ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. — In a campaign-style speech Friday night, President Donald Trump made his latest effort to convince Americans that he is cutting costs and improving the economy, while also veering into long-winded spats that have nothing to do with either.
Trump faces mounting pressure to prove that his policies make groceries and other necessities affordable for everyone. Recent opinion polls They show that voters are unhappy with economic conditions and blame Trump for not doing enough to fix them.
Eager to avoid losses in next year’s midterm congressional elections, Trump is intensifying his efforts to show that he is actually achieving results and that voters will see their financial burdens ease as his term continues. On Wednesday, he delivered a rare prime-time address to the nation, in an opening bid in his campaign to change perceptions that the economy is weak.
“We are repairing four years of disaster and deterioration,” Trump said Friday at an event center in eastern North Carolina, a perennial battleground state where Republicans are trying to take a Senate seat in 2026.
“We were a dead country, and now we’re talking about the golden age of America — think about it, in 10 months,” Trump said.
Trump noted that his negotiating style is paying off for Americans struggling to pay for prescription drugs. He recounted how his French counterpart, Emmanel Macron, threatened to impose higher tariffs unless he agreed to a new drug pricing system that would reduce costs in the United States. Trump said Macron reluctantly complied.
“I said if you don’t do that, I’ll put a 25 percent tariff on everything you sell to America.” Trump said.
Earlier in the day, Trump announced an agreement with nine drug companies that agreed to lower drug prices for Medicaid recipients and those who buy drugs with cash, rather than purchasing them through their insurance policies.
As Trump stood on the podium, a sign behind him said: “Lower prices, bigger pay.”
But Trump had other things on his mind, too. His 90-minute appearance also included criticism of MPs. Ilhan Omar, Democrat from Minnesota. a duck Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican from Georgia. He name-checked his opponent in the 2016 presidential race, Hillary Clinton.
“She was smart, but she was bad,” Trump told the crowd. “I didn’t want to go home to her. She was bad. Remember, she was a bad person. I was going to use the expletive,” he said, but added that he held back because Melania Trump, the first lady, would have objected.
Trump said he is in good health and has passed various cognitive tests. Speculation about Trump’s fitness became more evident as he appeared to fall asleep at times in meetings and suffered a large bruise on his right hand.
“Now, there will come a time when I may not be 100 percent,” the 79-year-old president said. “That’s true for all of us. And when that time comes, I’ll tell you so, and in fact, you’ll probably find out just by watching. But that time is not now, because I feel the same way as I did for 50 years.”
The president too He explained that he was still angry about 2022 The FBI searches for secret documents in his Mar-a-Lago home after the end of his first term.
“They got into my wife’s closet,” he said accusingly. Federal agents who entered the house without warning and left them behind “chaos.”
“She said, ‘Oh, what happened? It’s so terrible.’
Trump sued the government over the inspection and pointed out the irony of now being in a position to settle the case.
He considered keeping the money — “A lot of people say, ‘Do that,'” he said — but indicated he would instead donate any amount to charity.
“But isn’t this a strange situation? I have to make an agreement and negotiate with myself,” he said.
Democrats vow to strike issue Affordability in midterm election campaigns. Prices have already played a major role in Democratic victories in two gubernatorial races this year. Some Republicans called on Trump to continue to focus heavily on cutting costs.
But a series of distractions, some of their own making, sometimes weakened the message he intended to deliver.
New controversies arose just this week. On Monday, Trump suggested on social media that famed film director and actor Rob Reiner was killed because of his disdain for the president, a baseless argument that drew blowback from fellow Republicans.
By the end of the week, workers attached Trump’s name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, angering the family of the slain former president.
Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender, continues to tower over Trump Second semester. The Justice Department on Friday released a batch of investigative files related to Epstein, under a deadline set by a bill passed by Congress last month and signed into law by Trump.
“His message on affordability was a month ago, Don’t tell me about affordability; It’s a trick. “Biden caused this,” said Mark Mitchell, head of polling at Rasmussen Reports, who briefed Trump and senior White House officials last month.
“You can see they’re trying to change their tone a little bit: talking about housing, saying they’re going to rebuild the American dream,” Mitchell continued. “But we’re looking at 320 days until the midterms, and my advice is you really need to show America that Republicans and Trump can govern together and address the really deep problems.”