often deployed some nuance on the subject – for example, vowing to end “endless” wars or prevent “World War III” – he unequivocally pledged on other occasions that the US wouldn’t get involved in wars, period.

Here are some examples.

In a June 2024 social media post, Trump described the election as “a choice between STRENGTH or WEAKNESS, COMPETENCE or INCOMPETENCE, peace and prosperity or war and no war.” Then, in one of the highest-profile speeches of the campaign, his July 2024 address to the Republican National Convention, he said, “With our victory in November, the years of war, weakness, and chaos will be over. I don’t have wars.”

https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/08/politics/fact-check-trump-new-wars