Less than one day after US President Donald Trump declared a military blockade of sanctioned oil tankers from Venezuela, he addressed the nation during a rare primetime speech – but didn’t talk about Venezuela. Instead, he touted the economy, arguing that it’s doing better than many Americans believe it is.
“Boy, are we making progress,” Trump said during his 18-minute address at the White House. By some marks, that rings true. Gas prices are down nearly 40% from their 2022 peak. The stock market is up, despite a brief shock after he unveiled sweeping tariffs. Long-awaited data from the Labor Department this morning showed inflation easing, continuing its downward trend from its post-pandemic high.
But in the year since Trump has re-taken office, Americans aren’t feeling that promise materialize – despite the economic markers the president points to. Trump campaigned on a “Golden Age” of America, lowering the cost of living and everyday goods. The latest polling, though, shows just 36% of voters approve of Trump’s handling of the economy, the lowest rating he’s gotten on the issue in either of his terms.
Former President Joe Biden faced a similar conundrum in office, trying to sell the public the economy by pointing to opaque data that didn’t line up with how Americans felt. He pointed to a strong stock market, falling unemployment, and of course, inflation ticking down. “Facts are stubborn things,” Biden said during a speech a month before leaving office. “They’re not political or rhetorical opinions. They’re just facts.”
But the fact of the matter is Americans lived through the most inflationary period in decades, and the impact on prices are still reverberating. The country saw the cost of an average Christmas -- think dinner, transport, and gifts -- spike as much as 10% between 2021 and 2022, and prices are significantly higher than they were during Trump’s first term. Today, nearly 65% of Americans say they’re frustrated by rising prices, despite the inflation rate coming down.
One solution to make people feel better about the economy Trump has floated is to write checks, one for military personnel for $1,776 (a nod to the country’s 250th birthday next year) and another for the general public from tariff revenue.
Whether cash bonuses will assuage the country’s big-picture concerns about the cost of living remains to be seen. For now, when it comes to the economy, Trump is sounding an awful lot like his predecessor.
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