Trump national address live: President touts accomplishments as Americans express frustration with the economy

Trump delivered a loud and seemingly angry speech, something viewers at home picked up on.

One social media user summed up the presidential address with a photo from the cartoon sitcom The Simpsons that showed a newspaper article with the headline, “Old man yells at cloud.”

Rachel Dobkin rounds up the reaction…

President Donald Trump promised an “economic boom” in 2026 during his Wednesday night address to the nation.

“We’re poised for an economic boom the likes of which the world has never seen,” Trump said as he brought his White House remarks to a close.

The pledge followed grim polling for his administration that found Americans are growing frustrated with his handling of the economy.

The latest NPR/PBS News/Marist survey found that 57 percent of respondents disapprove of Trump’s economic management, compared with 36 percent who approve — the lowest rating on this issue across his two terms in office.

The Democrats bluntly delivered their verdict on President Donald Trump’s speech tonight and simultaneously trolled him over the imminent release of the Epstein files.

The files are due to be released sometime Friday, which marks the end of the 30-day deadline the Justice Department was given last month.

President Donald Trump’s entourage was in the room watching him make his national address, according to reporters in the White House press pool.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt, director of communications Steve Cheung, chief of staff Susie Wiles, deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, and aide Natalie Harp were all watching Trump speak from the Diplomatic Reception Room.

Right before the remarks started, an usher brought in three Diet Cokes and ice and the president took a sip of his favorite beverage right before the speech started.

The group of advisors stood in the back corner during the remarks.

Their live reactions were limited and there was some head nodding when the president talked about wages going up.

Harp reportedly had a smile on her face for the entirety of the speech while Leavitt watched much of it on the monitor, viewing how it looked on TV.

When the remarks wrapped and the president was given the all clear, he turned to the press and said, “You think that’s easy?” and then took a swig of Diet Coke.

To photo pooler Doug Mills, he said, “I’d rather be doing your job, just click click.”

He turned to his staff and asked how he did. They all responded with some version of “great.”

During his relatively short address tonight, President Donald Trump mentioned his predecessor Joe Biden seven times and the Democrats nine times, according to a transcript.

Trump spoke for just under 20 minutes, which is much shorter than most of his speeches.

The president had previewed that he intended to talk about how he had “inherited a mess” from the previous administration and he delivered on that.

He told the press pool after the address that he was told by chief of staff Susie Wiles that he must deliver the speech in 20 minutes.

“I told you 20 minutes, and you were 20 minutes on the dot,” Wiles said.

President Donald Trump made no mention of the rapidly growing tension with Venezuela during his speech tonight, despite speculation that he would address it.

On the same evening, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the U.S. military carried out another lethal strike on a vessel in the Pacific at his direction, killing four people.

So far, the administration’s strikes have killed at least 99 people.

“Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” the U.S. Southern Command X account said. “A total of four male narco-terrorists were killed, and no U.S. military forces were harmed.”

The strike followed Trump calling for a “total and complete blockade” of sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers.

President Donald Trump touted his TrumpRx website during his Wednesday night address to the nation, part of his plan, he says, is to save Americans money on prescription drugs.

“The first of these unprecedented price reductions will be available starting in January through a new website, TrumpRx.gov,” he said. “And these big price cuts will greatly reduce the cost of health care.”

He first announced the plan back in October.

Katie Hawkinson has the details.

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.”

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.”

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.”