President Donald Trump used a rambling primetime address to brag about his economic record, even as millions of Americans say they are struggling with cost-of-living pressures.
“Good evening America. Eleven months ago, I inherited a mess and I’m fixing it,” the billionaire president, 79, said in his address on Wednesday evening, which comes as he approaches the one-year mark of his second term.
Trump began his 18-minute address, part of a messaging blitz to try to convince voters that his economic plans are working, at a normal pace, but his delivery gradually grew more frantic and he was practically yelling by the end.
“Trump is delivering this speech like the prompter operator passed out with his finger on the 3x speed button and he’s trying to keep up with the text as it flies by,” one X user observed.
PBS News correspondent Lisa Desjardins posted on X, “If folks [are] wondering: I clocked that Trump speech at 140-150 words per minute (checking multiple points). That is normal speech for a generic speech by any person but 2x Trump’s reported State of Union speed.”
CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner wrote, “The pace of this address is manic.” He added, “No one should be happy to see the president like this. He looks unwell.”
An X user who claimed to have attended 42 Trump rallies commented, “Trump is speaking so fast he seems panicked, I’ve never seen him like this.”
One reason the elderly president may have rushed his speech, which was riddled with false claims, is that he appears to have been given a 20-minute window by one major channel.
Fans of CBS’ Survivor were told to expect a 22-minute interruption for the three-hour finale of its 49th season, while Trump was speaking.
Trump’s top troll, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, reacted to the chaotic speech by posting a screengrab from The Simpsons showing a newspaper clipping titled “OLD MAN YELLS AT CLOUD.”
Trump’s spin campaign on the economy comes as he faces mounting criticism that he is too focused on foreign policy during his second term and increasingly out of touch with how Americans are struggling in a cost-of-living crisis.
But the commander-in-chief has repeatedly dismissed affordability as a political talking point and spent much of Wednesday’s speech insisting that conditions have improved since he took office—even though polls show Americans overwhelmingly disagree.
“Tonight, after 11 months, our border is secure. Inflation is stopped. Wages are up. Prices are down. Our nation is strong. America is respected, and our country is back, stronger than ever before,” Trump said during his primetime address. “We’re poised for an economic boom the likes of which the world has never seen.”
The president sought to shift all blame for Americans’ economic hardships to former President Joe Biden.
“We’re doing what nobody thought was even possible. Not even remotely possible,” he said. “There has never, frankly, been anything like it. One year ago, our country was dead. We were absolutely dead. Our country was ready to fail! Totally fail! Now, we’re the hottest country anywhere in the world.”
But almost half of Americans reported struggling to pay for groceries, utilities, healthcare, housing, and transportation in a Politico and Public First poll. And 55 percent of respondents blamed Trump personally for the soaring prices.
Moreover, the nation’s unemployment rate reached a four-year high last month, and about 700,000 more Americans were unemployed in November than before Trump took office.
Speaking earlier this month at the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Pennsylvania, Trump called affordability a “hoax” twice while telling voters that prices were coming down. In a separate interview with Politico, he graded his economic performance as “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
