{"id":338956,"date":"2025-12-09T12:53:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T12:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/338956\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T12:53:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T12:53:07","slug":"trump-heads-to-pennsylvania-as-gop-tries-to-sell-its-own-affordability-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/338956\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump heads to Pennsylvania as GOP tries to sell its own affordability message"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n President Donald Trump<\/a> will take his economic message on the road Tuesday to a swing district in eastern Pennsylvania, the first of many planned domestic trips the White House is organizing on an issue it believes will be the key decider in next year\u2019s midterms.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cAffordability\u201d has become a buzzword among leaders in both parties in recent months, with each side trying to win the messaging war and deflect blame over the financial strain felt by millions of Americans.\n <\/p>\n

\n For Trump, who promised a new age of economic prosperity in his campaign, it\u2019s a test of his ability to deliver, as GOP lawmakers prepare for an uphill battle defending their House and Senate majorities.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cEverybody gets it at the White House,\u201d said one Trump adviser. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of work to go, and it\u2019s frustrating for the president, but it\u2019s what we\u2019ve got to deal with.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Yet more than a year after his victory, polls show that a majority of Americans feel Trump has not yet made good on that promise \u2014 and he faces the prospect of an electoral wipeout in next year\u2019s midterms if he fails to quickly regain his footing on the economy. And so far, the president has struggled to stay on message when it comes to the economy and has even dismissed Americans\u2019 economic pain, repeatedly referring to affordability as a \u201cDemocratic hoax\u201d in the wake of the party\u2019s electoral successes<\/a> in off-year elections last month.\n <\/p>\n

\n A recent Gallup poll found that 40% of Americans rated economic conditions as poor in November, up from 37% in October.\n <\/p>\n

\n A Fox News national survey<\/a> from November found 76% of voters view the economy negatively. And perhaps most alarming for Trump and his aides, Republicans have steadily lost their long-held advantage over Democrats on economic issues, with the administration bleeding support from cost-concerned voters on both sides of the aisle.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cLarge numbers, overall and among Republicans, say their costs for groceries, utilities, healthcare and housing have gone up this year,\u201d Fox News said of the results.\n <\/p>\n

\n A key question hanging over Tuesday\u2019s event \u2014 and the White House\u2019s economic strategy \u2014 is how Trump himself chooses to approach the cost-of-living issue during his speech at the Mount Airy Casino Resort: Will he continue to insist on painting the economy as being stronger than ever thanks to his leadership, or will he concede to his aides\u2019 wishes and acknowledge there is work to be done to help ease Americans\u2019 concerns?\n <\/p>\n

\n Alarm bells began going off on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue after Democrats walked away with major victories in New Jersey, Virginia and California last month, with high prices and cost-of-living concerns ranking as a top issue for voters, multiple White House and Trump administration officials told CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n Since then, Trump has been focused on highlighting his economic policies and has called on members of his party to do the same, though he personally views the issue as a perception problem, the officials said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cHe feels this is a communication issue,\u201d said one administration official. \u201cHe wants Republicans to step it up in talking about all the good work being done to improve the economy.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, one of a handful of Republicans who\u2019s defending a district Trump lost in 2024, said he agrees with the president that affordability \u201cis the issue.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThat trumps everything else,\u201d he told CNN\u2019s Manu Raju in a recent interview<\/a>, adding that he doesn\u2019t think his party has been focusing enough on the topic.\n <\/p>\n

\n However, Fitzpatrick also said he disagrees with the president\u2019s rhetoric referring to affordability as \u201ca Democratic scam.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI don\u2019t believe that to be true at all. And we know it\u2019s real,\u201d he said. \u201cI \u2014 believe me \u2014 I hear it every day back home. It\u2019s real.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump has bristled at the suggestion there are fundamental flaws in the economy, which he frequently boasts he rescued from Biden-era policies, flashing irritation in particular at Democrats\u2019 efforts to seize on affordability issues as a central element of their midterm strategy.\n <\/p>\n

