The White House has been vacillating on the affordability issue since stubbornly high prices fueled sweeping Republican electoral losses earlier this month and Democrats sense a winning theme for the 2026 midterm elections.
Trump and top aides reacted to the Nov. 4 results by largely blaming GOP candidates for talking too little about the cost of everything, from food to coffee to electricity to shelter and travel. But last week, the mercurial president broke with himself, calling the affordability issue a “con job” concocted by Democrats while also doubling down on his claim that prices are “way down.”
His top White House economic advisers say a range of options — for both paring prices and selling Americans on Trump’s economic plans and stewardship — have been under discussion in the West Wing. But, so far, officials have been unable to clearly explain the president’s next steps and new message.
For his part, Trump on Tuesday painted an overly rosy description of the economy that ran counter to government economic data and polls that show voters skeptical of the economy.
“Our country was in trouble, and now we have the hottest country in the world. … We’re also bringing down prices very substantially, and we’ve already brought them down very, very substantially,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office — despite Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing overall energy prices up between September 2024 and the same month this year. The data also showed the prices of items such as food, electricity and piped gas also up over the same period.
Trump on Tuesday indulged in some exaggeration, again, on per-gallon gasoline prices.
“Gasoline is way down. I think you’ll be seeing $2 gasoline, but we’re now at $2.50, $2.45, some are lower than that. It was $4.50, $5, $6, $3.50, $3.75 under [Joe] Biden, all different numbers, but way high,” he said. Data from AAA showed the current national average for regular unleaded gasoline at $3.09 a gallon as of Wednesday — a $0.02 increase since Nov. 10.
Trump aides did not respond when asked via email why his team is reportedly exploring exempting a list of foreign-made items from his reciprocal tariffs to make things more affordable — despite the president dismissing the affordability issue as a “con job.”
According to an NPR/PBS News/Marist poll released Wednesday, a majority of Americans (57 percent) said they want Trump to make slashing prices his top priority.
“Nothing else comes close,” Marist said in an email summary of the poll. “Second is controlling immigration at just 16 percent. But even among Republicans, the plurality (40 percent) say lowering prices should be the priority compared to 34 percent who say immigration.”
The same poll put Trump’s job approval rating at 39 percent, with 56 percent disapproving, including 48 percent who strongly disapproved. Notably, the survey put his approval rating among independent registered voters at 24 percent, with 71 percent disapproving.
Still, White House chief economic adviser Kevin Hassett insisted last week that “Trumponomics works and Bidenomics doesn’t.”
“We’ve got lots of good news to report to the American people. And I think that people also could just look at their wallets and see that real incomes this year have already gone up by $1,200,” he told reporters outside the White House.
“The affordability gap that was created by Biden’s runaway inflation is gradually being whittled away by the higher growth that we have and the no tax on tips and no tax on overtime and so on,” he said, referring to popular provisions in Republicans’ sprawling tax and domestic policy law. “President Trump for sure is going to go out there and deliver the message.”
‘Trumponomics’
By introducing the term ‘Trumponomics,’ however, Hassett could be falling into a messaging trap that hindered the Biden administration by attaching the boss’s name to an economy that polls show gives voters heartburn. The same goes for trying to convince consumers that prices of items they have been buying for years have not increased in recent months.
“But the reality is that President Trump and his administration have done so much to lower prices and increase the economic prosperity of the American people,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said last week, despite the contrasting data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Leavitt blamed Democrats and Trump’s predecessors for the still-high prices. She also did not mention everyday items such as coffee, food, electricity or medical care while addressing reporters during a Nov. 12 briefing.
“Since the first day in office and every day since, the Trump administration has taken aggressive action to fix the Biden-created cost-of-living issues. The notion that the same Democrats who just shut down the federal government to sabotage our economy, rob people of their paychecks and also helped Joe Biden ratchet up inflation to 9 percent are now suddenly affordability champions,” she said, “is completely absurd, and it’s something only the liberal media would have the gall to push.”
Specifically, she pointed to Trump’s efforts to lower prescription drug prices and mortgage payments, as well as his work to slash regulations — while contending that wages have risen under his watch.
It has mostly fallen on Hassett’s shoulders to show empathy with the public. “We understand that … as people look at their pocketbooks to go to the grocery store, that there’s still work to do,” he said last week.
Meantime, a longtime MAGA ally has joined Democrats in panning Trump and his team over the perceived lack of focus on affordability.
“President Trump and his administration does deserve a lot of credit for lowering inflation and holding it steady,” Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene told former Trump White House press secretary Sean Spicer on the Nov. 13 episode of his show. “But that doesn’t bring prices down.
“So gaslighting the people and trying to tell them prices have come down is not helping,” Greene added, continuing her recent harsh tone toward her former ally, who responded by rescinding his endorsement of her over the weekend. “It’s actually infuriating people, because people know what they’re paying at the grocery store. They know what they’re paying for their kids’ clothes and school supplies. They know what they’re paying for their electricity bills.”
Democratic leaders have tried to position their party as more in tune with Americans’ worries about prices heading into the 2026 midterm cycle.
“House Democrats and Senate Democrats have been fighting hard to address the Republican health care crisis and to lower the high cost of living for everyday Americans in the United States of America. Because the reality is America is too expensive, and far too many people are struggling to live paycheck-to-paycheck,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on Nov. 10.
“They can’t thrive. They can barely survive,” the New York Democrat told reporters on Capitol Hill. “And that’s why Democrats have been waging this fight.”
If Trump intends to alter course, he gave little indication during remarks Wednesday at a U.S.-Saudi business event in Washington.
“We’ve had a great nine months. Now we have to do it more than a few more times,” he said with a chuckle. “We just have to keep it going — we’ll keep it going.”
The post ‘Too expensive’: Trump team struggles on affordability as Democrats pounce appeared first on Roll Call.
