Trump touts his economic policies as polls show increasing concern

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — President Donald Trump argued in favor of his administration’s policies on key issues like the economy and immigration in a prime-time address to the nation Dec. 17.

Trump was bullish about his economic policy in his comments, despite a new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll released earlier the same day, finding just 36 percent of Americans approve of his handling of the economy amid cost-of-living increases, an area of Catholic social concern.

“When I took office, inflation was the worst in 48 years, and some would say in the history of our country, which caused prices to be higher than ever before, making life unaffordable for millions and millions of Americans,” Trump said. “This happened during a Democrat administration, and it’s when we first began hearing the word affordability.”

The worst inflation on record in the U.S. occurred during and after World War I.

In comments from the Diplomatic Room of the White House flanked by Christmas trees, Trump argued in the first year of his second term, “we have achieved more than anyone could have imagined.”

“After 11 months, our border is secure, inflation is stopped, wages are up, prices are down. Our nation is strong. America is respected, and our country is back stronger than ever,” he said.

Elsewhere in the speech, Trump took aim at his predecessor, criticizing the Biden administration, particularly on immigration and a gender policy he referred to as “transgender for everybody.”

“In my opinion, the worst thing that the Biden administration did to our country is the invasion at the border,” Trump said, arguing his crackdown on illegal immigration would lower consumer prices.

In November, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted overwhelmingly to issue a rare group statement voicing “our concern here for immigrants” at its annual fall plenary assembly in Baltimore. The statement, which the conference approved Nov. 12, did not name Trump, but it came as a growing number of bishops have acknowledged that some of the Trump administration’s immigration policies risk presenting the church with both practical challenges in administering pastoral support and charitable endeavors, as well as religious liberty challenges.

Catholic social teaching on immigration balances three interrelated principles — the right of persons to migrate in order to sustain their lives and those of their families, the right of a country to regulate its borders and control immigration, and a nation’s duty to regulate its borders with justice and mercy.

However, some other Trump administration policies have also been met with praise from the U.S. bishops, including an executive order stating his administration would seek to prohibit certain types of medical or surgical gender reassignment procedures for minors who identify as transgender.

Also during the Baltimore assembly, the bishops approved an updated version of their guiding document on Catholic health care, with substantial revisions that include explicit prohibitions against so-called “gender-affirming care.”

The “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services,” or ERDs — developed in consultation with medical professionals and theologians, and regularly reviewed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops — articulate ethical standards for health care in light of church teaching, and provide authoritative guidance on moral issues encountered by Catholic health care.

Trump also announced a $1,776 bonus check to U.S. troops for Christmas.

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