The emperor has no clothes: Trump’s delusional speech
When President Donald Trump announced he would be delivering a prime-time address on Dec. 18, with just a few hours’ notice, many political activists feared he would be formally declaring war against Venezuela or issuing another major executive order to create even more economic or social justice hardships. But he used his 18-minute rant to declare a different kind of war — this one unabashedly against the working class, targeting immigrants, people of color and trans individuals in particular.
Trump was surrounded by White House holiday trees, decked out with ornaments made of gold. As soon as Trump opened his mouth, he blamed immigrants and trans people for the high rate of inflation, saying they “caused war.” He ended his remarks with yet another attack on migrant communities, falsely claiming that migrants were given taxpayer-funded housing.
Rather than getting health care paid by taxpayers, as Trump falsely claimed, the reality is that working, undocumented immigrants pay taxes but cannot claim the benefits due them from these payments. He also repeated his racist attacks on Somalis living in Minnesota, falsely claiming they “stole billions of dollars from the state.”
What followed was more of the same — arrogant and dishonest hyperboles alleging his successes in solving every economic problem from lowering the cost of turkeys to having “more people working today than at any time in U.S. history.”
Stopping short of taking credit for inventing sliced bread, Trump falsely claimed he “brought $18 trillion dollars of investment into the U.S.” Touting the alleged success of his tariffs, Trump boldly lied: “Companies are coming home to the U.S. in record numbers. They are building factories and plants at levels we’ve never seen.”
The reality is that 1.17 million jobs have been eliminated since Trump took office in January 2025. During his tenure to date, over 15,000 stores have closed. Trump’s tariffs have contributed to higher prices across the board, but particularly for essential items. including food. His attacks on immigrant and migrant workers are also resulting in a severe shortage of health care workers, because many of them are migrants.
One particularly strange Trump statement made regarding prescription drug costs was that he had succeeded in reducing their prices “by as much as 400, 500 and even 600%,” which is numerically impossible, unless he convinced Big Pharma to repay back overpayments.
Trump said he ended eight wars, but U.S. military spending is at an all-time high — with an over $1 trillion Pentagon budget. The Trump administration renamed the Department of Defense, calling it the Department of War. Threats of war against Venezuela and other countries in the Caribbean, China and Iran are mounting by the day. Any credit Trump tries to take for the extremely limited October “ceasefire in Gaza” is offset by continuing Israeli violations, including the daily murders of more civilians, and limits to aid reaching Palestinians there that Trump refuses to address. And Trump supplied the weapons.
Trump knows that an expansion of a war against Venezuela is unpopular. Polls show that over 70% of the U.S. population are opposed to more war. Trump’s lies can’t cover up the fact that downturns in the economy are impacting holiday shopping, while leaving millions of people in limbo about health care coverage after Dec. 31.
Trump may have established a new world record for how many falsehoods one person can spew out in 18 minutes. Many fact checkers gave up trying to keep track. But Trump’s arrogant attitude and contempt for workers and oppressed people only underscores that his primary interests are in elevating his own super wealthy class interests.
There is speculation that Trump’s unhinged remarks may be due to health problems. His remarks have even raised concerns among his own supporters. When the head of the U.S. appears visibly out of control, unstable and delivers a speech built entirely on falsehoods, it exposes a racist, neofascist ruler reacting out of panic rather than strength. Trump’s remarks reflected the growing internal turmoil in his administration and in Congress in general.
Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” depicts a society wherein people ignore or deny an obvious truth about a delusional, vain and naked emperor, until a child points out the reality. Today, the multinational, multigendered U.S. working class must come to understand our collective obligation to call Trump out for all of his dangerous and racist propaganda.
