Sen. Elissa Slotkin Nails The Democratic Response And Wrecks Trump

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) delivered a clear and direct Democratic response to Trump's speech that talked about all of the issues that matter most to the American people.

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The economy is the most important issue on the minds of the American people, and Sen. Slotkin talked more about it in a few minutes than Trump did during his entire two hour speech.

Slotkin said:

Michigan literally invented the Middle Class: the revolutionary idea that you could work at an auto plant and afford the car you were building. That’s the American Dream. And in order to expand and protect the Middle Class, we have to do a few, basic things:

We need to bring down the price of things we spend the most money on: Groceries. Housing. Healthcare. Your car.

We need to make more things in America with good-paying, union jobs – and bring our supply chains back home from places like China.

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We need to give American businesses the certainty they need to invest and create the jobs of the future.

And we need a tax system that’s fair for people who don’t happen to make a billion dollars.

Look, President Trump talked a big game on the economy, but it’s always important to read the fine print. So: do his plans actually help Americans get ahead?

Not even close.

President Trump is trying to deliver an unprecedented giveaway to his billionaire friends. He’s on the hunt to find trillions of dollars to pass along to the wealthiest in America. And to do that, he’s going to make you pay in every part of your life.

Grocery and home prices are going up, not down – and he hasn’t laid out a credible plan to deal with either.

His tariffs on allies like Canada will raise prices on energy, lumber, cars – and start a trade war that will hurt manufacturing and farmers.

Your premiums and prescriptions will cost more because the math on his proposals doesn’t work without going after your health care.

Meanwhile, for those keeping score, the national debt is going up, not down. And if he’s not careful, he could walk us right into a recession.

And one more thing: In order to pay for his plan, he could very well come after your retirement – the Social Security, Medicare, and VA benefits you worked your whole life to earn. The President claims he won’t, but Elon Musk just called Social Security “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.”

While we’re on the subject of Elon Musk, is there anyone in America who is comfortable with him and his gang of 20-year-olds using their own computer servers to poke through your tax returns, your health information, and your bank accounts? No oversight. No protections against cyber-attack. No guardrails on what they do with your private data.

We need more efficient government. You want to cut waste, I’ll help you do it. But change doesn’t need to be chaotic or make us less safe.

The mindless firing of people who work to protect our nuclear weapons, keep our planes from crashing, and conduct the research that finds the cure for cancer — only to re-hire them two days later? No CEO in America could do that without being summarily fired.

American political history is littered with politicians who bungled the joint session response. From Bobby Jindal to Katie Britt, these responses can miss the mark and can get downright weird and ugly.

Slotkin’s was right on the money.

While Trump talked at America for hours, seemingly already trying to justify his already failing presidency and convince people not to believe their own eyes, Sen. Slotkin talked to Americans about the things that matter to them.

The response was a home run, and it shows that Democrats are on the right track for 2026 and beyond.