President Trump gave an 18-minute speech intended to defend his accomplishments in the first year, and argue that the “Golden Age” he promised in his presidential campaign last year was building steam.
The speech was, in typical form, largely strung together from familiar lines he uses at White House events, rallies and speeches. And, in Trumpian style, there were a long list of exaggerations and misleading statements.
But notably absent from the president’s remarks was his argument from recent weeks that “affordability” was nothing but a “hoax” and a “con job” by Democrats — a line that made his own advisers cringe.
Here are six takeaways from his speech.
The president’s tone was combative.
Mr. Trump, always more comfortable with what he calls his “weave” of free association rather than reading from a teleprompter, raced through his talk as if he was late to an important dinner. There were no digressions, unlike his speech in Pennsylvania a week ago when he repeatedly veered from the topic. At times he seemed to be yelling — almost as if he didn’t believe he had to take the time to convince his audience of how well his first 11 months had gone.
Not surprisingly, he blamed former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. from the first sentence: “I inherited a mess.” He described a country that a year ago, he said, was overrun by illegal immigrants, its manufacturing base hollowed out, its cities ridden with crime. All these problems had been solved, he said, and he vowed more relief if people will wait to see their paychecks fatten.
But the message was a bit overshadowed by his angry tone, which seemed to belie his recognition that he was under pressure to show results fast, before a narrative settles that he has mismanaged the economy.
He made highly selective — and often misleading — use of statistics.
Mr. Trump argued he cut drug prices by 400, 500 or 600 percent, all mathematical impossibilities. He claimed that inflation had dropped significantly since he became president, without mentioning that in September, the last month for which the government has numbers, it had returned to 3 percent, exactly where it was on Mr. Biden’s last weeks in office. He argued that gasoline was now under $2.50 a gallon in much of the country; his own department of energy reports it was $2.90. And he claimed there were states where gas was $1.99; in fact, no state average gas price was that low, AAA reports.
He failed to mention that the latest unemployment numbers — which were boosted by government layoffs executed by his administration — showed the unemployment rate at 4.6 percent, the highest in four years, since the nation was just pulling out of the Covid-19 pandemic. Spending on factory construction has fallen in recent times.
All presidents bend statistics to their advantage but Mr. Trump has turned exaggeration into an art form. There was an air of desperation to the president’s arguments, perhaps reflective of polls showing that even those who voted for him believing he would manage the economy well, were having second thoughts.
He risked repeating a Biden mistake of arguing with voters about how they feel.
Mr. Trump was propelled to victory in 2024 by voters who thought Mr. Biden was out of touch and too old for the job, and who were repelled by Mr. Biden’s insistence that they should be felling better. Now it is Mr. Trump who runs the same risk.
Just as Mr. Biden often argued that the economy was in far better shape than the public believed, Mr. Trump was essentially shouting that they should be grateful to him for bringing back manufacturing jobs and getting illegal immigrants out of the work force.
At moments it sounded as if the man who just threw a Gatsby-themed party at Mar-a-Lago did not realize what the job market feels like to ordinary Americans. In fact, the country continues to lose manufacturing jobs. But most importantly Americans appear unconvinced about tariffs — “my favorite word, tariffs.”
He described foreign investment pouring into the United States but cited a figure twice as high as his own White House has estimated. Perhaps he will be right in the long term, though he was having a hard time closing the sale based on what has happened so far, including overstating the pace at which foreign companies determine they must move facilities to the United States to avoid tariffs.
His solution to making Americans feel better is to write a check.
Mr. Trump promised he was sending out “warrior” checks — that very evening — to 1.4 million military personnel, for $1,776, to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary next year.
When he turned to health care, where for years he has promised a comprehensive plan to improve Obamacare, the solution he endorsed was a $2,000, one-time check for all Americans below a yet-undermined income level. They could use it to buy insurance — or not, though the increases in premiums coming in just days would, for many, outstrip that payment many times.
He has also promised that tariff income will drastically cut personal income taxes. Add these together and he has over-promised what tariff revenues can cover.
The tariffs he is relying on may be blocked by the Supreme Court.
While Mr. Trump made no reference tonight to the impending decision by the Supreme Court about the legality of his declaration of a series of economic emergencies, he knows he is running the risk that the justices may deconstruct his tariff regimen. What could follow may be chaotic, especially if companies demand, in court, that the government return tariff collections.
That is a looming risk for Mr. Trump in 2026, one he has acknowledged in other speeches. But he displayed no doubts of the righteousness of his high-tariff approach. It is not clear yet how the court will rule, or whether it would mandate refunds. But given how much Mr. Trump is betting on tariff revenues, the court now poses a huge risk to his agenda.
Trump declared he is a peacemaker, but made no mention of his pressure on Venezuela.
Just 24 hours before his speech, Mr. Trump was on his social media site declaring a blockade on “sanctioned” oil tankers, demanding that Venezuela reverse the nationalization of American companies in the 1970s and 1990s, and that it give Washington access to the country’s vast reserves of oil. He was boasting of a huge armada and threatening military force.
Yet in the speech to the nation he portrayed himself as a peacemaker, saying he “settled eight wars in 10 months.” Many, of course, are not settled, including one on the Thai-Cambodian border, where fighting has broken out anew. He claimed he had brought peace to the Middle East for “the first time in 3,000 years.”
But he said little beyond that, as his advisers warn that foreign policy gains will not solve the challenges Republicans face going into the midterm elections.
David E. Sanger covers the Trump administration and a range of national security issues. He has been a Times journalist for more than four decades and has written four books on foreign policy and national security challenges.
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