The best defense is a good attack. That is the strategic principle that the president of the United States has embraced, Donald Trumpduring the speech he addressed to the nation in the early hours of this Thursday (Spanish time). “Good evening,” the most powerful person in the world began by saying. “11 months ago I inherited a mess and I’m fixing it.”
During his speech, which lasted twenty minutes and was delivered from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, Trump repeatedly blamed his predecessor, Joe Biden, and the entire Democratic Party for the poor state of the US economy and promised the electorate substantial improvements over the coming year. You just have to be patient, he said.
In addition, Trump has announced the sending of a check for $1,776 – in honor of the year of the Declaration of Independence – to be received by members of the armed forces this Christmas. A “warrior dividend” that will arrive in the mailbox of every soldier in the coming days. “They are already on their way,” he declared.
The president’s speech, delivered in a brusque and twisted tone probably due to the decline in popularity he continues to experience, comes after the arrival, these days, of a series of economic data that is not particularly encouraging for the United States.
Two days ago, for example, the unemployment rate recorded in November was known: 4.6%. A figure that, beyond representing an increase since September, when it stood at 4.4%, places unemployment at the highest level in the last four years. That is: at its highest level since September 2021, when the US economy was struggling to leave the pandemic behind.
This increase, experts say, has to do, among other things, with two decisions made directly by Trump: the layoff of approximately 200,000 federal workers – civil servants, to understand – and the imposition of tariffs on the United States’ trading partners.
In relation to this last point, and aware of the criticism that exists, Trump wanted to use part of the speech to vindicate his trade policy. After congratulating himself on the courage to have begun to demand more money from his trading partners, the US president stated that companies were beginning to return to the country “in record numbers” and that, consequently, “we are seeing the construction of factories at levels never seen before.”
The truth is that the issue of tariffs has generated a lot of economic literature in recent weeks, which is eight months after the famous “Liberation Day.” Of the beginning, in short, of his famous tariff policy programmed to correct what he himself called “decades of unfair trade relations” with the rest of the world. “The markets are going to experience a real boom, the stock market is going to experience a real boom, the country is going to experience a real boom,” he promised then.
Although the results of its trade policy have not brought the worst scenarios considered by some analysts to American homes, they have not corrected the course of an economy that still cannot find its way. Among other things, because the average American has seen how the prices of a whole series of goods – basic and not so basic – have been increasing on the shelves of supermarkets and department stores.
Furthermore, the revenue obtained from customs – which has grown substantially in recent months – is not even remotely close to being able to cover the income tax. A prediction that Trump made during an interview with the Fox News channel last spring and that filled part of the public with optimism.
“Total revenue collected through tariffs in fiscal year 2025 amounted to about $195 billion, more than double the $77 billion collected the previous year,” a report published in the Wall Street Journal explained last Sunday. “While in 2024, personal income taxes amounted to 2.4 trillion dollars,” added the conservative newspaper.
In other words: “While Trump’s promise on tariff revenue has been fulfilled to some extent, most of his other promises have come to nothing.”
Popularity in free fall
Trump’s approval on the economy has fallen substantially since March, according to two recent polls published, respectively, by the Associated Press and the New York Times.
“This is the latest indication that one of the key issues that led him to win the election just a year ago could be becoming a liability as his party prepares for the 2026 midterm elections,” wrote Linley Sanders and Will Weissert of the Associated Press in their analysis of the data obtained.
Midterm elections, it should be remembered, are those that determine which party controls the two chambers of Congress – the Senate and the House of Representatives – during the last two years of a presidential term. Currently the Democratic Party controls the Senate, while the House of Representatives is in the hands of the Republican Party.
“Only 31% of American adults now approve of Trump’s management of the economy,” the Associated Press analysis added. “This figure represents a decrease from the 40% recorded in March and marks the lowest economic approval that Trump has obtained in one of our surveys not only in this second term but also in the first.”
For its part, the Times poll – published on December 5 – also shows that favorable opinions of the president’s performance – in general – have decreased substantially in recent weeks while disapproval of his management continues to increase.
“The gap between negative and positive opinions reached 15 percentage points on November 29 according to the New York Times survey average,” the New York newspaper summarized.
“New York Times polling medium,”
summarized from the New York newspaper.