The President Vigorously Defends His First Year
Donald Trump has had a pretty successful 11 months on many fronts, but reality doesn’t quite match his hyperbole. Can he convince voters?
President Donald Trump gave a loud and almost hastily delivered 17-minute prime-time address to the nation last night, and it could be summed up in one sentence early on: “In a few short months, we went from worst to best.”
Everything with Trump is always hyperbole (wink, wink). His wild exaggeration drives the Leftmedia “fact-checkers” absolutely nuts, which you can see in this delightful example from NBC News. No, Trump is not usually precise in his language. It’s just not his way, and it never will be. Most Americans aren’t precise, either.
The backdrop for Trump’s speech is growing unease with the state of the economy after he’s been on the job for nearly a year. A new Zogby poll shows that just 33% of Americans think the country is headed in the right direction, while 54% think it’s going the wrong way. This probably has to do with another finding from the poll: “83% report having cut back on spending due to rising prices over the past year, including 39% who say they have done so ‘significantly’ and another 44% ‘somewhat.’”
Vice President JD Vance has wisely and carefully asked for patience. “The thing I’d ask for the American people is a little bit of patience,” he said last month. “As much progress as we’ve made,” he continued, “it’s going to take a little bit of time for every American to feel that economic boom, which we really do believe is coming.”
The brash New Yorker in Trump doesn’t handle things that way. Last night, he began:
Eleven months ago, I inherited a mess, and I’m fixing it. When I took office, inflation was the worst in 48 years, and some would say in the history of our country, which caused prices to be higher than ever before, making life unaffordable for millions and millions of Americans. This happened during a Democrat administration, and it’s when we first began hearing the word affordability.
Our border was open. And because of this, our country was being invaded by an army of 25 million people, many who came from prisons and jails, mental institutions, and insane asylums. They were drug dealers, gang members, and even 11,888 murderers, more than 50% of whom killed more than one person. This is what the Biden administration allowed to happen to our country, and it can never be allowed to happen again.
We had men playing in women’s sports, transgender for everybody, crime at record levels with law enforcement and words such as that just absolutely forbidden. We had the worst trade deals ever made, and our country was laughed at from all over the world. But they’re not laughing anymore. Over the past 11 months, we have brought more positive change to Washington than any administration in American history.
Worst, best, disaster, rescue — you get the idea. And really, that’s what Trump plays to. He doesn’t care whether the “fact-checkers” literally agree with his word choices. He cares about how Americans feel about the issues as he presents them.
Two of the issues he began with are the two most significant factors behind his defeat of Kamala Harris last November. Joe Biden and his sidekick did cause inflation with that bogus American Rescue Plan in the spring of 2021. The dynamic duo did create a humanitarian crisis on the border and throughout the country, causing the backlash that we see now.
Let’s evaluate some of Trump’s statements against his record.
Vance is correct that the economy will benefit from Trump’s policies, though it will “take a little bit of time.” Today’s inflation report illustrates this. After multiple months of inflation slightly ticking upward, the latest report shows that it fell to 2.7% annualized. That’s still a good way from the Federal Reserve’s target of 2% (and you can say of that target what you will), but it’s going in the right direction.
Trump is also correct that everything is drastically more expensive because of Biden’s policies, not Trump’s. Affordability is likely going to play a role in the midterm elections. Skyrocketing prices are the fault of Democrats, but Trump is going to have to do better than an “affordability tour” full of stubbornly insisting that he’s already fixed it and that prices are “coming down.” Inflation might be slower, but outside of gas prices, there isn’t much that literally costs less than it did a year ago.
He’s right that millions of Americans are going to be happier with their tax refunds in the first quarter of 2026, even if it’s not literally “the largest tax refund season of all time.” I’m not a gambling man, but I’ll bet that his polling on the economy improves as people get those refunds.
He also offered a $1,776 tariff bonus for military personnel. His “warrior dividend” should be popular, and “the checks are already on the way.”
As for the border, Trump has effectively closed it. Zero illegals were released into the U.S., in great contrast to the standard practice of Team Biden. Roughly two million illegals have left the country, either voluntarily or through deportation. There’s an optics issue of going too far, too fast with that, but generally speaking, Trump is restoring the Rule of Law.
He offered this powerful sentiment: “In the end, government either serves the productive, patriotic, hardworking American citizen, or it serves those who break the laws, cheat the system, and seek power and profit at the expense of our nation.”
The president touted many other successes in what ended up being a pretty classic Trump stump speech. He talked about jobs, wages, healthcare, and foreign policy (albeit without mentioning Venezuela), always emphasizing the economic boom that awaits.
“We’re putting America first, and we are making America great again,” he concluded. “Tonight, after 11 months, our border is secure, inflation has stopped, wages are up, prices are down, our nation is strong, America is respected, and our country is back, stronger than ever before. We’re poised for an economic boom the likes of which the world has never seen.”
For perspective, he added that soon, “We will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. There could be no more fitting tribute to this epic milestone than to complete the comeback of America that began just one year ago.”
Again, whether he uses specific numbers or sweeping generalities, his point is always about framing an issue in broad strokes. Will it work to improve his approval ratings, buy him some time, and help Republicans in next year’s midterms? As always, time will tell.
