Washington: If it weren’t enough that Donald Trump childishly replaced Joe Biden with a picture of an autopen on his new Presidential Walk of Fame, the White House has now installed derogatory plaques under some of the portraits.
Biden is described as “by far the worst president in American history”, who suffered “severe mental decline” in office. Barack Obama is blamed for the spread of Islamic State and Russia’s invasion of Crimea, while even Republican George W. Bush comes in for criticism over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Needless to say, Trump’s plaques offer a fawning summary of his own achievements and the size of his electoral victories. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president – “a student of history” – dictated many of the plaques himself.
While self-absorbed and obviously juvenile, it’s also instructive of how Trump and his team see the first year of his second presidency: the triumph of the superlatively brilliant (Trump) over the superlatively awful (Biden). The righting of a seismic, historical wrong.
That tone was echoed in Trump’s rare prime-time address to the nation on Wednesday night (Thursday AEDT), as the president attempted to reset the national conversation on the economy ahead of the Christmas break.
A rushed, shouty and angry speech, it began with a laundry list of things that were awful under Biden (“one year ago our country was dead, we were absolutely dead”) and became an 11 o’clock number about how wonderful and prosperous life is under Trump (“now we’re the hottest country anywhere in the world”).
It contained plenty of made-up numbers, such as a pledge that drug prices would come down by “400, 500 or even 600 per cent” – which would mean consumers were being paid to take pharmaceuticals.
Such prime-time addresses are usually made to announce something, or to reassure in times of crisis. The only new thing in this speech was a $US1776 ($2692) “warrior dividend” for 1.45 million military service members, worth some $US2.6 billion in total, supposedly paid for by the revenue from Trump’s tariffs.
If Republicans were hoping for a more empathetic and reasonable Trump, who was prepared to acknowledge many Americans continued to do it tough, and pledged to try even harder in 2026, they didn’t get it.
The closest he came was when he claimed – falsely – that the price of everything was falling rapidly “and it’s not done yet, but boy, are we making progress”.
In reality, US inflation is at 3 per cent, the same as it was when Biden bowed out in January, and trending upwards (though the Federal Reserve expects it to cool).
Another devastating Reuters/Ipsos poll this week found Trump’s approval rating had slumped to 39 per cent, with just a third of voters approving of his handling of the economy – a new low.
Economic management should be a natural area of strength for a billionaire who rose to national fame as a shrewd businessman, however mistaken that may have been.
But only 20 per cent of people think the country is “on the right track” when it comes to inflation, and 27 per cent for employment.
The fact that, nearly a year into the job, Trump felt the need to appear on prime-time TV for 20 minutes to tell Americans it was all the other guy’s fault, and assure them it’s going great now, tells you everything you need to know about where things stand politically.
One of Trump’s great assets in last year’s election was that he appeared more in touch with people’s real problems and worries, while the Democrats had become too associated with fringe concerns stemming from identity politics. Now, Trump risks being the one seen as divorced from reality.
Republican congressman Kevin Kiley told CNN immediately after the address that Trump hit the right subject matter but “I think we can do a better job of really empathising with what people are going through right now”.
Finding fault with your predecessor is a structural feature of electoral politics. Once in office, blaming your predecessor is a natural part of it, too. But there comes a time when that shtick wears thin.
The question now, for Republicans more than anyone, is whether Trump has another gear to go to. The latest evidence would suggest not.
Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.
Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via Twitter or email.
