Trump touts ‘roaring economy’ in his State of the Union as Americans continue to struggle

Declaring the “turn of the century,” President Donald Trump offered a version of America’s position in his State of the Union address Tuesday night that clashed with voters’ views.

Wearing a red power tie with a flag pin on the lapel of his navy suit and addressing a joint session of Congress in the House chamber, Trump rolled out a list of statistics and policies to support his view that the nation is “back bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever” – “America’s golden age.”

“The roaring economy,” Trump said at the end of his 1-hour, 47-minute speech, “is roaring like never before.”

He vowed to maintain the import tax despite the Supreme Court’s adverse decision, promising that “these powerful, national-saving, peace-preserving taxes will remain in place under fully approved and tested laws.” Four justices, including three who voted for what he called a “very bad decision,” were in the room for Trump’s speech. He said these fees, which most economists say are paid mainly by Americans, will eventually replace the income tax.

Trump has outlined popular policies in the controversial 2025 tax cuts, from eliminating taxes on tips for salaried workers to investment vehicles for newborns called “Trump accounts.”

“With more modest contributions,” Trump said, “the accounts can grow to $100,000 or more by the time the children turn 18.”

But Americans are telling voters, in survey after survey, that they are dissatisfied with the economy 13 months into Trump’s second presidency. And most of them disapprove of his handling of another central pillar of his agenda, the deportation campaign, or all the work he’s done in the Oval Office.

It remains to be seen whether Trump’s words will change voters as they evaluate whether they want to give him two years with the Republican Congress.

Republican leaders didn’t bother to pitch their campaign wagon to Trump after his speech.

“House Republicans are proud to stand with President Trump to protect our majority and continue to advance an agenda focused on safety, opportunity and intelligence,” said Rep. Richard Hudson, RN.C., chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, in a statement. “The choice could not be clearer as we continue to build an America that works again.”

In a speech peppered with insults to his Democratic foes — and accompanied by a heated exchange with several lawmakers over his deportation campaign — Trump insisted that the “accessibility” message that helped Democrats win last year’s elections in Virginia, New Jersey and New York last year was a reflection of their own creation.

“They created and are creating higher prices that all our citizens have to endure,” he said, turning his attention to the Democratic Alliance side. “You are the one who caused that problem!”

He added that Democrats “don’t know their statements are dirty, rotten lies.”

Saikat Chakrabarti, a San Francisco-based Democratic candidate for the House, said in an interview before the speech that Trump has accelerated the current economic challenges facing American workers rather than restoring prosperity.

“He campaigned boldly, with shocking economic reforms, to lower prices, ending our eternal wars, and what we’ve seen since he took office is that he’s charging a lot for those reductions,” said Chakrabarti, one of the candidates to replace former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who is leaving us open as she awaits retirement.

At one point on Tuesday night, as Trump boasted about closing the US border with Mexico and pursuing mass deportations, he caused perhaps the most heated exchange between the president and members of Congress during a joint session in modern history full of examples of disruption.

Trump said Democrats should be “shame on you” for not standing up when he said, “The first job of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal immigrants.”

Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., responded, “You killed the American people!”

Federal agents killed US citizens Renee Nicole Goodman and Alex Pretti last month in Minneapolis, where Omar represents the House, during the Trump administration’s increasingly violent immigration crackdown.

“You should be ashamed!” Omar shouted at Trump.

Trump opened in unusual fashion, bringing the gold medal-winning U.S. men’s hockey team to the gallery above the House floor to cheers from both sides of the aisle and chants of “USA!” He also received bipartisan support when he called on Congress to pass legislation to ban the sale of shares by lawmakers.

But that measure, along with others proposed by Trump on Tuesday night, would require Congress to enact legislation at a time when narrow party lines, bitter political divisions and looming times have conspired to stall Congress.

As Trump spoke, lawmakers remained tight-lipped about funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which is slated to expire in mid-month.

Trump has said, for example, that he will “fix this huge divide” where most workers are not benefiting from the performance of the stock market by contributing $1,000 a year to their retirement accounts – a move that would require a meeting of Congress.

And he called on Congress to pass what he called “Dalilah’s law,” which would bar states from issuing commercial driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants. One of his guests at the speech was Dalilah Coleman, a little girl who was seriously injured when a truck driven by an undocumented immigrant hit her car.

As presidents often do, Trump saved his assessment of America’s position around the world for the end of his remarks. What was different on Tuesday night was that he was locked in with Iran, and top congressional leaders were given a secret briefing on the subject earlier in the day.

Trump praised June’s actions, which he said at the time had destroyed Iran’s nuclear capabilities. And then he said that the Tehran regime is “pursuing their evil nuclear ambitions.”

“My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy,” he said. “But one thing is certain: I will never allow the country’s No. 1 sponsor of terrorism to have nuclear weapons.”

He repeated his words that he believes in “silence with power.”

As he prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence this summer, Trump has made repeated references to the founders and the longevity of the American experiment.

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, D-Calif., told NBC News he thought it was “a great game for America’s 250th” and praised Trump for “doing a great job showing all the greatness in America.”

Dozens of Democrats attended a separate meeting, but Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said he made the right decision to listen to Trump and resisted the urge to walk out at times during his speech, taking exception to Trump calling members of Congress corrupt while ignoring “the president’s outrage.”

Some lawmakers and analysts noted that Trump did not address his administration’s failure to fully comply with a law he signed requiring the full release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein. More than a dozen House Democrats invited survivors of Epstein’s abuse to be their guests Tuesday night; other Democratic lawmakers also wore pins in support of survivors and criticized the administration’s handling of the files.

“He kept trying to pull rabbits out of the hat, lying to the American people that everything was fine while people were struggling to pay for groceries, rent and childcare,” said Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas. “He couldn’t explain his reckless values, dangerous foreign policy or why his administration is still hiding millions of Epstein files.”

But Coons said, all in all, there’s not much to say.

“The average minutes and number of items were incredibly low,” he said.