President Donald Trump delivered a speech on the economy to business leaders in Miami on Wednesday, one day after Republicans suffered brutal election losses in states where exit polls showed voters deeply concerned about financial issues.
While the president has started to acknowledge that economic anxiety — including over the government shutdown — is hurting Republicans politically, his address to the American Business Forum largely hyped his economic agenda.
“This is the golden age of America,” Trump said opening his campaign-style remarks, which even featured the song "Y.M.C.A." — a staple of his election rallies.
Trump focused much of his time on what he views as three positive economic indicators: the stock market hitting record highs, wages ticking up and an easier environment for American-born workers to find jobs.
“Almost 2 million American-born workers are employed today more than when I took office,” Trump said.
Trump also said any economic slump is due to a "transition period" needed for his economic policies to really take hold, and — without evidence — boasted that there has been $18 trillion in investment made in the country since he returned to office, a number that has been debunked in the past.
Trump's speech, however, frequently weaved away from the economy.
He returned to attacks against his political opponents, going after former President Joe Biden for using an autopen and the new presidential library of former President Barack Obama, and he tried out nicknames for Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, saying he should be called "Slimy Newscum."
Trump’s upbeat remarks at the Miami event largely did not reflect the increasingly difficult economic and political environment for his party.
On Tuesday night, Democrats swept almost every high-profile race across the country during off-year elections seen as a testing ground for the 2026 midterms, when Republicans will try to hold onto slim majorities in the House and Senate.
Though Trump did not put much direct effort into any of the races, his shadow loomed large over polling places across the country. Exit polling data showed that in each of the four states with significant elections — Virginia, New York, California and New Jersey — at least 55% of voters said they “disapprove” of Trump’s performance during his first 100 days in office.
It’s the latest in a flurry of data that show much of that disapproval is tied to the economy, which Trump has tried to rewire with his across-the-board tariffs and a more than $4-trillion tax cut package.
An NBC News poll released on Sunday showed that just 34% of voters think he has “lived up” to expectations on the economy, while 52% blamed Trump and Republicans in Congress for the government shutdown, which has gone on for 36 days and is now the longest in the nation’s history.
The legality of Trump’s unilaterally imposed tariff regime was also the subject of a much-awaited Supreme Court hearing Wednesday, where administration attorneys were greeted by justices who seemed skeptical of arguments that Trump had the legal authority to impose sweeping tariffs under a federal law designed for national emergencies.
Chief Justice John Roberts said that the tariffs amount to a tax — an argument the administration has vocally rejected — and said the power of taxation is the responsibility of Congress.
Ahead of Wednesday's hearing, attorneys for the federal government argued that the Trump-imposed tariffs would “generate between $2.3 trillion and $3.3 trillion.” But when pressed during the hearing, Solicitor General D. John Sauer seemingly contradicted that argument, telling justices that they were not designed to raise revenue but rather “regulatory tariffs” designed to help Trump cut trade deals.
If the court rules that Trump did not act lawfully when he unilaterally imposed the tariffs, it could spin off even further economic uncertainty.
Trump does appear to finally be sensing some political trouble, showing a rare bit of reflection during a breakfast Wednesday morning with Republican senators.
Trump acknowledged that the government shutdown is being blamed on Republicans more than Democrats, and said his party, which controls both the House and Senate, needs to reopen the government or face further political backlash.
He also appeared to express some concern that "countless public servants are now not being paid, and the air traffic control system is under increasing strain" — a notable shift in rhetoric from his frequent criticisms and digs at federal workers, whom his administration targeted for layoffs and suggested might not be entitled to post-shutdown pay.
Trump has been pushing senators to pursue the "nuclear option" of scrapping the legislative filibuster, a rule that requires 60 votes to pass most legislation out of that chamber. Lawmakers have so far rejected that drastic measure.
“If you read the pollsters, the shutdown was a big factor, negative for the Republicans,” Trump said Wednesday morning. “Last night, it was not expected to be a victory, it was a very Democrat areas. I don’t think it was good for Republicans. I don’t think it was good for anybody. We had an interesting evening and learned a lot.”
“We have to get the country open,” he added.
Vice President JD Vance wrote on social media Wednesday that it was "idiotic" to read too much into Tuesday's election losses, since the contests took place in blue-leaning states. But even he admitted Republicans need to do more on the economy and said the outcome will be critical to the party's future in the midterms.
"The president has done a lot that has already paid off in lower interest rates and lower inflation, but we inherited a disaster from Joe Biden and Rome wasn't built in a day," he said. "We're going to keep on working to make a decent life affordable in this country, and that's the metric by which we'll ultimately be judged in 2026 and beyond."
