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Donald Trump defended his domestic policies in a campaign-style speech from the White House on Wednesday night, using a primetime televised address to try to revitalise his second term as US president.
In remarks lasting about 20 minutes, Trump pinned the cost-of-living concerns felt by many US households squarely on his predecessor Joe Biden’s administration, and insisted he was on course to solve many of the problems that he campaigned on, from migration to inflation.
“Eleven months ago, I inherited a mess and I am fixing it,” Trump said. “We are poised for an economic boom the likes of which the world has never seen,” he added.
Trump’s unrepentant, combative address came amid signs that Americans have grown increasingly impatient with the president’s inability to deliver a better economy, sooner.
About 54 per cent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s performance in office, while 44 per cent approve, according to the RealClearPolitics.com polling average. In a recent Politico survey, 46 per cent of voters said the cost of living was the worst in recent memory, including 37 per cent of those who backed Trump in the 2024 election.
Following pressure from many Republicans to focus on the home front, Trump said little about his diplomatic endeavours abroad. He did not mention relations with China, his attempt to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine or the stand-off with Venezuela.
Trump did announce a $1,776 bonus for members of the US military, which he called the “warrior dividend”, to celebrate America’s upcoming 250th anniversary.
Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, said Trump had again shown himself to be out of touch.
“President Trump’s speech just showed he lives in a bubble completely disconnected from the reality everyday Americans are seeing and feeling,” Schumer said. “People are feeling squeezed harder and harder every day and tonight Donald Trump took a victory lap.”
Trump insisted in his speech that his policies were working. “I am bringing those high prices down and bringing them down very fast,” he said, even though the annual consumer price index rose in September by 3 per cent, the same level as when Biden left office.
He also claimed his policies would reduce domestic drug prices by up to “600 per cent”.
Trump said his sweeping tariffs, which have rattled the global economy, would lead to a huge investment boom. “Much of this success has been accomplished by tariffs,” he said.
The US president also nodded to his expected appointment of a new Federal Reserve chair, who he said would bring relief to borrowing costs.
“I’ll soon announce our next chairman of the Federal Reserve, someone who believes in lower interest rates by a lot,” Trump said. “And mortgage payments will be coming down even further,” he added.
Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator from South Carolina, praised the president’s remarks, posting on X: “High energy, great delivery, grand slam, home run on making the case that the best is yet to come”.
Trump, who spoke in a rushed and sometimes shouting manner, occasionally missed or mixed up words. “We will soon host the World Cup and the Olympics, both of which I got, but most importantly we’ll celebrate the 250th anniversity [sic] of the Declaration of Independence,” he said.
The US president has been hit over the past two months by the stinging defeats of some Republican candidates in off-year elections, the furore over the release of the files related to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and emerging dissent within his “Maga” movement.
The sense of drift within the administration was further amplified by an explosive interview in Vanity Fair magazine with Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, who described the president as having an “alcoholic’s” personality and JD Vance, the vice-president, as a “conspiracy theorist”.
Wiles was in the room with Trump as he delivered his speech.
Trump has also been under increasing pressure from some Republicans to extend healthcare insurance subsidies, introduced under Barack Obama, that are due to expire at the end of the year.
The president rebuffed the idea. “I want the money to go directly to the people so you can buy your own healthcare. You’ll get much better healthcare at a much lower price,” he said.
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