Trump says he’s fixing the economy. Voters are still unhappy.
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Good morning. It's Thursday, December 18th. I'm Gideon Resnick in for Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, the story behind a unique new statue in the Capitol, how the president is trying to free a MAGA loyalist, and the next person in charge of our missions to space is confirmed.
But first, last night, President Trump gave a primetime address to the nation, focused mostly on the state of the economy. During the speech, he attacked Democrats, blaming them for increased prices across the board and other issues, while giving himself credit for solving those problems.
Here at home, we're bringing our economy back from the brink of ruin. The last administration and their allies in Congress looted our treasury for trillions of dollars, driving up prices and everything at levels never seen before. I am bringing those high prices down and bringing them down very fast.
The president also said that in just under a year, he brought the country back from the brink.
One year ago, our country was dead. We were absolutely dead. Our country was ready to fail. Totally failed. Now, we're the hottest country anywhere in the world.
The combative speech comes at a moment when Trump has struggled to assuage concerns among voters that the general cost of living in the United States is still stubbornly high. What has been a political strength of Trump's, one that he used to help win his second term in the White House, is now his own cross to bear in a sense. Despite the president's claims during his address that prices for things like plane tickets, gas and groceries are all falling on his watch, the public at large hasn't really agreed with that.
The main promise he made was to lower consumer costs on day one. And now he's really painted himself into a corner because there actually isn't very much the president can do to lower consumer costs by himself.
Jacob Bogage is the White House economic correspondent for The Washington Post. A new poll from PBS News, NPR, and Marist found that 36% of Americans approve of Trump's handling of the economy. That marks the lowest in their polling on the issue across his two terms in office. A recent AP poll found similar levels of dissatisfaction. And economic data does show that prices have edged up for much of Trump's first year back at the White House. Recently, the administration has taken some actions to ease cost of living concerns, including rolling back some tariffs on grocery goods like Brazilian coffee and beef, a plan to cut the price of weight loss drugs, and rolling back fuel efficiency rules to make cars more affordable.
And just last night, Trump announced a plan to send checks to members of the U.S.
What did President Trump say about the economy during his primetime address?
military. Meanwhile, the White House is also actively trying to message to voters that they're working on the affordability crisis. Just this week, Vice President J.D. Vance made a stop in Pennsylvania, a key battleground state, bearing that message. Bogage told us that while Republicans close to Trump believe he has delivered on eliminating regulatory red tape in addition to tax hikes and cuts, Americans are just still unhappy with how things are going.
They feel the economy legitimately is on pretty steady footing, that consumers have the resources to keep up with prices, that their wages are rising to keep up with prices, and that they are all in all on pretty good footing, and yet they're not getting credit for it.
On the employment front, figures released this week showed the U.S. added 64,000 jobs in November but lost 105,000 in October. Those job losses include thousands of federal workers who accepted delayed resignations. The unemployment rate also ticked up to 4.6%, the highest since 2021.
The frustrating thing for the president and for the Republican Party, and I don't know how they wiggle their way out of this, is they ran for office by promising these instant economic results and conditioning voters to believe that they were achievable. Now that they can't achieve them because they promised some impossible results, how do you put the genie back in the bottle there?
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:05–2:40
2
What did President Trump say about the economy during his primetime address?
2:40–8:01
3
Why do everyday Americans feel differently about the economy than Trump claims?
8:01–15:26
4
What actions has the administration taken to address cost of living concerns?
15:26–15:28
Speakers
8 identifiedMore from Apple News Today
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