Donald Trump shrugs off affordability concerns in upbeat State of the Union address

Key topics:Donald Trump touts strong economy, downplays affordability fearsCritics say speech lacked new cost-of-living solutionsMidterm pressure grows amid polls on inflation, tariffs.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..By Catherine Lucey.Addressing one of his biggest audiences at perhaps the lowest moment of his second term, President Donald Trump returned again and again in his State of the Union speech to the same message on the economy: Everything is going great. A resolute Trump was determined to will Americans into a better economic mood, seeking to paint over the affordability concerns at the center of upcoming midterm elections with statistics and self-congratulation. “Inflation is plummeting. Incomes are rising fast. The roaring economy is roaring like never before,” Trump boasted early in the nearly two-hour speech..The US president didn’t even feel compelled to roll out fresh policy ideas to address the cost of living. And where he did allow that voters might have some misgivings about cost of living, he followed his well-worn playbook of pinning blame elsewhere. “You caused that problem,” Trump told Democrats in the room, arguing that their party’s messages on prices were “a dirty, rotten lie.” Ahead of the speech, Trump’s advisers had framed the evening as an opportunity to lay out a forward-looking economic agenda that could serve as a reset ahead of the midterms. But he focused more on touting his signature tax legislation and trade policies than major new cost-of-living proposals — a hint that the issue is still vexing the White House. Pollster Frank Luntz questioned Trump’s dismissal of the word affordability.“This was a misstep,” Luntz wrote on X. “Mocking the word ‘affordability’ when Americans are still feeling the squeeze at the grocery store is the kind of moment that clips badly.”The high-profile speech came after a difficult period for Trump. His administration was already struggling to contain backlash over violence by immigration officers and the fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein files when the US Supreme Court last week dealt a major blow to his tariff agenda.In addition to his rosy portrayal of the economy, Trump sought to turn the page by harnessing patriotic emotion with a showman’s slate of feel-good moments. That included recognizing the US hockey team for its Olympic triumph and awarding a series of medals for heroism. He also trumpeted the upcoming World Cup, the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and celebrations for America’s 250th birthday as displays of pageantry Americans could look forward to. .Still, he didn’t shy away from divisive issues, going after Democrats on immigration and transgender policies and baiting them in an effort to create dramatic on-screen tension. One such moment was when Trump accused Somali migrants of billions of dollars of fraud in Minnesota, the rationale he used for his migrant crackdown in the state that drew widespread outcry after the killing of two American citizens. When Trump asked members to stand if they agreed that the government’s “first duty” was to protect US citizens and “not illegal aliens,” US Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democrat who represents the Minnesota district at the heart of the controversy, responded by shouting that Trump has “killed Americans.”Republicans cheered the trap Trump tried to lay for Democrats. “When asked if they believe their first duty is to protect the American people, Democrats stayed seated. Sadly, I’m not kidding,” Arkansas Governor Sarah Sanders, a former Trump aide, wrote on X. Meanwhile, Democrats cast his speech as light on solutions for voters feeling economic pain. “This is a bad night for American families,” US Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, wrote on the social media platform. “Trump had nothing to say about his promise to cap credit card interest rates. Nothing to say about making child care more affordable. Nothing to say about consumer refunds from his illegal tariffs.”.Early on in the speech Trump delivered a laundry list of economic statistics, including cooling inflation, dropping mortgage rates and declining gasoline prices. At other points, Trump boasted about the tax cuts contained in his signature policy legislation, new savings accounts for children and called upon Congress to pass a law banning institutional investors from buying single-family homes.“Familiar brew, well delivered. Question is, do people believe this has been ‘a turnaround for the ages,’ as he proclaimed, and if so, are the happy with the direction?” David Axelrod, a Democratic strategist and former aide to ex-President Barack Obama wrote in a text message.Trump’s allies expect that many voters will feel more upbeat later this spring after they get heftier tax returns due to last year’s tax policy bill. But that theory remains untested and currently large swaths of the electorate are dissatisfied. A recent Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll found that majorities disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy, inflation and tariffs.Trump vowed to press forward with his duties under other authorities, arguing that “almost all countries and corporations want to keep the deal that they already made.” While the president has heavily focused on foreign affairs during this term, he largely kept his eyes on domestic issues during the speech, a nod to voter concerns that the former has distracted him from the latter. Still, he issued another warning to Iran about the country’s nuclear ambitions ahead of US talks with Iranian officials in Geneva Thursday. Trump also promoted his capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and repeated his hope to resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict. But Trump came to deliver an economic address and he largely stuck to that goal. On prices, he implored Americans to “just hold on a little while we’re getting it down.” The question now is whether voters beyond his “Make America Great Again” base will hear him. .© 2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Donald Trump shrugs off affordability concerns in upbeat State of the Union address

Key topics:

Related Stories