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President Donald Trump has begun his address to the nation by saying he “inherited a mess” and he is “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.”

Trump’s opening pitch for defending his record: Blame Biden, writes Andrew Feinberg.

There’s nothing new here, just the usual rally attacks packaged like a solemn address usually reserved for important matters and national tragedies.

“We have achieved more than anyone could have imagined,” Trump says.

“We are making America great again tonight,” Trump said.

“After 11 months, our border is secure. Inflation has stopped. Wages are up, prices are down. 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. Soon, we will host the World Cup and the Olympics, both of which I got but most importantly, we will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

“There could be no more fitting tribute to this epic milestone, than to complete the comeback of America that began just one year ago.”

President Donald Trump announced in his address to the nation Wednesday night that every service member in the military will get a “warrior dividend” worth nearly $2,000.

“More than 1,450,000 military service members will receive a special, we call, warrior dividend before Christmas,” Trump said. “We are sending every soldier $1,776 and the checks are already on their way.”

Trump said “nobody understood” the situation with checks until about 30 minutes before his speech.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday used a nationally-televised address to deliver a campaign-style rant in which he blamed his predecessor for the economic woes Americans are feeling a year into his presidency, while offering little in the way of proposals to address the higher prices caused in large part by the massive tariffs he has placed on almost all American imports, writes Andrew Feinberg.

Speaking from the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House, Trump opened by claiming to have “inherited a mess” that he was now “fixing.”

What followed was a partisan rant indistinguishable from the signature rallies that have been the centerpiece of his political movement, in which he rattled off a list of grievances while blaming his predecessor for the state of the country nearly a full year after he took the oath of office.

Fact-checkers have been quick to swoop on claims made by President Donald Trump during his address, most of which he has said before.

CNN’s Daniel Dale said that Trump “repeated some of his oft-debunked lies tonight.”

Trump repeated his claim that he “settled eight wars in 10 months,” including “ending the war in Gaza,” and said that grocery prices were falling “rapidly.”

“Trump hasn’t settled eight wars,” Dale said in a post on X. “He hasn’t secured anything close to $18 trillion in investment; crime wasn’t anywhere close to record levels under Biden; Trump didn’t inherit anything close to the worst inflation in US history; nowhere close to 25 million migrants entered the US under Biden; while the price of eggs and some other products has fallen this year, it’s not true that “everything else is falling rapidly,” since overall prices and grocery prices continue to rise…”

Energy prices, including gasoline, have dropped, and they will continue to drop more, Trump promises. But they aren’t at the levels he claims.

Trump claimed a national average gas price of $2.50 per gallon. The AAA average nationally is $2.90. Without providing evidence, Trump also said household energy costs have dropped by $3,000.

Trump promised that “within the nest 12 months” the U.S. will have opened 1,600 new electrical generating plants — reversing what he again called “the Democrat inflation disaster.”

President Donald Trump gave a national address Wednesday night that came off as loud and angry, leaving people on social media to question his state of mind.

Former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger wrote on X, “Someone come get grandpa he’s yelling again, and we’re concerned.”

“He’s really losing it,” journalist John Hardwood said.

Jon Ralston, CEO of the Nevada Independent, wrote, “Just turned on the TV. You mad, bro?”

California Governor Gavin Newsom’s press team took the opportunity to make a sarcastic comment: “Many are saying that was a better speech than the Gettysburg Address.”

Fans of Survivor are complaining online about missing parts of the show’s three-hour finale Wednesday night, which was put on hold for the duration of the president’s address to the nation.

“I’d rather be watching Survivor,” one X user claimed. Another said, “Why is my Survivor finale being interrupted by that orange felon…I’M CANADIAN.”

“Someone tell me when he’s done yapping so I can go back to watching the finale,” said another.

CBS announced that the 3-hour finale would begin at 8 p.m. ET and “will resume where it left off immediately following the president’s address for Eastern and Central Time Zone viewers.”