Trump’s Fantasy State of the Union
2/25/202647 min
President Trump’s approval ratings on the economy, immigration and trade are deep in the red. But in Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, he decided to tell the American people: You don’t know what you’re talking about.
“Today our border is secure, our spirit is restored, inflation is plummeting, incomes are rising fast. The roaring economy is roaring like never before,” he said.
I’m not going to fact-check the president in this episode. But I do want to ask: Even if he can’t be honest with the American people, is he at least being honest with himself?
My editor Aaron Retica joins me to discuss.
Mentioned:
“I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration” by Miles Taylor
“Has Trump Achieved a Lot Less Than It Seems?” with Yuval Levin on “The Ezra Klein Show”
Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.
You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.
This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Claire Gordon and Marie Cascione. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Kate Sinclair and Mary Marge Locker. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Isaac Jones & Aman Sahota. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Annie Galvin, Rollin Hu, Kristin Lin, Emma Kehlbeck, Jack McCordick, Marina King and Jan Kobal. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.
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Transcript preview
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Ezra Klein· Host0:31
[upbeat music] So imagine you're Donald Trump, or maybe you're one of Donald Trump's political advisors, or his kids, one of the ones who doesn't want to lose the midterms and start getting your crypto and AI trades investigated by congressional Democrats. So you're there, and you're planning out last night's State of the Union. What would you do? Well, you'd probably start with a problem that you need to solve. The issues that got you elected in twenty twenty-four have turned into huge vulnerabilities