As a tactical matter, it makes a degree of political sense to see Donald Trump touting individual projects in specific states ahead of the midterm elections. Indeed, the Republican is hardly the first incumbent president to try to boost an ally by delivering some good news to local voters.

The trouble with Trump’s version of this strategy is that it’s inherently dishonest.

Two weeks ago, for example, the president welcomed Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska to the White House, where the two celebrated a $54 billion South Korean investment in a liquid natural gas pipeline project in the senator’s home state. It wasn’t long, however, before South Korea’s government made clear that the deal wasn’t complete, and Korean Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan told reporters that he’d “lodged a strong protest” with the administration over Trump’s announcement, which “went far beyond what was agreed.”

The same week, the Republican president hosted a separate event in the Oval Office and announced the “largest steel plant in American history” would be built in Iowa, where party is facing several competitive races. “This deal is done,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said, standing at Trump’s side.

The deal, however, isn’t even close to being done. The Washington Sun reported:

As of Tuesday, the company behind the project, Mesabi Metallics, and its Indian parent company, the Essar Group, did not own property in Lee County, Iowa — where the plant is supposed to be built — or in the state of Iowa, according to The Washington Sun’s review of property records. […]

The timing of the announcement has raised eyebrows among both Democratic and Republican state lawmakers, who were told months ago that Iowa was in competition with several other states, including Arkansas, for the steel mill. Some said they feared the midterms played an outsized role in the announcement, and the president was getting ahead of actual plans — possibly to the detriment of Iowans.

This week, it happened yet again. On Wednesday afternoon, Trump used his social media platform to announce “the largest Offtake Agreement in History,” which he said would include Taiwan investing tens of billions of dollars’ worth of liquefied natural gas from a proposed Alaska energy pipeline.

“This is the GREATEST Project in Alaska History, and this only happens with me in the White House,” the president added.

As Politico reported, what Trump neglected to mention is that funding for the project is still in dispute, and it’s possible that this will never actually happen.

To the extent that voters are basing their election decisions on the president’s recent announcements, they might want to read the fine print on his wildly misleading boasts.

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