President Trump praised the state of the U.S. economy in a primetime address Wednesday evening, even though new government statistics show the nation’s unemployment rate is at a new four-year high of 4.6%. Dean Baker, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, says Trump’s aides should be “wondering about the man’s sanity” after Wednesday’s speech. “This is utterly divorced from reality,” he said.
Though Trump blames former President Biden for the poor economy, Baker notes that Trump had inherited an “incredibly strong economy by almost every measure imaginable.”
AMY GOODMAN: We begin today’s show looking at President Trump’s primetime address on Wednesday night. There was widespread speculation that Trump would use the speech to announce military action against Venezuela, but instead, the 18-minute speech focused largely on domestic issues, including the economy and healthcare.
Trump’s address comes as his poll numbers continue to fall. A new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll finds just 36% of Americans approve of the president’s handling of the economy.
This is how Trump began his speech from the White House.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Eleven months ago, I inherited a mess, and I’m fixing it. When I took office, inflation was the worst in 48 years, and some would say in the history of our country, which caused prices to be higher than ever before, making life unaffordable for millions and millions of Americans. This happened during a Democrat administration, and it’s when we first began hearing the word “affordability.”
Our border was open, and because of this, our country was being invaded by an army of 25 million people, many who came from prisons and jails, mental institutions and insane asylums. They were drug dealers, gang members, and even 11,888 murderers, more than 50% of whom killed more than one person. This is what the Biden administration allowed to happen to our country, and it can never be allowed to happen again.
AMY GOODMAN: Standing between two Christmas trees, President Trump went on to praise the state of the U.S. economy, even though new government statistics show the nation’s unemployment rate is at a new four-year high of 4.6%.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We’re doing what nobody thought was even possible, not even remotely possible. There has never, frankly, been anything like it. One year ago, our country was dead. We were absolutely dead. Our country was ready to fail, totally fail. Now we’re the hottest country anywhere in the world. And that’s said by every single leader that I’ve spoken to over the last five months.
Next year, you will also see the results of the largest tax cuts in American history, that were really accomplished through our great Big Beautiful Bill, perhaps the most sweeping legislation ever passed in Congress.
AMY GOODMAN: To talk more about Trump’s speech, what some called an “18-minute shout,” and also talk about the state of the economy, we’re joined by Dean Baker, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, author of Rigged: How Globalization and Rules of the Modern Economy Were Structured to Make the Rich Richer.
So, as you watched this speech from your vantage point in Oregon, Dean, what stood out for you most?
DEAN BAKER: Well, this is kind of a greatest hit of crazy. I mean, you know, if I were one of his staffers, in all seriousness, I’d be wondering about the man’s sanity. I mean, this is utterly divorced from reality.
I mean, just starting from the word go, that he inherited a mess, no, he inherited a very strong economy. That’s not my assessment. That’s just universal assessment. I remember The Economist magazine, which is not a left-wing outlet, had a cover story, “The U.S. Economy: The Envy of the World.” This was just before the election last fall. The unemployment rate was at 4%. The economy was growing about two-and-a-half percent annual rate. Inflation was coming down to its 2% target. We had a boom in factory construction. This was an incredibly strong economy by almost every measure imaginable. So, Trump gets in there and says it was dead. This is crazy.
You know, I could go on on his immigration stories. Twenty-five million? The numbers that most — you know, it’s roughly estimated it’s somewhere around 6 million. Asylum? Again, this is another one that you go, “Oh my god, no one can tell this guy.” He thinks that when people come here for asylum, you know, for political reasons — they face persecution in their home country, which is in the law — that they’re released from insane asylums.
There’s just — it just goes on from here. This is utterly removed from reality, and it’s a little scary. I mean, this is the man who decides whether we go to war, controls the nuclear weapons. I mean, he is not in touch with reality.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to go to the issue of healthcare, which you have written a lot about. Yesterday, the House did pass a bill on healthcare, but it was to criminalize transgender care for minors. But when it came to the Affordable Care Act, what Republicans increasingly are concerned about, along with Democrats in the House, that did not pass, the bill that would allow the subsidies for affordable healthcare to continue for three years. So, I want to go to two clips of President Trump, on drugs and on healthcare.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The current “unaffordable care act” was created to make insurance companies rich. It was bad healthcare at much too high a cost, and you see that now in the steep increase in premiums being demanded by the Democrats. And they are demanding those increases, and it’s their fault. It is not the Republicans’ fault; it’s the Democrats’ fault. It’s the “unaffordable care act,” and everybody knew it. Again. I want the money to go directly to the people so you can buy your own healthcare. You’ll get much better healthcare at a much lower price.
