Happy anniversary: one year of President Trump back in office.
That may sound surprising to anyone who consumes legacy media coverage, where the tone has been relentlessly hostile from day one. But it is worth stating clearly that this administration has only been in place for a single year. And when you consider what has already been accomplished, despite nonstop attacks, sabotage, and openly adversarial media propaganda, it feels like far longer.
President Trump did not inherit a healthy economy. He inherited one that had been weakened at its foundation by the prior administration’s policies. Growth had been propped up with debt, subsidies and regulatory distortion. Real wages were falling. Families were losing purchasing power. The economy reporting touted stability, while rapidly deteriorating accelerated in the real world. You cannot fix that overnight.
You cannot turn a ship that is dead in the water. Worse yet, a dead in the water and sinking ship. First, you have to repair the damage, stabilize the ship and keep it from sinking by plugging the holes. Then you rebuild the engine. Only after that can you start the engines and change course to a better horizon.
That is exactly what this administration set out to do.
Rebuilding an economy’s infrastructure is not the same as putting a temporary Band-Aid on it. Factories are not built overnight. Supply chains do not re-localize instantly. Infrastructure takes time to modernize so it can support renewed industrial growth. The workforce must develop new skills to adapt to advancing technology, particularly in manufacturing, energy and artificial intelligence. All of that takes time. Serious time.
And yet, even with those realities, the results are already showing up where they matter most, in the real lives of American families. Real income is rising again.
In 2020, Trump’s last year of his previous presidency, real wage growth rose by 3.4 percent. During the Biden years, real wages fell by nearly 2 percent. Now, under President Trump, in just this first year back in office, real wages have risen by about 0.7 percent.
That is not an abstract statistic. That is the difference between families treading water and families moving forward. It reflects a restoration of something Washington often ignores, the ability of households to maintain and grow their standard of living. It is a night-and-day difference in priorities.
What is especially striking is how sharply these results contrast with the relentlessly negative media narrative surrounding the Trump administration. The data tells one story. The press tells another.
A 4.3 percent growth rate, following strong prior quarters, does not happen by accident. It does not happen in the face of tariffs, a government shutdown and nonstop media hostility unless the underlying economy is stronger than critics want to admit.
Consumer spending remains robust. Investment, particularly in artificial intelligence and advanced technology, continues to add real and measurable momentum to the economy, even after an already strong surge earlier in the year. Capital is flowing into productivity, not just speculation. Yet the dominant media narrative insists on stagnation and failure.
That narrative collapses under the weight of the data. You do not have to agree with every policy decision President Trump has made to acknowledge reality. The economic outcomes have been far stronger than many commentators are willing to admit, and they are improving in areas that matter to everyday Americans.
Even unemployment figures are routinely distorted.
Unemployment must be understood in context. A normal and healthy U.S. unemployment rate sits around 4 to 5 percent. The long-term historical average is roughly 5.7 percent. When unemployment drops below 4 percent, the labor market tightens, and wages tend to rise. That is exactly what families want to see.
By contrast, unemployment above 6 percent signals economic stress. Hiring slows. Layoffs increase. At 8 to 10 percent and higher, the economy is in crisis, as seen in 2008 and again in 2020.
Today’s labor market is operating in the healthy range, with the unemployment rate at 4.4 percent. That supports sustainable job growth and wage growth rather than artificial, inflation-driven expansion. This is the range policymakers have historically aimed for, even if they rarely acknowledge it when President Trump is in office.
The reality is simple. Rebuilding an economy for long-term strength is harder than inflating one for short-term political optics. President Trump’s administration has focused on rebuilding the engine of the economy rather than masking its problems.
One year in, the ship is no longer sinking. The engines are being restored. Direction is changing. And despite what the media insists on telling the public, American families are already beginning to feel the difference.
Financial Issues Stewardship Ministries (FISM) host Mark Minnella brings 35 years of experience helping individuals invest with biblical integrity. He was the founder and president of one of the first investment advisories dedicated to biblically responsible investing principles. A co-founder of the National Association of Christian Financial Consultants and creator of the CFCA designation, Mark has been a voice for biblical stewardship through radio, writing and speaking for over 30 years. He hosted “More Than Money” on Bott Radio Network for 17 years and is the author of “The Wall Street Awakening.” Mark and his wife, Cindy, live in St. Louis, MO, and have three grown children.
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