President Donald Trump addressed the nation from the White House, touting accomplishments, demonizing immigrants and attacking his Democratic predecessor.
Presidents typically reserve their White House addresses for major announcements to the nation, but Trump used Wednesday’s 19-minute speech to promote his claim that the country is doing well even as his popularity slumps.
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“Our country is strong. America is respected and our country is back stronger than ever. Our country is poised for the greatest economic boom the world has ever seen.”
President Trump continues to scapegoat immigrants, blaming them for the country’s problems, including the housing crisis.
“At the same time, illegal aliens are stealing American jobs, flooding emergency rooms, and receiving free health care and education at your expense, the American taxpayer,” Trump said.
“They have also increased law enforcement costs to an unmentionable degree.”
Numerous studies have shown that immigrants contribute far more to the economy than they take in, powering vital sectors such as agriculture to feed the country and construction to build new homes.
According to a 2023 analysis by the American Immigration Council, immigrants paid more than $651 billion in taxes and generated $1.7 trillion in economic activity that year.
President Trump’s first wife and current wife are immigrants from Eastern Europe.
The US president, who recently called the Somali community “trash,” also falsely claimed that Somalis had “hijacked Minnesota’s economy” and stolen “billions of dollars.”
affordable price
President Trump emphasized his record of stopping illegal immigration at the southern border.
“We inherited the worst border anywhere in the world, but we quickly turned it into the strongest border in our country’s history. In other words, in just a few months, we went from the worst border to the best,” he said.
The president also claimed that the cost of living is falling amid growing concerns about affordability.
Although he rightly highlighted that prices for essential goods had soared under his predecessor, Joe Biden, during the coronavirus pandemic, the president cited questionable data showing prices were falling.
President Trump said, “Egg prices have fallen 82% since March, everything else has fallen rapidly, and it’s not over yet. But hey, are we making progress? No one can believe what’s going on.”
Due to the avian influenza outbreak, egg prices temporarily skyrocketed to record highs in February during the early days of the Trump administration.
President Trump said turkey prices were down 33% from last year, but it wasn’t clear where that number came from. He also said gas prices are currently $2.50 a gallon in most of the country and $1.99 in some states.
However, the AAA national average for gasoline on Wednesday was $2.90. Additionally, the monthly average in November was $3, which was similar to last year’s price.
Reporting from Washington, D.C., Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett noted that affordability remains the No. 1 economic concern for Americans.
“When it comes to groceries and grocery affordability and going out to restaurants, those things are still very high for most Americans. That has a lot to do with the president’s tariffs, which he says are bringing in a tremendous amount of revenue to the country,” she said.
While painting a rosy picture of the economy, President Trump suggested that if problems persist, it would be Biden’s fault, stressing that Biden “inherited the mess.”
President Trump has focused on domestic issues and downplayed foreign policy, repeating baseless claims that the ceasefire in Gaza, which he helped broker, brought peace to the Middle East for the first time in 3,000 years.
In fact, Israel was founded in 1948, but the Gaza ceasefire has not stopped Israel’s daily attacks on Palestine and throughout the region.
“I restored America’s power, resolved eight wars in 10 months, defeated Iran’s nuclear threat, ended the war in Gaza, brought peace for the first time in 3,000 years, and secured the release of hostages, living and dead, here at home,” Trump said.
Venezuela absent
Amid rising tensions with Venezuela, the US president’s release of a White House address sparked speculation that he would announce military action against the country, or at least advocate for a future war.
But President Trump, who has imposed an oil blockade on Venezuela and amassed U.S. military assets near the country, did not address the crisis in the Latin American nation.
Hours before his speech, President Trump fueled claims that he was escalating tensions with Venezuela in order to steal its oil.
“They took our oil concessions. We had a lot of oil there. You know, they kicked out our companies. We want it back,” Trump told reporters.
In 2007, then-Venezuela President Hugo Chavez, Nicolás Maduro’s late predecessor, nationalized the country’s oil sector and forced some US oil companies to leave.
He also said the United States had “destroyed bloodthirsty foreign drug cartels” and only vaguely hinted at a campaign of military strikes against suspected ships in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean.