AMY GOODMAN: So, Dean Baker, what exactly is he talking about? What is President Trump proposing? How is it, with the Republicans in control, they have not passed one replacement for the Affordable Care Act in years?
DEAN BAKER: Yeah, well, to start with, first of all, you know, again, the claims on the Affordable Care Act, I want to kick the Democrats, because they won’t defend it, but the data is as clear as it could possibly be. Healthcare cost growth slowed sharply after the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010. We would be spending thousands of dollars more per year per person if healthcare had followed the course projected by the Congressional Budget Office, every healthcare expert. So, there’s a very sharp slowdown in healthcare cost growth after the Affordable Care Act passed. I don’t understand why the Democrats are scared to say that, but that happens to be the reality. So, sorry, it is the Affordable Care Act, not the “unaffordable care act,” as he says.
Now, when you hear Trump and Republicans talk, it’s like they have not been involved in the debate on healthcare for the last 15 years. “We’re going to give people money to buy their own healthcare.” That’s actually what the Affordable Care Act does. Now, if you want to say you want to take away regulations on the insurance industry, OK, well, they aren’t going to insure people with cancer. They aren’t going to insure people with heart conditions. Insurers are there to make money. That’s not an indictment of them. That’s the reality. They aren’t — they aren’t a charity. So, if you you say, “OK, there’s no regulations. Insure who you want,” well, they’ll — “We’ll insure healthy people. That’s cheap. We won’t insure people with cancer.” That was the whole point. It was: How do you create an insurance market where people who actually need the care, the people who really have health issues, they can get insurance at an affordable price?
To be clear, I’m not happy with it. I would have loved to see Medicare for All. I would still love to see it. It would be a much more efficient system. But the Affordable Care Act, for what the Republicans are talking about, that’s a story where people who actually have health issues, they’re not going to be able to afford insurance. And this has been around the block for the last 15 years, or really much longer, because the debate precedes the Affordable Care Act, and they’re talking like they never saw it, which is kind of incredible.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, as we come closer to the midterm elections, Republican congressmembers are concerned about winning, given that people could have their healthcare costs doubled and tripled. So, yesterday, you had four House Republicans voting for a dispatch petition for this clean three-year continuation of healthcare subsidies: Congressmembers Brian Fitzpatrick, Robert Bresnahan, Ryan Mackenzie and, here in New York, Mike Lawler. They’re in very close races. What does this mean for what could possibly happen?
DEAN BAKER: Well, people care about this. I mean, it’s 24 million people. That’s a lot of people. They have family members. They have relatives, friends. This is a lot of people that will not be able to afford healthcare if these subsidies aren’t extended, which looks to be the case. And that is going to be a political issue. People care about healthcare, and that’s just the reality. I mean, people who have health issues, and even if you don’t, you want to know that if you develop something — because, again, that’s the concern. Most people are relatively healthy. They have relatively low cost. But we all know that we could have an accident tomorrow. We could develop cancer. That happens. And this is about extending healthcare.
And you have an option: You could go with Donald Trump’s dementia dreams and tell the voters, “Oh, Donald Trump says whatever,” and maybe some people will believe you, or you deal with the reality. And here you have four Republican congresspeople who say, “Well, I got to live in the real world. I can’t live in whatever craziness Donald Trump is selling.”
AMY GOODMAN: So, let’s go back to Donald Trump talking about drug costs.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I’m doing what no politician of either party has ever done: standing up to the special interests to dramatically reduce the price of prescription drugs. I negotiated directly with the drug companies and foreign nations, which were taking advantage of our country for many decades, to slash prices on drugs and pharmaceuticals by as much as 400, 500 and even 600%. … The first of these unprecedented price reductions will be available starting in January through a new website, TrumpRx.gov.
AMY GOODMAN: TrumpRx.gov. Dean Baker, explain.
DEAN BAKER: Yeah, well, he likes to get his name on things. This is going to be a website that will matter very little to most people, because most people get drugs through insurance companies, government programs. They won’t be affected by this. And already there are discount websites, so it’s not clear it’s even going to help anyone. But let’s put that aside. He gets his name on something. That’s what he cares about.
But what’s really scary is — we do pay way too much for drugs. I’ve harped on this endlessly. Drugs are cheap. We make them expensive with patent monopolies. He doesn’t want to talk about that. RFK Jr. yells about the drug industry. He doesn’t want to talk about that. This is a clown show.
