Trump’s speech last week and his administration’s actions so far reveal a shocking callousness about the plight of everyday Americans who voted for him.
President Trump’s first seven weeks back in office have been spent abandoning the American people—tearing apart vital programs, withholding funds that save lives and purging the federal workforce. Last Tuesday, he addressed a joint session of Congress for the first time in his second term. Throughout the speech, he boasted about abandoning international agreements, expediting environmental deregulation and gutting federal resources.
Trump checked off a list of programs his administration has already axed, including initiatives that provide life-saving care to millions around the world. He declared that his administration is “going to create the highest quality of life, build the highest quality of life, build the safest and wealthiest and healthiest and most vital communities anywhere in the world.” In reality, Trump’s priorities are focused on anything but ensuring a high—or even livable—quality of life for a majority of Americans, including those who voted for him.
Trump’s congressional address affirmed that what we have seen thus far is likely just the beginning; it painted a clear picture of an administration that is unsympathetic to the fundamental needs of all Americans, from access to healthcare to decent work. Rural hospitals are closing at an alarming rate, millions of Americans don’t have access to basic housing needs, and protections for workers—the backbone of this country’s economy—are being eroded. The economic forecast is increasingly grim, a sobering reversal for many of Trump’s voters who trusted his promises for a strong economy and decreased cost of living.
Trump’s priorities are focused on anything but ensuring a high—or even livable—quality of life for a majority of Americans, including those who voted for him.
As Trump swiftly dismantles democratic institutions and norms from his bully pulpit, real people, including those who voted for him, are suffering. Even though he promised on Tuesday to “create the greatest economy in history,” Trump has placed a freeze on all new regulations while holding back billions in federal funds already promised by Congress. Trump’s brand of populism is already preventing Americans from meeting some of their most basic needs: healthcare, housing and employment.
In his address last Tuesday, Trump revisited his favorite talking points about Making America Healthy Again but made no mention of the policies that he and Congress are putting in place that will reduce access to care for families and communities around the country. For instance, the administration has rescinded permission for states to use Medicaid funds for health-related social needs like nutrition and housing. On top of that, the only way to achieve the tax cuts Trump promised is for Congress to cut health programs like Medicaid and Medicare, which are essential for millions of people. Medicaid pays for two in five births nationally and five in eight people in nursing homes, and rural hospitals need Medicaid and Medicare funding to stay open.
These policies wouldn’t be popular: According to polls released on Friday, only 17 percent of people want to see Medicaid cuts. Indeed, the vast majority of people want Medicaid funds to stay the same or increase. At the same time, this country’s Secretary of Health is at best skeptical of, and at worst hostile to vaccines. The combination of infectious disease outbreaks and severely limited healthcare access looms as a crisis-in-the-making for low-income and rural communities.
Public health insurance programs are not the only safety net programs in danger. Conspicuously absent from Trump’s speech on Tuesday night was any reference to the ongoing housing affordability crisis, a major focus of his campaign. It makes sense—Trump is working hard to make sure that housing stability remains increasingly out of reach for more and more families, a trend that will be compounded by the avalanche of federal job losses. Even though homelessness is at an all-time high, his administration continues to withhold federal funding for critical housing services for veterans, youth, the unhoused and people experiencing domestic violence.
Medicaid pays for two in five births nationally and five in eight people in nursing homes, and rural hospitals need Medicaid and Medicare funding to stay open.
Meanwhile, rising construction costs and Trump’s flip-flopping on tariffs will keep home prices high and available housing scarce. Trump plans to keep making crippling cuts to the number of federal workers who process applications for rental assistance, distribute grants to curb housing discrimination and rebuild after disasters. Americans are being left to fend for themselves.
Trump uses working Americans to score political points while his policies undermine their health and well-being. In his congressional address, Trump spotlighted Jeff Denard, a steelworker from Alabama. He thanked Denard for working at the same steel plant for 27 years and for his service as a volunteer firefighter, but Trump neglected to mention that he is actively trying to roll back regulations that protect people like Denard in their workplaces.
For example, he has frozen rulemaking, meaning many rules drafted during the Biden administration will not go into effect; several of the rules that have been paused center workplace safety, from protecting workers from heat-related injury to improving safety standards for emergency responders like Denard.
Trump is likely to continue dismantling regulations that preserve workers’ economic security, health and safety. And without enforceable workplace protections, companies will continue to hire children to clean heavy machinery and expose them to hazardous chemicals, and adults will continue to resort to wearing diapers during long shifts because employers refuse to provide bathroom breaks. Rural and urban economies alike run on everyday people working jobs that, at minimum, should be safe and pay fair wages; we cannot drive economic growth at the expense of the health and safety of frontline workers.
Trump’s speech—what he said and didn’t say—and his administration’s actions are disconnected from reality, and everyday Americans are paying the price. This administration has already shown Trump’s campaign promises, and the lofty promises he continues to make, to be empty. Americans cannot count on him, or this administration, to save them.
