Did Donald Trump announce that people who had cosmetic surgeries would no longer be eligible for any form of government assistance starting in March 2026? No, that's not true: No credible media organization reported that. Neither the White House nor Trump's social media accounts showed the purported announcement.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on TikTok on December 9, 2025. The text across the video with the misspelled word "goverment" read:
Trump said: IF YOU HAVE ANY COSMETIC SURGERY YOU CAN NO LONGER GET ANY GOVERMENT ASSISTANCE MARCH 2026
In the video, a woman in a pink robe said:
Breaking news, breaking news, breaking news! If you have a BBL, lipo, veneers, tummy tuck? Guess what? Donald Trump said you can no longer file taxes, receive food stamps, section 8 housing, WIC, or any type of government assistance starting March 2026. Because, if you have money for all of those things, you got money to pay your rent, get you some groceries, and all of the above. And I feel like that's actually a good ass idea, and you can't file taxes either starting March 2026. Yeah, y'all be spending all this money on these bbls. If you got $20,000 for a BBL, you can pay your rent up, you can buy some groceries. You don't need the government. Hmh.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at tiktok.com/@myjaabaandz.)
The acronyms and nicknames used by the woman in the clip referred to a Brazilian Butt Lift, liposuction, abdomen reduction surgery and dental shells installed to cover the front surfaces of teeth.
Lead Stories found no evidence to confirm that Trump tied eligibility to various government benefits to the absence of any history of cosmetic surgeries.
Searches on Google News and Yahoo News (archived here) did not yield any results:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of search results page on Google News.)
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of search results page on Yahoo News.)
No such announcement appeared on the website of the White House:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of search results page at whitehouse.gov.)
A search on C-SPAN, which is a nonprofit, nonpartisan TV station covering government, didn't show relevant clips published between Trump's second inauguration on January 20, 2025, and this writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of search results page at c-span.org.)
Searches across Trump's accounts on social media - here (archived here) and here - didn't show any mentions of cosmetic surgeries:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of search results page at trumpstruth.org.)
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of search results page at x.com.)
Contrary to the post, most people in the U.S. have to file taxes -- it's a law, not a benefit, as the IRS website (archived here) reads.
