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Why Trump’s Primetime Address Backfired Big Time

Trump took a tone-deaf victory lap at the absolute wrong time

Dan Pfeiffer

Dec 18

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Last night, Donald Trump decided to step on one more rake before decamping to Mar-a-Lago for the holidays. Trump gave a hastily arranged, nationally televised address from the White House.

Trump’s speech aired on the networks. CBS even interrupted the season finale of Survivor to air the address. Networks giving the president primetime airtime is no small matter. It costs them money and disrupts schedules and the viewing experience. Typically, the White House must make a real case to the networks about the importance of the speech — a response to a national tragedy, a military attack, or the beginning of a war.

The fact that Trump was giving the speech, and that the networks had granted the time, led many to believe he was about to announce war with Venezuela.

But he didn’t. Nor did the speech have any of the news value or importance of previous presidential addresses.

Instead, the speech was Trump’s last-ditch effort to end the year on a high note after a series of embarrassing gaffes, searing losses, and pitiful poll numbers. It was a slightly slimmer, equally incoherent version of the rally speech he gave in Pennsylvania last week.

If the goal — presuming there was a goal — was to burnish Trump’s image and improve his political standing, it was an epic disaster.

Here’s why:

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1. You Can’t Take a Victory Lap When You Are Losing

Voters are unhappy with the economy, the direction of the country, and Trump’s performance.

Trump’s approval is in the low 40s or high 30s, depending on the poll. He is underwater on every single issue of consequence.

Trump’s speech was a victory lap in which he described his tenure in ways that bear no resemblance to the reality people experience daily. Politicians have to operate in the real world of what voters actually believe.

Only Trump’s fanboys think he has done a great job. Patting yourself on the back for a job well done when most Americans don’t think you’ve done a great job makes you seem out of touch and disconnected from reality.

2. People Hate the Trump Economy

Trump repeatedly touted his economic accomplishments and claimed that he had brought prices down.

He hasn’t. Prices are higher on most goods than when he took office. Inflation is about the same.

Telling people you have lowered prices when you haven’t is politically insane. Voters see your failure every time they go to the grocery store, pay their rent, or open their utility bill. A recent PBS NewsHour/NPR poll found that nearly eight in ten Americans listed prices, housing costs, or tariffs as their primary economic concern.

In that same poll, a majority of Americans believe the country is currently in a recession, and two-thirds of voters disapprove of the way Trump is handling the economy.

When I worked for Obama in the immediate aftermath of the financial crisis, I sat through countless focus groups where participants would nearly flip over the table if someone tried to tell them the economy was doing better than they thought.

That’s precisely what Trump did last night.

3. Blaming Biden Doesn’t Work

Trump spent much of the speech blaming Biden for the mess he inherited and for higher prices. That is a common tactic and one that has worked for presidents in the past. Voters tend to give newly elected presidents a long runway to solve the problems they were elected to address.

That is not the case with Trump.

A Politico poll found that 46% of voters — including 15% of 2024 Trump voters — say Trump is fully or primarily responsible for the state of the economy. Only 29% blame Biden.

For Trump to get this much blame so early in his presidency is a historical anomaly, and it’s entirely his fault.

4. Voters Hate the Tariffs

Voters blame Trump for high prices because they blame the tariffs — Trump’s signature economic policy.

During the address, Trump said:

Much of this success has been accomplished by tariffs, my favorite word, tariffs, which for many decades have been used successfully by other countries against us, but not anymore.

Polls overwhelmingly show that voters hate the tariffs and blame them for higher prices. In the PBS poll, two-thirds say they are concerned about the impact of tariffs on their personal finances.

The fact that Trump gave a nationally televised address to brag about lowering prices while touting tariffs was a truly insane political choice — pure hubris, with a dash of self-delusion and megalomania.

White House Chief of Staff (and Vanity Fair cover girl) Susie Wiles recently said that Trump plans to put himself on the ballot in 2026 by campaigning aggressively next year. If this is Trump’s message, Democrats should help raise money to pay for his travel.

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