Over the past year, Donald Trump He faced few obstacles in governing America.
Now, as the president prepares for Tuesday’s State of the Union address, he’s under pressure from the Supreme Court’s overturn of the tariffs, worsening public opinion of his immigration-repressive policies and growing economic concerns.
Trump is unlikely to back down during the speech, a prime-time address in American politics where Congress invites the president to describe his achievements and lay out his agenda.
But his boasts won’t sting as much as Democrats and world leaders, who have so far been overwhelmed by his agenda.
The Supreme Court on Friday sharply rebuked him for his use of tariffs, which he levies arbitrarily on countries, often through simple orders on social media, in a bid to gain influence on foreign affairs that sometimes have nothing to do with trade.
On the same day, government data showed that the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 1.4% between October and December, well below analysts’ forecasts for the quarter of 2.5%.
Meanwhile, polls show growing dissatisfaction with the cost of living and Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants.
cost of living issues
Trump’s strategy so far on inflation has been to hold back.
“I won on affordability,” Trump said Thursday during a speech in the southeastern state of Georgia.
But Todd Belt, a political science professor at George Washington University, told AFP, “You can’t communicate more to the economy. People know what they’re spending.”
“When people are told things they know are not true, they become very resentful,” he said. This applies both to the cost of living and to the crackdown on immigration, which many Americans mistakenly believe is focused on deporting violent criminals.
The American electorate has proven to be extremely sensitive to economic issues, which in part ensnared Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, but now threatens the Republican Party.
As the November midterm elections approach, one-third of the seats in the House and Senate will be up for grabs.
Trump has warned that if Democrats take power, they may try to impeach him.
Backing off?
Even the typically bombastic Trump has been alarmed in recent days, including by racist videos of Barack Obama, the nation’s first black president, being posted to his Truth Society account.
The White House tried to dodge the question, then claimed an unnamed aide posted the question, as even loyal members of Congress break boundaries to criticize the president.
After federal immigration agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens during a massive sweep in Minneapolis, the government announced it was scaling back its presence in the city, which has seen massive protests.
On the international stage, a U.S.-Denmark-Greenland working group has been established to discuss Washington’s security concerns in the Arctic, but Trump has had to backtrack on his threat to seize Greenland.
He imposed sweeping 10% tariffs on U.S. imports after the Supreme Court on Friday struck down his previous tariffs, but that still means some countries now have lower trade rates than they agreed to under his previous levies.
The U.S. government has denounced the court as “lawless” and vowed to find other ways to impose tariffs.
Meanwhile, challenges to Trump’s policies are slowly making their way through the courts.
However, despite Trump’s punishment, the House of Representatives and the Senate are still controlled by Republicans. Trump himself will serve in the White House until 2029.
