Trump will deliver his first speech as polls show some voters are complaining about his position as president
US President Donald Trump will deliver his first State of the Union address on Wednesday evening as polls show his popularity has fallen in recent weeks as ongoing cost-of-living challenges push some voters away from his presidency.
“It’s been a great year for our Country, and BETTER IS YET TO COME! Trump posted Tuesday on his social media platform as he announced the address.
“I look forward to seeing you.”
Trump, who promised on “Day 1” to “end inflation and make America affordableagain,” he struggled to follow through on that commitment.
Federal data show that inflation has been stuck at about 3 percent while health care premiums have risen and are expected to rise further, hindering congressional success in extending Obamacare federal funding.
Polls suggest that nearly two-thirds of Americans surveyed disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy — a point many voters made when they voted for him last fall. The latest unemployment data, released Tuesday, shows the economy added 64,000 jobs in November.
By comparison, Canada, with nearly nine times the population, added 54,000 jobs in the same month – a sign that the country’s economy appears to be stalling amid Trump’s trade war, which experts say has actually raised prices for American consumers and businesses, filling the coffers but delivering fewer promised jobs.
In fact, the US economy shed more than 100,000 jobs in October, most of them in manufacturing.
According to the latest data from the Center for American Progress, 58,000 US manufacturing jobs have been lost since April, when the Trump administration announced its “recovery” rates, apparently to increase jobs in this sector.
Trump’s press secretary, Caroline Leavitt, told reporters that the president would speak Wednesday night about “what he’s accomplished in the last 11 months, everything he’s done to put our country back together.”
He will also touch on what he “plans to do to continue to deliver to the American people over the next three years.”
In an interview with CBC News, Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist and first-term Trump State Department appointee, said the president should remember the economic challenges many voters are currently facing when he speaks at the White House.
This is not the time to talk about happiness, Bartlett said. Trump should consider the price pressure people are enduring this holiday season.
“The talk in the American public about how good things are, I would caution against that,” Bartlett said.
People feel stressed when grocery shopping, paying bills and buying holiday gifts.
‘Economically painful’
“It hurts politically and economically. If the president tries to prevent the American people from feeling the pressure, it will hurt him.said Bartlett.
Trump could use the address to remind cash-strapped voters that they could be in for a big tax refund next year thanks to his One Big Good Bill, which cut taxes on some but also slashed some government health programs.
The Republican-controlled Ways and Means Committee, which oversees credit spending, estimated a family of four with a household income of less than $100,000 a year would save about $600 in taxes.
Trump has repeatedly teased the idea of sending one-time $2,000 rebate checks to some families, a potentially large amount that could be partially funded by billions of dollars raised in his global spending spree.
“Next year is expected to be an unprecedented tax refund season, and we’re going to be paying back money, because we’ve taken billions of dollars,” Trump said at a cabinet meeting last week.
“And we will be giving a good benefit to the people, in addition to reducing the debts.”
Trump made rebate checks earlier this year when former lieutenant Elon Musk cut civil servants as part of his leadership at the Department of Labor — but those payments never materialized.
Trump can also talk about his administration’s efforts to blow up Venezuelan boats that are said to be carrying drugs to the US, a campaign that has already led to more than 100 strikes, as 25 people have died.
In an interview with Vanity Fair published on Tuesday, Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, said the president is determined to hit those goals until the president of Venezuela “cries uncle,” a comment that others interpreted as a desire to force a regime change in that country, ruled by Nicolas Maduro.
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles spoke candidly about US President Donald Trump and other members of his administration in a rare, candid interview with Vanity Fair. Wiles said Trump has an ‘alcoholic personality,’ and called Vice President JD Vance a ‘conspiracy theorist.’
Bartlett said some in the MAGA presidency are growing uneasy about the potential conflict.
“This went from drug prohibition to gas confiscation to regime change to the idea of ousting Maduro to bring democracy to Cuba. This seems incredibly contradictory, against the idea of a ‘president of peace’ and the idea of ending wars.
“There are endless questions that I think a lot of Americans are worried about and hopefully they can expect more clarity on this situation,” the Republican strategist said.