\n In public and private, Trump has instead cast blame on former President Joe Biden, arguing he inherited a plagued economy and that it takes time for his own policies to settle in. He\u2019s resisted acknowledging voters\u2019 cost-of-living concerns as legitimate, deriding affordability worries as a \u201choax\u201d and \u201ccon job\u201d ginned up solely to hurt him politically.\n <\/p>\n

\n In a statement, White House spokesperson Kush Desai characterized the cost-of-living concerns as \u201cJoe Biden\u2019s inflation and affordability crisis,\u201d arguing that Trump views improving the economy as a top priority.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cMuch work remains, but President Trump is highlighting the meaningful progress that his Administration has made and will continue to make,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n But as Trump approaches the one-year mark of his second term, simply blaming Biden has begun to lose its effectiveness with the public. And even as Trump publicly downplays Americans\u2019 financial struggles under his tenure, his top advisers acknowledge the GOP has a problem. CNN previously reported that in recent weeks, White House officials have advised the president not to brush away or outright dismiss that Americans are feeling squeezed by rising prices<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n They have pressed the president to express greater sympathy and adopt a message that contrasts his agenda with congressional Democrats\u2019, rather than with an ex-president who has little remaining sway even within his own party.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cJoe Biden is no longer a threat to them because he\u2019s out of office, he\u2019s never going to be in office again,\u201d the Trump adviser said, arguing that the president needs instead to focus on selling his policies and reassuring voters that more help is on the way. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to feel their pain. You\u2019ve got to talk about it every day.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n As part of that push, Trump\u2019s advisers have been actively putting \u201cpolicy time\u201d \u2014 as one of the officials characterized it \u2014 on the president\u2019s schedule with the goal of accelerating the administration\u2019s efforts to tackle inflation.\n <\/p>\n

\n Part of the strategy, first reported by CNN<\/a>, is aimed at having the president travel the country to better communicate his economic platform, such as with his visit to Mount Pocono on Tuesday.\n <\/p>\n

\n Starting early next year, the White House wants to get into a weekly rhythm of having the president take day trips to cities across the country tied to the issue, a senior White House official told CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n Tuesday\u2019s event \u2014 in a district Trump carried by nearly 9 points and which GOP Rep. Rob Bresnahan narrowly flipped in 2024 \u2014 will put the president\u2019s messaging to the test.\n <\/p>\n

\n During a Monday roundtable highlighting the administration\u2019s efforts to aid farmers<\/a>, Trump indicated he was aware of the need to adopt a stronger message on the economy, insisting several times that he was focused on \u201cfixing the problem.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s a very simple statement: They caused it, we\u2019re fixing it,\u201d Trump said of his rebuttal to Democrats\u2019 affordability arguments. \u201cWe inherited the worst inflation in the history of our country, and we\u2019re taking it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Inside the White House, officials believe they can still regain ground on the economy, pointing to progress on lowering gas prices and the cost of eggs, as well as tax relief set to take effect next year that they argue will benefit some voters \u2014 even if few of them are aware of it.\n <\/p>\n

\n Several officials also argue that many of the policies enacted thus far \u2014 such as energy deregulations and other provisions in the \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill\u201d that passed over the summer \u2014 need time to work their way to Americans\u2019 pockets. It\u2019s a message they\u2019ve also given to Trump during their meetings on tackling the affordability issue, they said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Aides are also on the hunt for more ways to demonstrate that they\u2019re focused on cost-of-living issues, from slashing the price of beef to holding out hope that the Federal Reserve will continue cutting interest rates and bring mortgage rates down.\n <\/p>\n

\n But just as critical as making progress on affordability is ensuring voters feel it, aides and advisers acknowledged. And while Trump has been told he needs to make a more sympathetic case, he\u2019s remained reluctant so far to buy into that approach completely.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe brought prices way down from what it was,\u201d Trump said Monday, declaring inflation \u201cessentially gone\u201d despite an acceleration in prices in recent months. \u201cWe\u2019re going to have the greatest economy in history.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump will take his economic message on the road Tuesday to a swing district in eastern…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101],"class_list":{"0":"post-338956","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}