Trump Says the Economy Is Great. Voters Know Better.
"We're all broke," says a Trump rally fan
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Did you hear? The economy is doing great. Inflation and prices are down. Wages are up. Really, people, things couldn’t be better. How do we know? Well, Donald Trump says so—and he is, as he recently declared on social media, “THE AFFORDABILITY PRESIDENT.”
After first calling affordability a “hoax” (something he claimed Democrats cooked up), Trump has now launched a series of speeches in which he plans to wrestle with the facts and smother them under a pile of manure. At his first stop, in Pennsylvania, he spoke to a room plastered with signs reading “Lower Prices” and “Bigger Paychecks.”
“We’re getting inflation, we’re crushing it,” Trump said. “And you’re getting much higher wages. I mean, the only thing that’s really going up, big, it’s called the stock market, and your 401(k) is going up.”
First of all, the signs were pure hype. When Trump took office, inflation was estimated at about 3 percent. Today, it’s still about 3 percent. And wages? They’ve risen eight-tenths of one percent. Does anyone actually feel this? Do you think Trump has any idea what everyday people are experiencing in this economy? I don’t. After all, he’s now wealthier than ever!
Under Trump 2.0, housing costs more. Electricity costs more. Groceries cost more. And thanks to Trump and a Republican Congress that killed Obamacare subsidies, health insurance is about to go through the roof. The best estimates suggest that for roughly 20 million people who use the Obamacare system, monthly premiums will rise by about 30 percent on average. A family of four could easily spend $27,000 per year. A couple aged 60 could pay $32,000—which, as one commentator put it, is enough to buy a Toyota Camry.
As the House and Senate fail to act, bills reflecting these higher premiums will start arriving soon. Trump’s response? To claim that, thanks to his efforts, drug prices have fallen “500%, 600%, 700%, and more.” Setting aside his faulty arithmetic—how can a reduction exceed 100 percent?—he appears to be referring to negotiated reductions on a tiny number of medications, including insulin and some new weight-loss drugs that will still cost $345 per month.
While it’s good that a small number of drugs now cost less, that’s cold comfort to people watching their deductibles and out-of-pocket medical expenses soar. This squeeze forces some Americans to delay care or skip medication altogether—both dangerous choices.
Meanwhile, people are making other adjustments as prices rise:
Beef is up nearly 15 percent over the past year.
Coffee is up almost 21 percent.
Car insurance is up nearly 18 percent.
Electricity is up 6.2 percent.
Natural gas is up almost 14 percent.
Read the press and you’ll find story after story of people paying more at restaurants, warehouse stores, and movie theaters. When New York Magazine went holiday shopping for kids, it found that a wagon holding fifteen different items—from a Yankees cap to a dollhouse—cost 26 percent more than last year. Much of that increase, especially for electronics and toys made overseas, can be traced to Trump’s tariffs. Microsoft cited those tariffs when it raised the price of its Xbox gaming system twice in the past year.
As Americans absorb these higher costs, they don’t feel the way the president insists they should. The University of Michigan’s consumer confidence index—one measure of how people feel about the economic future—stands at 53.3, down from 71.7 when Biden left office and Trump returned. Economists worry about this drop because pessimistic consumers pull back on spending, hurting businesses and the broader economy.
Bread-and-butter issues are always politically potent, which helps explain Trump’s collapsing approval ratings. When he took office, roughly half the country viewed him favorably in Gallup polling. By mid-November, that number had fallen to 36 percent. On December 10, the Associated Press reported that only 31 percent approved of his handling of the economy.
If the numbers are bad for Trump, they’re worse for congressional Republicans in swing districts who will face voters next November. Off-year elections in scattered states have already gone Democrats’ way. Most recently, Miami elected its first Democratic mayor in 26 years. The trend prompted retiring Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina to warn, “If we are where we are today at the beginning of the second quarter [of 2026], then I think we’re in for a really rough time in November.”
Fears of losing the House—and possibly the Senate—help explain Trump’s trip to Pennsylvania and will drive him to more states as he shifts into election mode. White House Chief of Staff Susan Wiles says he plans to barnstorm the country because he’s a “turnout machine” who will somehow energize disengaged voters. (oh boy she stepped in it TODAY huh?)
The problem is that Trump himself doesn’t seem committed to the message. At his first stop, he spent only a few minutes talking about the economy before pivoting to a familiar list of grievances. He complained about immigrants from “shithole countries,” attacked Representative Ilhan Omar, spoke against transgender rights, and bragged about oil production. In the end, it was just another rally for the faithful—and even some of them weren’t convinced.
Afterward, a pro-Trump voter named Nick Riley told a local radio station, “We’re all broke, and we’re all feeling it.” For him, the propaganda circus may have been entertaining, but it wasn’t motivating. He plans to sit out the next election.
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