President Trump’s third State of the Union Tuesday night, built around the theme of “The Great American Comeback,” will focus on five areas, according to senior administration officials: the blue-collar “boom,” supporting working families, lowering healthcare costs, the immigration system, and national security.
Trump is expected to boast in the Tuesday night address about the strength of the economy, particularly the low unemployment rate, resilient wage growth, and strong job creation, and how these gains have helped working families and the least well-off.
Trump’s National Economic Council director, Larry Kudlow, said Tuesday on Fox Business that Democrats have “painted a picture of gloom and doom and deep recession, except for maybe nine fat cats on Wall Street who are getting rich.”
Kudlow, who is Trump’s top adviser on economic matters, said that this portrayal by Democrats is “utterly false” and that in his State of the Union speech, Trump will “rebut that with facts.”
“I just want to make this point. Unlike the socialist charges, the actual facts show that we are reducing inequality, even while the rising tide is lifting all boats,” Kudlow said.
Kudlow said the president would tout his deregulatory approach to governance and his trade deals with China, Japan, and South Korea, along with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement as the cause for the economic boom the United States is experiencing. In Davos last month, Trump said, “America is thriving, America is flourishing, and yes, America is winning again like never before.”
Although the economy is prospering and there has been growth in jobs and wages, there has nevertheless been significant pushback from liberals and some conservatives regarding the credit Trump takes for the current economic climate.
A survey last year of approximately 50 leading economists, including both liberals and conservatives, showed near-unanimity that Trump’s policies are destructive.
The conservative Manhattan Institute put out a study last year titled “The Trump Economy — Solid but not the GOAT.” The study highlights the lack of prime-age men not working full time, the lack of productivity gains, and the difference in wage growth and jobs during this economic boom and previous ones.
