Trump calls affordability a ‘con job by the Democrats’
President Donald Trump called affordability a “Democrat scam” and a “con job.”
MOUNT POCONO, Pa. — President Donald Trump said during his first domestic rally in months that critics of his frequent travel abroad are “stupid people” who don’t understand the financial windfalls he’s securing for Americans.
Trump delivered the terse censure at a packed Dec. 9 rally as he seeks to beat back complaints that he hasn’t been focused enough on the economy. Between 600 and 700 people attended.
“They said, he shouldn’t be traveling, he should focus on home,” Trump said of the complaints coming from some on the right. “What the hell do they think I’m doing?”
The president said that it’s “the stupid people” saying he shouldn’t be leaving the country. “Yeah, let’s sit around and twiddle our thumbs,” he remarked.
The event kicks off nearly a year of stops the White House says Trump will be making across the United States ahead of the 2026 midterms. Republicans’ majority in the House and Senate and the term-limited president’s legacy is on the line.
“This is being covered like all over the world, this is crazy, because I haven’t made a speech in a little while,” Trump admitted. “You know, when you win, you say, I can now rest.”
GOP strategists and top advisers to Trump have warned that without the president on the ballot, his voters are likely to stay at home, leading to losses in areas that depend on a strong Republican turnout.
Referring to his chief of staff Susie Wiles as “Susie Trump,” the president acknowledged at the rally that she was among the advisers who told him he has to start campaigning again.
“‘They have to win the midterms, and you’re the guy that’s going to take us over the midterm,'” Trump recalled his advisers telling him.
Slamming the opposing party’s economic argument, Trump said, “Democrats talking about affordability is like Bonnie and Clyde preaching out public safety.” He called them the “enemy of the working class.”
The speech zigzagged from topic to topic as he defended his tariffs and derided Democrats such as Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who he said was “one of the dumbest” state leaders in the country. Trump also laid into Rep. Ilhan Omar, who immigrated to the country from Somalia. Omar, he claimed, “does nothing but b***h.”
“She should get the hell out, throw her the hell out,” Trump said. The declaration prompted unchallenged chants of, “Send her back.”
Trump also brought up a fraud and money laundering investigation in Minnesota, in which many, but not all, of the accused are of Somali descent.
“Get them the hell out of here. They hate our country. And she hates our country, and her friends hate our country, and AOC hates our country – they all do,” he said of Omar and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Trump touts tax plan, praises Philadelphia Eagles
About 45 minutes into Trump’s speech, the president turned to a series of charts to compare costs under his watch versus higher inflation under his predecessor, former President Joe Biden.Trump later brought on stage a woman who said she plans to use savings from Trump’s plan to end taxes on tips to help pay for her daughter’s tuition and a firefighter who intends to use his savings to help buy a house.”Democrats say, ‘Prices are too high.’ Yeah, prices are too high because they caused them to be high,” Trump said.Yet for much of the one-hour and 35-minute speech, Trump meandered away from the economic-themed speech that was purpose of the rally.The rally marked a return to the campaign for Trump less than a year out from the midterm elections — and Trump clearly enjoyed being back in a campaign-rally setting,At one point, he talked up his friendship with Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley and praised the Super Bowl champions. But his football talk was met with only lackluster applause. Perhaps Trump forgot the Eagles are losers of three straight games.
