Trump’s affordability speech turns into a rant against immigrants

Amna Nawaz:

President Trump was on the road in Pennsylvania last night to address affordability, an issue that's dragged down his approval ratings. But at the event, the president reverted to campaign mode, delivering a speech that lasted more than an hour-and-a-half, including a rant about immigrants.

To discuss that, we turn now to Democratic strategist Ameshia Cross and Republican Tiffany Smiley, a former U.S. Senate candidate in Washington state.

Welcome to you both. Thanks for being with us.

Ameshia Cross, Democratic Strategist:

Thank you.

Tiffany Smiley (R), Former Washington Senatorial Candidate: Thanks for having me.

Amna Nawaz:

So for anyone who missed this speech last night, the president's remarks, here is just a part of what President Trump had to say, including confirming what he'd said earlier about Haiti and African nations during a 2018 meeting that was later widely reported on. Take a listen.

President Donald Trump:

We had a meeting. And I say, why is it we only take people from shithole countries, right?

(Laughter)

Donald Trump:

Why can't we have some people from Norway, Sweden, just a few? Let's have a few from Denmark. Do you mind sending us a few people? Send us some nice people. Do you mind? But we always take people from Somalia, places that are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime.

Amna Nawaz:

Tiffany, he also called other countries, including Afghanistan and Somalia, hellholes. This was billed as a speech about affordability. Is this what voters want to be hearing about right now?

Tiffany Smiley:

Well, look, President Trump was elected because we had an immigration crisis. We had an open, porous border where illegals, terrorists, criminals, drugs were free flowing from our southern border into the United States of America.

And so, under President Trump, President Trump and the Republicans have provided the most secure border in American history. And I simply — Donald Trump is Donald Trump. And what he is trying to say is, if you want to come here, come here legally. And if you're going to come here, we want you to love America and work and give back and be a part of the system.

He doesn't want criminals and terrorists coming in and ruining our country or people coming in who hate our country. And that's simply what he is stating. And he has delivered on his promises to the American people to secure the border and stop the drugs and flow of fentanyl coming across or coming into our communities and causing harm and chaos.

Amna Nawaz:

Ameshia, to Tiffany's point, this isn't necessarily new language from the president. Is he returning to what's worked with his base in the past?

Ameshia Cross:

He's absolutely returning to what's worked. And Trump leans on cultural wars because he has nothing else.

We know that the prices of everyday goods have gone up since he's been in office. We know that his tariff strategy has done nothing but tax the American people. We know that the Big Beautiful Bill Act is the largest wealth transfer that the United States has ever seen. People are having a hard time paying their rent. They can't afford housing.

They can't afford to buy things at the grocery store. He's eliciting a conversation that he knows is not a dog whistle. This is racism writ large. When Trump calls places where Black people live, countries outside the U.S. where Black people live or where they're the predominant population shithole countries, he knows what he's doing when he says that.

He knows that it is a rallying cry for those who see America as a land of opportunity for whites only. This is a guy who has used the segregationist platform before. And he's a guy who continues to use it when asked to really speak to why his policies aren't working.

People in red states, blue states, purple states, and every color in between have said that affordability is their top-line issue. But he gets up there and does is what he's done time and time again, castigate populations of color.

And to a point that was just made a moment ago that I think is really frustrating is that, when he's attacking these Somalians specifically, these are citizens of this country, many of whom came here as refugees, and under that refugee status have now had families here who have gone through the process, who are living, contributing, working in their communities, and who the governors of the states that they reside in have spoken about, who business leaders, many of them are contributing members of society.

They do not have criminal records, and they, again, are citizens of this country.

Amna Nawaz:

Tiffany, to this point Ameshia is making about affordability being the number one concern for so many voters, the president did touch on it. He said prices are coming down. And some have, but inflation does remain stubbornly high year over year.

And he continues to call it a Democratic hoax. So there's a big gap between what people are feeling, what they're concerned about, and what the president is saying. Why?

Tiffany Smiley:

Yes, it kind of reminds me a little bit of Joe Biden when he labeled Bidenomics, which I think was his downfall, because the American people knew that Bidenomics, it simply was not working for hardworking Americans.

But President Trump was very — he was crystal clear in his approach to the new buzzword, affordability, or lowering the cost of living. He wants to lower prices and increase higher paychecks. It's simple. And I think we need to go back and look at what President Trump inherited. He really inherited an economy that was an absolute mess.

He inherited Democrats who were saying that inflation is transitory, transitory, while they doled out trillions in additional spending and greatly upscaled government, really leading us to a brink of economic failure and ruin in this country. So that's what President Trump has inherited.

But I will caution Republicans, because heading into the midterms, they are going to have to deliver results on affordability for the American people. The American people are going to have to be able to go to the grocery store and feel like I still have money in my bank account.

It is so expensive out there. I know. I have three growing boys who want to eat steak, and ground beef is nearly $10 a pound. But it is trending in the right direction. I think this time next year we may have a very different conversation.

But Republicans cannot just wish this away. They need to roll up their sleeves, partner with President Trump, and start to address the affordability crisis. President Trump is also huge on energy independence. And I think this plays into lowering gas prices, which in turn will help lower grocery prices for hardworking Americans, so lots to be accomplished.

This was only President Trump's first year. He has three more years to deliver for these results, and it's trending and looking positive going forward.

Amna Nawaz:

Ameshia, we did see Democrats who leaned into this affordability message come across some big special election wins, right, in a number of recent races.

And Miami just elected its first Democratic mayor in 28 years. Democrats flipped a Georgia Statehouse seat blue. Is this going to be the main message for Democrats moving forward? And I will allow you to respond to what you heard from Tiffany as well.

Ameshia Cross:

Absolutely.

I mean, affordability is going to be the main message, because people's personal economies are greatly affected. I agree with Tiffany on one point. Things are going to be different this time next year, and it's going to be different because America is going to be blue.

What we are going to see is a wave of people voting Democrat, and in large part because they have seen the president ignore their crises. He's telling them to ignore what they're seeing before their eyes. Affordability isn't a feeling. Either you can pay your rent or you can not. Affordability isn't a feeling. Either you can put food on the table for your kids or you can not.

Affordability isn't a feeling when health care is up for grabs. And instead of utilizing the policies at bay to create an economy that works for the American people, he is creating an economy that works for the rich and powerful and leaving everybody else out.

We have seen that with his restructuring of student loans. We have seen that with him deciding what counts as professional and what doesn't when it comes to who gets to buy into American education. We see it every time this president decides that he is going to take one specific group of people and put a target on their backs.

Right now, it's immigrants. It's been Black people. It's been women. So when you talk about the decreases of people being able to afford things, we also have to look at the fact that over 600,000 Black women are now out of work and more and more people are out of work or underemployed every single day.

So, no, there's no wage increases that we're seeing. We're seeing massive layoffs. We're seeing people not know where their next meal is coming from because they don't know where their next job is coming from. This is a president who does not want to address any of that. And it's really frustrating to hear it reframed in any other type of way than the reality Americans are currently living in.

Amna Nawaz:

Well, there's so much more to discuss here. We hope that you will both come back so we can continue this conversation. We will have to leave it here for now, though.

Ameshia Cross and Tiffany Smiley, thank you both for joining us.