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President Donald Trump delivered his first State of the Union speech since returning to the White House for a second term, largely ignoring the real economic conditions of the American people.
Trump declared economic success, claiming “the interests of hardworking American citizens are always our first and ultimate concern.”
“The roaring economy is roaring like never before,” Trump said.
During his speech, Trump claimed there was “no inflation,” only to state later that “inflation is plummeting.”
In reality, the 2.7 percent rate of inflation seen in 2025 is only 0.2 percent lower than it was in the year prior to Trump re-entering the White House. Food prices are also up by 2.4 percent overall during the first year of Trump’s second term.
The president also touted tax cuts in his so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act as beneficial for most Americans. However, the law’s tax cuts largely benefited the wealthy, and the bill made significant cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Trump also praised his tariffs and blasted the Supreme Court decision last week that declared them unlawful and unconstitutional. He promised to institute more tariffs, using different mechanisms, and falsely claimed that American consumers wouldn’t bear the costs.
He absurdly claimed tariffs could replace income taxes one day, too.
“I believe the tariffs, paid for by foreign countries, will, like in the past, substantially replace the modern-day system of income tax, taking a great financial burden off the people that I love,” Trump said.
Experts regard tariffs as a regressive form of taxation, affecting people with lower incomes much more than the wealthy. Trump’s tariffs are also the largest increase in taxes seen since 1993. Some economists believe that Trump’s tariffs have negatively impacted job growth in the U.S.
Trump’s comments were absurd at times.
“Our country is winning again. In fact, we’re winning so much that we really don’t know what to do about it. People are asking me, please, please, please, Mr. President, we’re winning too much,” Trump said at one point.
“We can’t take it anymore. We’re not used to winning in our country. Until you came along, we were just always losing, but now we’re winning too much,” he continued, adding that he’s not going to stop, and the U.S. will supposedly “win bigger than ever.”
Throughout his speech, Trump celebrated an economy that the majority of Americans think he is mishandling.
“We are the hottest country anywhere in the world,” he said.
A majority of Americans do not share that sentiment, several polls have found.
Trump entered the State of the Union Address with some of the worst polling numbers he’s seen in his two terms in office. A CNN/SSRS poll, for example, showed that only 36 percent of Americans approve of how Trump is handling his presidency, with 63 percent saying they disapprove.
A recent Pew Research poll found that only 28 percent of Americans believe the president’s economic policies have improved the country, while 52 percent believe his administration’s actions have made things worse.
An Economist/YouGov poll published on Tuesday also found that only 28 percent of Americans rate the current state of the economy as “excellent” or “good,” while 69 percent only rate it as “fair” or “poor.”
Most respondents in that poll were pessimistic about how the economy is trending, with 50 percent stating that things are “getting worse” overall.
Trump’s speech on Tuesday night is unlikely to ease the concerns of most Americans, as most State of the Union addresses fail to provide more than a statistical “bump” in presidents’ polling numbers. But if Trump continues to celebrate the economy while Americans by and large do not share the same rosy outlooks, the president’s risky gamble could affect how well the Republican Party does against Democrats in the midterms this fall.
Holding Trump accountable for his illegal war on Iran
The devastating American and Israeli attacks have killed hundreds of Iranians, and the death toll continues to rise.
As independent media, what we do next matters a lot. It’s up to us to report the truth, demand accountability, and reckon with the consequences of U.S. militarism at this cataclysmic historical moment.
Trump may be an authoritarian, but he is not entirely invulnerable, nor are the elected officials who have given him pass after pass. We cannot let him believe for a second longer that he can get away with something this wildly illegal or recklessly dangerous without accountability.
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