Donald Trump fired up the crowd with a rally-style speech at the Mount Pocono casino in northeastern Pennsylvania. To that end, he unveiled a $12 billion bailout to help farmers who are currently reeling from Trump’s continued trade war—most notably with China. The ex-commander in chief rolled out this plan in part to retake the economic narrative. He built himself up as a savior for affordability and sharply criticized the Biden administration’s rulemaking.
During the more than 90-minute address, Trump claimed that the United States has collected “hundreds of billions of dollars—really trillions” in revenue from tariffs imposed during his presidency. He argued that when these measures passed, the result was a positive economic tsunami. He noted, for example, a reverse migration trend, of American citizens being able to get more jobs and higher wages rather than undocumented immigrants.
As usual, there were quite a few unscripted moments in a Trump speech. He used the opportunity to continue his campaign of personal attacks on Minnesota’s Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. He referred to her as a poster child for bad leadership. Ministering to the Mighty Dollar This played right into his narrative that Democrats are responsible for skyrocketing prices.
“I have no higher priority than making America affordable again,” – Trump
He doubled down on his inflation rhetoric, placing the blame for high prices on the Democrats. Trump stated, “They gave you high prices. They gave you the highest inflation in history, and we’re giving you … we’re bringing those prices down rapidly.” This claim comes even in the face of evidence that his own tariff policies have worsened the rising costs facing consumers.
In perhaps the most surprising moment, Trump seemed to admit he made a now-infamous remark that he has denied making last year, calling some countries “shitholes.” “We had a meeting and I said, ‘Why is it we only take people from shithole countries, right?’” he said, before suggesting that the U.S. should accept immigrants from nations such as Norway and Denmark instead.
“Why can’t we have some people from Norway, Sweden, just a few. Let us have a few. From Denmark … send us some nice people. Do you mind?” – Trump
There were more applause and cheering in response to Trump’s comments. Energetic supporters cheered and chanted “USA! USA!,” mascot style, but he had an eye on the tough road ahead when he called for Democrats to be held responsible for economic disasters. “That’s what we’re going to do. They caused the high prices and we’re bringing them down,” he asserted.
Yet as he tries to re-solidify his grip on the American political landscape, Trump’s star seems to finally be fading. There’s some bad news according to a November survey from the Associated Press-Norc Center for Public Affairs Research. Despite recent successes, only 33% of U.S. adults approve of his handling of the economy. That fact is an all-important stat that just highlights the stressful task ahead of him as he prepares to launch for political battles ahead.
While advancing his broader economic strategy, Trump went after tariffs on consumer goods such as coffee and beef. As he conceded, these tariffs “might, in limited circumstances” have increased costs. He highlighted ongoing investments by companies in Pennsylvania and beyond as evidence of economic recovery spurred by his policies: “Did you see where Europe now is saying, ‘I think we going to start doing what Trump is doing?’” he asked.