On television, Trump accuses Biden of being responsible for inflation, says tariffs generate investment and jobs and announces “checks” for military personnel.

Amid Americans’ growing impatience with the economy, with persistent inflation and high interest rates, Trump has attributed rising incomes and the recovery of the U.S. economy under his administration to his import tariff policy.

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He promised to cut prices from 2026 and said many of them were already falling. As an example, he said the traditional turkey for American Thanksgiving dinners in November was 33% cheaper this year than in 2024, when Biden was still in the White House.

— And everything else is declining rapidly — he said, admitting that there was still work to do to reduce inflation in the country, but focusing the responsibility on Biden. — 11 months ago, I inherited chaos and I’m fixing it. When I took office, inflation was the worst in 48 years, some would say, in our nation’s history, which drove prices to higher levels than ever before, making life unaffordable for millions and millions of Americans.

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Trump praised his policy of import duties on products from other countries entering the United States and attributed them to an increase in revenue for his government. He said that tonight service members would begin receiving payment of “checks,” a type of cash bonus in the form of “dividends,” based on those rates.

According to him, his government will pay 1,776 US dollars (nearly 9,600 reais) to 1.45 million members of the armed forces, in an attempt to reassure Americans concerned about his management of the American economy.

— Before Christmas, the military will receive a special payment, which we call the Warrior Dividend, in honor of the founding of our nation in 1776 — he said, referring to the year the United States declared its independence from Great Britain.

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He said his speech was intended to tout his accomplishments this year and calm Americans increasingly concerned about the cost of living. The president said his government had succeeded in attracting billions in investment to the United States through its protectionist policies, creating jobs for Americans.

The Republican resorted to his usual criticism of his predecessor, such as an alleged policy that allowed an “immigrant invasion at our southern border.” And he promised to reduce social spending on immigrants and the opportunities given to them to “steal American jobs.” And he gave the example of Minnesota spending on the Somali immigrant community that has lived in the state for years.

He said that 100 percent of the jobs his government created were for U.S.-born citizens and that 100 percent of those jobs were created in the private sector, with no government involvement or spending.

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“For the first time, wages are growing faster than inflation,” he said.

Transfer of resources to targeted groups

The planned payments to the military are largely in line with government efforts to target financial benefits to certain groups.

Trump administration officials framed the president’s speech as an opportunity to highlight the president’s accomplishments during his first year in the White House and outline new policies for 2026.

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However, the remarks come at a critical time, as Trump faces growing public concern about his economic agenda and his aides struggle to adjust the message.

Voters returned Trump to office, in part, to combat persistent inflation that plagued former President Joe Biden. And Trump spent much of his speech trying to shift blame to his predecessor, detailing price increases under the previous administration.

Trump insisted his administration needs more time to sort out what he sees as the chaos left by the Democrat. After increasing government spending during the pandemic, the Biden government faced an unprecedented rise in inflation in the country, leading the Fed, the US central bank, to maintain high interest rates for a long time. This situation hurt the campaign of Democrat Kamala Harris, who was defeated by Trump last year.

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The Republican, who criticized the Fed’s delay in further reducing interest rates, recalled in his speech that he was in the final stages of the search for a new president for the central bank. He has the prerogative to appoint the successor to Jerome Powell, who will leave office in 2026, and has promised to intensify the real estate financing policy.

—I will soon announce the next chairman of the Federal Reserve, someone who believes in much lower interest rates and even lower mortgage payments. At the start of the new year, and you will see well into the new year, I will announce some of the most aggressive housing reform plans in American history.

Inflation dampens popularity

At 79 years old and in his second term, the Republican is shaking up American politics with his aggressive style, his fierce anti-immigration measures and an economic policy that echoes the message of his first presidency, between 2017 and 2020: tax cuts and market deregulation.

Trade policy, however, is markedly different, with a series of irregular tariffs on goods imported from around the world impacting inflation and undermining global trade.

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The Trump administration has failed to fully control rising prices, which are currently around 2.75% from a year earlier, although he insists that under the previous presidency of Democrat Joe Biden, inflation reached almost 9%.

The economic recovery is “recovering” after a year of “uncertainty”, declared this week John Williams, member of the Federal Reserve (Fed, central bank), corroborating the idea of ​​a slowdown in inflation in the United States. But nervousness is growing among Republicans about the effect of prices on the November 2026 congressional midterm elections.

Billionaire Trump boasts of a new “golden age” in the United States, while Democrats are still trying to find a way forward after Kamala Harris lost to him last year. Polls show that polarization still shapes the country’s political life: the vast majority of Republican voters would vote for the tycoon again.

Fissures among the Republicans

Americans are generally satisfied with their foreign policy, but there are fissures within the Republican camp itself. Vice President JD Vance — who is quickly becoming Trump’s spokesperson on the issue as he considers his own presidential bid in 2028 — asked voters for patience in a speech Tuesday.