But what’s really scary is, he talks about bringing drug prices down 400, 500, 600%. You just heard that. Well, that’s not possible. And if he had just said that once, you’d go, “OK, we all could be confused. He’s not an economist. You know, people make mistakes.” He’s said it repeatedly. And what’s striking is, it’s obviously absurd. His aides are not all morons. They know you cannot reduce prices by more than 100%. They’re scared to explain that to him. So, here you have a person who’s utterly ignorant about the world, believes all sorts of absolutely crazy things, and the people around him cannot explain that to him.
AMY GOODMAN: Wait, Dean Baker, you have to —
DEAN BAKER: That is very, very scary.
AMY GOODMAN: You have to explain what you mean, because it might not be obvious to everyone, that you can’t bring down a price more than 100%.
DEAN BAKER: OK, so, let’s say a drug costs $300. So, I want to reduce the price by 50%, that’s a $150 price reduction. I want to reduce it 80%, that’s a $240 price reduction. If I reduce it 100%, it’s now free, zero. If I reduce it 150%, are you going to be paying me money to buy the drugs? Will you pay me $150 to buy the drugs? If you reduced it 600%, I guess you’d be paying me $1,800 to buy the drugs. No one is talking about that. Drug companies are not going to pay you to buy their drugs. Even Donald Trump, I don’t think he thinks that. Who knows? But it’s utterly crazy, and apparently his aides cannot explain that to him.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to go to President Trump on inflation.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Here at home, we’re bringing our economy back from the brink of ruin. The last administration and their allies in Congress looted our Treasury for trillions of dollars, driving up prices and everything at levels never seen before. I am bringing those high prices down, and bringing them down very fast.
Let’s look at the facts. Under the Biden administration, car prices rose 22%, and in many states, 30% or more. Gasoline rose 30 to 50%. Hotel rates rose 37%. Airfares rose 31%. Now under our leadership, they are all coming down, and coming down fast. Democrat politicians also sent the cost of groceries soaring, but we are solving that, too. The price of a Thanksgiving turkey was down 33% compared to the Biden last year. The price of eggs is down 82% since March, and everything else is falling rapidly. And it’s not done yet, but, boy, are we making progress.
AMY GOODMAN: Fact-check, Dean Baker.
DEAN BAKER: Yeah, this is a lot of craziness. There was a lot of inflation in the Biden administration. This was because of the pandemic, which I guess Trump didn’t hear about. This was 2021, 2022. It was worldwide. So, it was in France. It was in Germany, even in Japan. They saw a big jump in prices. We saw some of that here also. That was restarting the economy after the shutdowns, which were done under Trump. Again, maybe his dementia prevents him from remembering that. That was a worldwide story. Inflation had come down to just under 3% by the time Trump took office.
His imagination about how he’s brought down prices down since — gasoline prices fell 3%. They were just over $3 a gallon, time he took office. They’re about $2.90 a gallon. It’s good, I guess. Diesel prices are actually up 5%. He doesn’t know about that. Egg prices fell a lot. Well, they rose under Trump because of avian flu. I don’t necessarily blame him for it, but I don’t give him that much credit for ending avian flu — I don’t give any credit for that. This story is utterly imaginary. I should also point out grocery prices: They’re up 2.7% over the year. He left out electricity. Electricity prices have been rising about 8% at annual rate. I do blame him for that, because that’s his AI policy. He wants data centers everywhere. It’s very, very — they use a huge amount of energy. It’s very expensive.
So, he’s living in an imaginary world. He’s created a disaster which didn’t exist before he took office. And the idea that everything’s better now, not according to anything you could see in the world.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, Dean Baker, final comments? We have 30 seconds.
DEAN BAKER: Yeah, I mean, this is — it’s kind of scary. I mean, the economy was actually doing very good under Biden. We’re seeing problems now, and we’re going to see much worse, because the tariffs — it’s not so much that a tariff is per se bad. You can put them in place. But when you use them for political purposes, you change them by the day depending what you had for breakfast or who nominated you for a Nobel Peace Prize, that creates a very, very bad economy. We’ve seen that story in other countries. It’s unfortunate we’re going to see that here.
AMY GOODMAN: Dean Baker, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, author of Rigged: How Globalization and Rules of the Modern Economy Were Structured to Make the Rich Richer, speaking to us from Astoria, Oregon, with a little cameo from his dog. Say hi to your dog, Dean.
DEAN BAKER: I’ll do that. She’ll say hi, too. I’ll bring her out.
AMY GOODMAN: Coming up —
DEAN BAKER: All right, thanks a lot.
AMY GOODMAN: Coming up, we speak to a former immigration judge who was fired by the Trump administration. She’s now suing the Justice Department. Stay with us.