Trump used a prime-time address—normally reserved for national emergencies—for lies, grievance, and division. No empathy. No plan. Just 18 minutes of noise. If only I could get that time back.

Trump’s Address Was Exactly What You Expected—and Worse

A rally speech masquerading as leadership

Brief video following article for paid members

It took less than a minute for me to ask myself, Why would anyone watch this? I mean, I had to. Following this stuff is an obligation. But why—oh why—would anyone voluntarily tune in to what amounted to a blowhard’s boring recitation of blame, bragging, and BS?

It was a prime-time television address to the nation, an exercise normally reserved for serious national concerns. But there was Donald Trump, the embodiment of selfishness and self-interest, wasting the public airwaves—and wasting our time.

Adam Kinzinger

Adam Kinzinger

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Trump’s Address Was Exactly What You Expected—and Worse

A rally speech masquerading as leadership

Adam Kinzinger

Dec 18, 2025

∙ Paid

628

93

117

Brief video following article for paid members

It took less than a minute for me to ask myself, Why would anyone watch this? I mean, I had to. Following this stuff is an obligation. But why—oh why—would anyone voluntarily tune in to what amounted to a blowhard’s boring recitation of blame, bragging, and BS?

It was a prime-time television address to the nation, an exercise normally reserved for serious national concerns. But there was Donald Trump, the embodiment of selfishness and self-interest, wasting the public airwaves—and wasting our time.

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The biggest problem with this so-called address? The lies, of course.

First came lies about immigration. Then lies about inflation, foreign investment in the United States, taxes on Social Security, the price of gas, and wages rising “much faster than inflation.”

The distortions were classic Trump, condensed into just 18 minutes. So were the filler phrases, which—heard from a proper perspective—made the kind of sense he would resent.

“There has never been anything like it,” he said. I thought of his destruction of the East Wing of the White House.

“Nobody can believe what’s going on.” That part is true. Nobody can believe he’s using the Department of Justice to attack political opponents in court.

“There has never been anything like this in the history of our country.” Indeed. There has never been a president so authoritarian and divisive.

The address was filled with attacks on his predecessor, Joe Biden, and Democrats in general. To hear Trump tell it—and sometimes shout it—members of the opposing party are corrupt, anti-American tools of corporations who want to teach children to hate their country.

Others he blamed included Somali immigrants, who he said, in all seriousness, have “taken over the economics” of the entire state of Minnesota, and “sinister woke radicals” who supposedly want to control our schools.

Let’s grant, for the sake of argument, that some small number of “woke radicals” exist. I’m not sure how one would even define them, but this is his rhetoric, not mine. If they do exist, calling them “sinister” is a bizarre and inflammatory choice. Call them wrongheaded. Call them misguided. But they are American citizens. Activist? Yes. Impassioned? Yes. Sinister? No.

Though it was only a passing remark, the jab at “woke radicals” was typical of a speech in which Trump divided the world into good guys—his administration and its supporters—and bad guys, a group that includes immigrants, Democrats, and anyone else who opposes his agenda. It was as if he had forgotten that his approval rating has dropped an average of eight points in less than a year. Today, roughly half the country disapproves of his performance as president.

The real issue, of course, is the economy—specifically affordability. A term Trump once dismissed, “affordability” describes the very real challenge of matching expenses with income. Millions of Americans are struggling to pay for housing, which is in short supply, and for electricity, which has risen dramatically.

Polls and the affordability crisis clearly motivated Trump’s staff to push him into making this address. What they couldn’t control was what he said—or how he said it. Trump did not acknowledge the stress people are feeling. Nor did he offer a realistic or concrete plan to address their problems.

Take health care. Trump and the Republican Congress gutted Obamacare, removing provisions that subsidized premiums so middle-class families could afford even minimal coverage. As a result, rates are projected to rise by an average of 26 percent beginning January 1. There is no doubt who caused this crisis, and no doubt who bears responsibility for fixing it.

Yet here’s what Trump had to say:

“It was bad health care at much too high a cost, and you see that now in the steep increase in premiums being demanded by the Democrats. And they are demanding those increases and it’s their fault. It is not the Republicans’ fault. It’s the Democrats’ fault.”

Then he told us what he plans to do to help: provide “much better health care at a much lower price.” How will he do that? He didn’t say. Of course, he’s been promising a health care plan since 2015. A decade has passed, and there’s still no plan.

In the end, the address was nothing more than a rapid-fire, high-decibel rally speech built on a schtick Trump has relied on for years. It was a waste of words, a waste of network resources, and a waste of time—for everyone, including the president, who will see no improvement in his approval ratings as a result.

If only I could get those 18 minutes of my life back.