Trump is Restoring Dignity to the Heartland, The Working Class is Being Put First [WATCH]

Batya Ungar-Sargon said President Donald Trump’s first year of his second term reflects a governing philosophy centered on restoring dignity to working-class Americans, arguing that his economic, immigration, and trade policies have deliberately shifted power away from global economic interests and back toward American workers.

Ungar-Sargon made the remarks while discussing a national address delivered by President Trump earlier this week, in which he outlined what he described as major accomplishments over the past year.

“The President gave a speech to the nation on Wednesday. He talked about all of his accomplishments this year, of closing the border, bringing down the cost of drugs and creating jobs,” Ungar-Sargon said.

“To me, the common theme of it all is dignity. Dignity restored to the forgotten men and women of the heartland.”

She said Trump’s policy agenda across multiple areas reflects the same underlying goal.

“That’s what Trump’s entire year has been about, from the economic policy to the immigration policy to the foreign policy,” she said.

Addressing criticism of the administration’s immigration enforcement, Ungar-Sargon challenged claims that removing illegal labor harms American workers.

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“How does deporting day laborers and landscapers bring dignity to the working class? Aren’t they just doing jobs Americans won’t do well, no, contrary to the myth promulgated by the left, there isn’t a single industry in America that’s dominated by illegals, not one has more than a 30% share of illegal labor,” she said.

Ungar-Sargon argued that illegal labor suppresses wages by giving employers cheaper alternatives to American workers.

“Migrants aren’t doing jobs Americans won’t do they’re doing jobs Americans do and get paid much less for because their employers have a much cheaper choice. If their American employees say no,” she said.

She said large-scale deportations alter labor market conditions in a way that benefits American workers.

“Mass deportations tighten the labor market, they give working class Americans a fair shot at the American dream again in exchange for hard work,” Ungar-Sargon said.

She then drew a parallel between immigration enforcement and the administration’s trade policies, particularly tariffs.

“And the tariffs are accomplishing something very similar,” she said.

Ungar-Sargon rejected predictions that tariffs would sharply increase consumer prices.

“Since Liberation Day, economists have promised that the tariffs would be passed on to consumers, but it’s been nine months, and that just hasn’t happened,” she said.

Instead, she said the financial burden largely fell on corporations and foreign producers.

“Instead, in a massive redistribution of wealth, American corporations and China ate the tariffs, paying over $200 billion into the treasury,” Ungar-Sargon said.

“Less than a fifth of that was passed on to consumers, representing just 0.7% of the total Consumer Price Index.”

She characterized the policy as a rare move by a Republican president to directly impose costs on large corporations.

“It was President Trump, a Republican, who made American corporations pay a massive greed inflation tax,” she said.

Ungar-Sargon said some of the tariff revenue has been used for social programs and deficit reduction.

“Some of it went to pay for food stamps in October, while the rest has been steadily paying down our deficit to the tune of $600 billion,” she said.

She also credited tariffs with driving broader economic changes.

“The tariffs also contributed to trillions of dollars of commitments from the Middle East to reshore manufacturing and build factories here in the US, some of which are already under construction,” Ungar-Sargon said.

According to her, the policies expanded U.S. market access abroad and forced stronger border enforcement.

“Tariffs got our goods access to markets in Japan and South Korea and across the EU,” she said.

“Tariffs forced Mexico to police its side of the border, getting illegal crossings down to zero.”

Ungar-Sargon also said tariffs were instrumental in reshaping pharmaceutical pricing.

“And tariffs forced Pfizer to reshore manufacturing and give us most favored nation pricing, overturning the disgusting status quo in which we were paying four times what other rich countries paid for drugs developed with our taxpayer dollars,” she said.

She said the changes would have a direct financial impact on older Americans.

“That is going to save seniors living on a fixed income 1000s of dollars a year,” Ungar-Sargon said.

Ungar-Sargon concluded by arguing that Trump’s approach will define how his presidency is remembered.

“This is what people will remember in 10 years that their president told the entire global economic order that he doesn’t work for Wall Street,” she said. “He works for the American people.”

WATCH:

If I had to summarize the first year of President Trump’s second term in one word, it would be: dignity. From his foreign policy to his domestic policy to his immigration policy, the goal has been restoring the dignity of the forgotten working-class men & women of this country. pic.twitter.com/SKd6Ad7Zqu

— Batya Ungar-Sargon (@bungarsargon) December 21, 2025