Trump pushes back on criticism about economy
By: Frabcesca Chambers
and Joey Garrison
USA Today
MOUNT POCONO, Pennsylvania - President Donald Trump said during his first domestic rally in months that critics of his frequent travel abroad are "stupid people" who don't understand the financial windfalls he;s securing for Americans.
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Trump delivered the terse censure at a packed December 9 [2025] rally as he seeks to beat back complaints that he hasn't been focused enough on the economy. Between 600 and 700 people attended.
..... "They said, he shouldn't be traveling, he should focus on home," Trump said of the complaints coming from some on there right. "what the hell do they think I'm doing?"
..... The president said that it's "the stupid people" saying he shouldn't be leaving the country. "Yeah, let's sit around and twiddle our thumbs," he remarked.
..... The event kicked off nearly a year of stops the White House says Trump will be making across the United States ahead of the 2026 midterms. Republicans cans; majority in the House and Senate and the term-limited president;s legacy is on the line.
..... "This is being covered like all over the world, this is crazy, because I haven't made a speech in a little while," Trump admitted. :You know, when you win, you say, I can now rest."
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GOP strategists and top advisers to Trump have wared that without the president on the ballot, his voters are likely to stay at home, leading to losses in areas that depend on a strong Republican turnout.
..... Referring to his chief of staff Susie Wiles as "Susie Trump" the president acknowledged at the rally that she was among the advisers who told him he has to start campaigning again.
..... "They have to win the midterms, and you're the guy that's going to take us over the midterm' " Trump recalled his advisers telling him.
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Slamming the opposition party's economic augment, Trump said, "Democrats talking about affordability is like Bonnie and Clyde preaching out public safety." He called them the "enemy of the working class."
..... The speech zigzagged form topic to topic as he defended his tariffs and derided Democrats such as Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who he said was "one of the dumbest" state leaders in the country. trump also laid into Minnesota Representative Ilham Omar, who immigrated to the country from Somalia.
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Trump also brought up a fraud and money laundering investigation in Minnesota, in which may, but not all, of the caused are of Somali descent.
....."Get them the hell out of her. They hate our country. And she hates our country, and her friends hate our country, and AOC hates our country - they all do," he said of Omar and New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
..... Trump said later that he'd permanently paused mitigation from "hellholes" such as Haiti, Afghanistan and Somalia. the Statement prompted an attendee to shout that they were "(expletive)" nations. "I didn't say '(expletive)' you did," Trump said, bring up an incident form his first term.
..... "Remember, I said that to the senators," Trump said, referring to the vulgar term during a 2018 meeting at the White House that he suggested he did not make at the time. "I said, why is that we only take people form (expletive) countries. Why can't we have some people form Norway, Sweden, just a few, let us have a few, from Denmark ... send us some nice people, do you mind?"
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The rally marked a return to the campaign for Trump less than a year out from the midterm elections - and Trump clearly enjoyed being back in a campaign-rally setting.
..... At one point, he talked up his friendship with Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley and praised the Super Bowl champions. But his football tale was me twit only lackluster applause. Perhaps Trump forgot the Engels are losers of three straight games.