Republican admits America is still in a 'deep hole' after a year of Trump

A Republican senator acknowledged Tuesday that President Donald Trump faces a serious challenge ahead of his State of the Union address in Washington, D.C.

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) told CNN anchor Jake Tapper that Americans' concerns over the economy have continued to plague him during the first year of his second term. Tapper pointed to recent polls that show a majority of the public does not believe the state of the union is strong, and "61% think the president's policies are moving the U.S. in the wrong direction."

Tapper asked Marshall how Trump should address those worries.

"Well, I think number one is that I do acknowledge that we're in a deep hole that four years under the previous administration, we had inflation that dug us a deep hole — 50% inflation for things like health care, for housing, for child care. So it is a deep hole," Marshall said, pointing blame at former President Joe Biden.

"There is a certain group of people, significant number of people typically they're younger age folks, that didn't buy a house four or five years ago and they're struggling to to start that marriage off, some of those types of things, so I hope that he addresses that, that we do have a cost of living issue and that we, that he lays out his plan, how Republicans are going to take on the cost of housing the cost of health care the cost of child care, and help bring everybody up to to where America is truly a great again for everybody," Marshall added.

Marshall also tried to argue that Trump would share some of the wins during his first year back in office.

"But it's also, you know, tonight we need to celebrate, too," Marshall said. "We need to celebrate our accomplishments, that our borders are secure, that the military has done an incredible job, record number of military accomplishments, and at the same time emphasize that income has gone up, wages have gone up some $1,400 this year over inflation. So wages up $1,400. This is income tax time. People are going to get an extra $1,500 back. So we need to remind the people of some of the good things that are happening."