(AFP) – US President Donald Trump will try to sell voters on the economy during his State of the Union address Tuesday, despite suffering a series of stinging blows ahead of crucial midterm elections this year. After a breakneck first year back in power, Trump is suffering from low approval ratings while the Supreme Court last week struck down the global tariffs at the heart of the Republican’s economic agenda. But Trump will declare to Congress that America is “strong, prosperous and respected” as it prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Trump will “proudly tout his administration’s many record-breaking accomplishments” and lay out an “ambitious agenda to continue bringing the American Dream back for working people,” she added. The 79-year-old president himself warned on Monday that the first official State of the Union of his second term was “going to be a long speech because we have so much to talk about.”
The world will meanwhile be watching for hints from Trump about possible military action against Iran, with a huge US military build-up pressing Tehran to make a deal on its nuclear program. US media reported that Trump would devote part of the speech to foreign policy, insisting on what his administration calls a “peace through strength” strategy following a series of military interventions including in Venezuela. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was due to brief House and Senate leaders at the White House ahead of the speech.
The speech comes at a politically fraught moment for Trump, whose poll ratings are a worry for Republicans and the White House ahead of November’s midterm elections. If they lose their wafer-thin majority in the House, it could paralyze the rest of Trump’s second term — and put him at the risk of a possible third impeachment. Speaking in front of the very same Supreme Court justices he branded “fools and lapdogs” for striking down his tariffs last Friday, Trump is expected to issue a strong defense of his levies.
Trump’s economic message will meanwhile focus on what he claims is success in cutting inflation, boosting jobs and manufacturing, and restoring what he calls a “Golden Age” of America. But the billionaire president has yet to convince many voters who are still worried about the cost of living — something he has repeatedly dismissed as an “affordability hoax.” A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll published on Sunday showed his approval rating at 39 percent. Only 41 percent approved of his handling of the economy overall, and just 32 percent on inflation.
Trump’s other signature policy, his promise to deport undocumented migrants, is more popular. But polls show most Americans think the crackdowns in which two US citizens were shot dead last month in Minneapolis have gone too far. Democrats are lining up responses including boycotts and silent protests for the address — mandated by the US Constitution, which says that the president shall “from time to time give to the Congress information of the State of the Union.”
Adding to the interest will be the guests that both Republicans and Democrats bring to watch the address from the gallery, part of a long tradition. Trump has invited the US men’s ice hockey team after they won Olympic gold. But the women’s team said they were declining Trump’s invitation, US media reported. The president was also inviting Erika Kirk, the widow of assassinated right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, and a trans teen whose mother sued a high school over claims officials hid the fact that the child was transitioning. Two Democratic members of the House of Representatives said they were bringing as guests the family members of a victim of disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein. Trump has denied any links to sex offender Epstein, but the scandal continues to nag at his presidency.
– Danny KEMP
© 2024 AFP
