There was a lot of speculation ahead of Donald Trump’s address to the nation on Wednesday night and what the president would say to Americans during television primetime. Ultimately the president gave a full-throated defence of his administration’s achievements this year, with a particular focus on efforts to address the cost of living in the US, which has become synonymous with a debate over affordability.

The timing of the president’s speech comes after polling suggests the Republican Party is losing support over the direction of the economy. Earlier this week the vice president JD Vance spoke to workers in Pennsylvania to address their fears, telling them “Rome wasn’t built in a day”. Will Republicans be able to convince voters that they should still be trusted on the economy ahead of next year’s midterms?

Anthony, Marianna and Nomia sit down to go through the most significant aspects of the president’s speech, including a new “warrior dividend” for US service members…

HOSTS: • Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent • Marianna Spring, Social Media Investigations Correspondent • Nomia Iqbal, North America Correspondent

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This episode was made by Alix Pickles. The technical producer was Michael Regaard. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

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