President Donald Trump on Wednesday used a nationally-televised address to deliver a campaign-style rant in which he blamed his predecessor for the economic woes Americans are feeling a year into his presidency while offering little in the way of proposals to address the higher prices caused in large part by the massive tariffs he has placed on almost all American imports.
Speaking from the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House, Trump opened by claiming to have “inherited a mess” that he was now “fixing.”
What followed was a partisan rant indistinguishable from the signature rallies that have been the centerpiece of his political movement, in which he rattled off a list of grievances while blaming his predecessor for the state of the country nearly a full year after he took the oath of office.
Shouting into his microphone, Trump falsely claimed inflation was “the worst in 48 years” when he took office but quickly shifted to boasting of his administration’s efforts to shut down illegal immigration and remove rights for transgender people.
He also claimed to have “brought more positive change to Washington than any administration in American history” during his first year back in the White House while boasting his election gave him a “mandate to take on a sick and corrupt system that really just took the wealth from people and crushed the dreams of the American people.”
“For the last four years, the United States was ruled by politicians who fought only for insiders, illegal aliens, career criminals, corporate lobbyists, prisoners, terrorists and above all foreign nations which took advantage of us at levels never seen before. They flooded your cities and towns with illegal aliens. They decimated your hard earned savings. They indoctrinated your children with hate for America,” he said.
“But now you have a president who fights for the law abiding, hard working people of our country, the ones who make this nation run, who make this nation work. And after just one year, we have achieved more than anyone could have imagined.”
Continuing, Trump claimed that inflation had “stopped” after 11 months back in power.
“Wages are up, prices are down. Our nation is strong. America is respected, and our country is back stronger than ever before. We are poised for an economic boom the likes of which the world has never seen,” he said.
Over the course of the more than 10 minutes of shouted boasts he delivered, the president also offered up a series of demonstrably false claims and baseless assertions about his economic record.
He claimed his administration has caused “100 percent of all jobs” created since he returned to office to be in the private sector, rather than the government. He also falsely alleged that the previous administration caused 100 percent of all new jobs to go to illegal immigrants while claiming — also without offering any supporting evidence — that a similar “100 percent” of new jobs during his second term had gone to American citizens.
Trump also claimed to have enacted the largest single tax cut in history in his One Big Beautiful Bill spending package earlier this year while ignoring the fact that the massive tariffs he has placed on imports from all U.S. trading partners represent one of the largest tax increases on Americans in U.S. history.
And just days before Americans who rely on Affordable Care Act health care marketplaces are set to be hit with insurance premium increases caused by the expiration of Covid-era tax credits the Republican-led Congress has refused to extend, Trump claimed he was “taking on the gigantic health insurance companies” by allowing premiums to rise.
“The money should go to the people, that’s you, so they can buy their own health insurance, which will give far better benefits at much lower costs. It will be far better health insurance,” he said.
He then falsely claimed that the premium increases were “demanded by the Democrats” and claimed they are “their fault” even though the GOP-led Congress has refused to take action to renew the tax credits that were keeping premiums at a lower level.
“It’s their fault. It is not the Republicans’ fault. It’s the Democrats’ fault. It’s the ‘Unaffordable Care Act,’ and everybody knew it,” he said.
He also took swipes at Democrats for the cost of mortgages and said he would appoint a Federal Reserve chairman who would push for lower interest rates — something reputable economists warn would supercharge the inflation he has claimed to be fighting.
Trump’s self-congratulatory remarks, which television networks carried live with the same level of solemnity as a traditional Oval Office address after the White House asked for airtime for what Trump called an “address to the nation” in a Truth Social post one day earlier, are part of his administration’s effort to convince Americans that his economic policies are indeed ushering in levels of prosperity that outshine the tenure of his successor turned predecessor, former president Joe Biden.
With his approval ratings flagging a year out from midterm elections that could cost his party control of one or both chambers of Congress, Trump embarked last week on what aides described as the first of a series of rally-style appearances to tout his economic record with a speech in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania last week.
In between racist diatribes about Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar and Somali immigrants in her home state of Minnesota, the president claimed “prices are way down” in part due to his administration’s green-lighting of oil exploration across the country and told rally goers he had “no higher priority than making America affordable” while accusing Democrats of having “caused” the high prices that persist nearly a year into his second term in office.
He also accused Democrats who’ve made “affordability” an issue over the past year of perpetrating a “hoax” and falsely claimed that his administration has brought prices down “tremendously” since returning to power in January.
Trump is scheduled to continue his efforts to convince voters of his success on Friday at another rally-style event in North Carolina before he flies to Palm Beach for a Christmas holiday at his opulent Mar-a-Lago club.
Thus far, it does not appear voters are buying what he is selling — whether from the White House or from the stump at his signature rallies.
A National Public Radio / Marist College survey released this week found that 57 percent of respondents disapprove of Trump’s economic management, compared with 36 percent who approve — the lowest rating on this issue across his two terms in office.
While the polling data showed a split among partisans, with 81 percent of Republicans saying Trump is doing a good job and 91 percent of Democrats holding the opposite view, a full 68 percent of self-described independents say they disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy.
It also showed that Trump’s overall approval rating has sunk to 38 percent — his lowest-recorded level of approval since the end of his first term in 2021.
As far as Americans’ views of “affordability” go, the survey did not present a rosy picture for Trump on that topic, either.
About 70 percent of respondents — including nearly half of Republicans — said that the cost of living in their neighborhood is not affordable at all or not very affordable. In contrast, about 30 percent of respondents said the cost of living in their area is affordable, marking a 25-point drop from June.
At the same time, roughly one in three respondents said that their personal financial situation has deteriorated in 2025. About the same share expect their financial situation to get worse next year.
A majority of respondents, 52 percent, also said the U.S. is currently in a recession. And slightly more said Democrats are better equipped to manage the economy than Republicans — 37 percent versus 33 percent.
According to the latest unemployment data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Americans do have reason to be concerned.
While the U.S. economy added 64,000 last month, the report stated that it shed 105,000 positions during the previous month in October. Further revisions by the Labor Department also saw 33,000 jobs removed from August and September payrolls as well.
The BLS report also showed the nation’s unemployment rate climbing to 4.6 percent, marking its highest level since 2021.
Overall, hiring momentum has clearly waned, hampered by uncertainty surrounding Trump’s tariffs and the lingering impact of the high interest rates implemented by the Federal Reserve in 2022 and 2023 to curb inflation.
American companies are largely retaining their existing workforce but remain hesitant to hire new staff as they grapple with integrating artificial intelligence and adapting to Trump’s unpredictable policies, particularly his double-digit taxes on imports from around the world.