Trump’s Speech Was Loud. His Economic Plan Was Silent

Donald Trump gave his big speech to Congress. It was loud, long, and, as expected, mostly a show with sprinkles of insults towards marginalized communities.

But for all the talk of "making America great," the real question went unanswered: How does his vision actually help the people who need it most?

The answer: It doesn’t.

In Philadelphia, a city where thousands live in poverty, where rents are rising. Trump's speech had nothing for them. Not a plan to make housing affordable. Not a plan to create decent-paying jobs. Not a plan to fix public transportation or fund schools. Instead, he leaned on cultural fights and attacked marginalized people. He called for tariffs that will hike prices at grocery stores, praised tax cuts that benefit billionaires, and raged against “woke” policies as if that would help someone struggling to pay rent.

This is Trump’s playbook: When you have nothing real to offer, you distract. He talks about “bringing back American jobs,” but under his last presidency, Pennsylvania lost more than 50,000 manufacturing jobs, and his policies did nothing to change the structural decline of industries that once sustained cities like Philly. Meanwhile, he and Republicans in Congress are pushing to gut the programs that actually help working families—food assistance, child tax credits, and affordable healthcare.

Even when Trump does talk about the economy, it’s always from the boardroom, never from the perspective of someone just trying to make rent. Philadelphia doesn’t need more “America First” bluster—it needs infrastructure investments, fair wages, and public transit that actually works. It needs an administration that understands that low-income families can’t afford to lose more ground while billionaires get tax breaks.

But Trump doesn’t want to talk about that. Instead, he spent much of his speech fixating on immigration and crime, using the same tired rhetoric he always does—playing on people’s fears of people who are different than them rather than offering solutions.

Philadelphia has its challenges, but slashing social programs and pretending like corporate tax cuts will trickle down to working-class people won’t fix them.

The truth is, that Trump's economic vision is just a mirage, designed to keep working people—urban and rural alike—fighting each other instead of fighting for a system that actually works for them. The cultural battles he stokes are meant to distract from the fact that, when it comes to real economic solutions, he has none.

And that’s the real con. Trump sells people on a nostalgic dream while gutting the very policies that could make life better for struggling families in places like Philadelphia, Scranton, Pittsburgh, and beyond. The question isn’t whether his words sounded strong—it’s whether his actions will make anyone's life better.

And after watching his latest speech, the answer is clear: For the poor and working class, in cities and small towns alike, Trump’s vision doesn’t build a future. It just sells an illusion.