Thursday December 18, 2025 | CANADA/NATIONAL [Posted in VICTORIA, BC | 3:56 am PT]
Political analysis by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
A somewhat hastily announced speech by US President Donald Trump on Wednesday evening was delivered with simplicity.
Just days ahead of Christmas break as things are winding down for most aspects of business, politics and government, the prime-time airing of Trump’s remarks offered a recap of his philosophies and self-directed American directions.
Politics and economy:
The president also listed off some of his accomplishments in terms of peace-brokering in various areas of the world and touted his record on the economy and immigration while delivering remarks against opposition Democrats.
“Now, under our leadership, they [prices] are all coming down and coming down fast,” said Trump. “Democrat politicians also sent the cost of groceries soaring, but we are solving that too.” While fuel and egg prices have fallen, many other food items cost more.
He seemed determined to convince the American audience that the country was doing well economically — and that things will only get better. He said that tax cuts were achieved through “the big beautiful bill” (12 bills in one) as passed in Congress which Trump highlighted included no tax on tips or overtime as a way of appealing to the average working American.
This comes in the wake of his year-long application of tariffs on pretty much all trading nations of the world and the impacts that has had on the US domestic economy (where some sectors like tourism are being negatively impacted).
Curious timing:
In a way — by doing this 18-minute fairly low-speech — this president in the first year of his second term preempted his own State of the Union address which is an annual occasion for the sitting president to deliver remarks in person to all elected members of the Congress and Senate. Meanwhile, the BBC reported it as a “forceful delivery”.
The State of the Union address is one of the social and political highlights of the year with handshakes and honoured guests; last night’s speech of Trump alone at a podium with a teleprompter and no one else in the background or surrounding him commanded media attention but made a small blip on the political radar.
Impact for Canada:
Nonetheless, there may have been insights revealed, so it is possible that Prime Minister Mark Carney’s virtual meeting with First Ministers as scheduled for today is well timed.
Canada is expecting to enter formalized CUSMA-renegotiation trade talks in the new year and it’s always good to have the provinces on side or at least informed.
Otherwise, most of Canada’s efforts to bear influence on the Trump administration to drop tariffs on Canadian exports to the United States seem to have been mild at best — a sort of buffering on the Washington front and a necessary show of political and economic effort for the Canadian domestic audience.
Cheques for military launches 250th anniversary year:
Trump did deliver one fresh bit of news with his December 17 speech, that being that about 1.45 million US military personnel will each soon receive an “every warrior” cheque in the amount of $1,776 to highlight the 250th anniversary of the United States of America.
In 2026, there will no doubt be numerous and grand celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. A big part of that will be the FIFA World Cup 2026 games hosted in the US. Games will also be hosted in Canada (Toronto and Vancouver) and in Mexico.
Trump is leaning heavily to messages of war (recently renaming the defence department as the Department of War).
His speech also emphasized stronger borders and a tougher stance on immigration.
Reason and season:
Political pundits think perhaps the timing of this speech was Trump’s attempt to inject some ideas or elbow room into various campaigns that will be starting for the November 2026 mid-term election cycle.
But that’s a sort of inside-baseball reason to try and engage the world’s media and nations in prime time a week ahead of Christmas.
There was no urgency perceived by the nation for a speech at this time and the delivery style was nothing close to being a Christmas-time fireside chat which may have justified the effort.
If there was any urgency to deliver that speech it seems to have been generated only by having control of the airwaves for a short bit of time before everyone departs into seasonal downtime.
===== RELATED:
- Carney to meet with Canada’s premiers day-after Trump’s economic address (December 17, 2025)
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