Trump guarantees ‘growth the world has by no means seen earlier than’ amongst different wild claims in ‘thriller announcement’
Donald Trump finally made his much-touted mystery announcement, which mainly consisted of repeating past claims scapegoating the Biden administration and immigrants for the USA’s economic problems
Donald Trump said the USA was “poised for economic boom the like of which the world has never seen” when he gave a rare address from the White House on Wednesday night. The President had teased the announcement for days, promising “the best is yet to come”.
However, his ‘announcement’ turned out to be little more than a campaign-style speech in which he repeated past claims blaming the Biden administration for the country’s problems, scapegoating immigrants for the housing crisis and economic struggles.
Trump did announce that ‘warrior dividends’ of $1,776 would be sent to more than 1.4 million U.S. service members before Christmas, implying that the funds had been raised from his controversial tariff increases.
“We made a lot more money than anybody thought because of tariffs, and the bill helped us along,” Trump said, referring to the GOP’s major tax cuts legislation it passed earlier this year. “Nobody deserves it more than our military, and I say congratulations.
He also announced that from the new year, the price of medicines would go down “by numbers never conceived possible”.
One of the broadcasters streaming his speech was USA Today, which ran a strap across the screen for the entirety of the broadcast, stating: “These statements have not been verified by USA Today”.
Among the more wild claims he made was that he had “brought peace to Middle East for first time in 3,000 years”.
“I’ve restored American strength, settled eight wars in 10 months, destroyed the Iran nuclear threat and ended the war in Gaza, bringing peace for the first time in 3,000 years, and secured the release of the hostages, both living and dead here at home,” Trump said.
As Al Jazeera pointed out in its blog covering the speech, the Gaza truce has not stopped daily attacks in Palestine and across the region.
Trump took aim at his predecessor Joe Biden throughout his speech, saying: “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.”
He went on to claim his administration had brought down grocery prices, although his assertion that gasoline prices had come down to $2.50 per gallon has already been refuted by fact checkers. He also said, without giving evidence, that household energy costs have dropped by $3,000.
Later in the speech he said: “Our nation is strong. America is respected, and our country is back stronger than ever before. We’re poised for an economic boom the likes of which the world has never seen.”
He also repeated his claim that “One year ago our country was dead, now we’re the hottest country in the world”, and claimed “every world leader I’ve spoken to” had told him the same.
There was no mention in his speech of Venezuela, amid speculation he would use his address to declare war on Nicolás Maduro’s regime.
Earlier in the week, Trump announced a complete blockade preventing sanctioned oil tankers from entering or leaving the South American country, amid a dispute over oil and other assets.
Prior to Trump’s speech on Wednesday, right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson was asked in an interview “Is Trump going to start a war in Venezuela?”
Carlson responded: “I don’t know. I don’t know the answer. I’ve certainly been on the phone a lot about it. I have no power. I’m a podcaster, but I’m very interested. And so here’s what I know so far, which is that members of Congress were briefed yesterday, that a war is coming, and it’ll be announced in the address to the nation tonight at 9 o’clock by the president.”
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.
