\n Vulnerable Republicans have pleaded with Trump to show he knows how tough it is to make rent, pay for groceries and afford health care. He paid lip service to their hopes in a swing district of northeast Pennsylvania, declaring, \u201cI have no higher priority than making America affordable, again.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n But don\u2019t try blaming him for high prices, despite his global tariff war that made imported consumer goods more expensive. \u201cDemocrats are like \u2018prices are too high\u2019, yea they are too high, because (Democrats) caused them to be too high, and now they are coming down,\u201d Trump said. He did edge towards repudiating his claim that the affordability question is a Democratic \u201choax\u201d \u2014 but then doubled down by insisting he\u2019d already brought down prices across the board.\n <\/p>\n
\n And anyway, the critical soundbite was lost in the one-and-a-half-hour swamp of Trump\u2019s signature campaign trail \u2018weave\u2019 as he boasted about his wins in the 2024 election, slammed wind power, polled his crowd whether \u201csleepy\u201d or \u201ccrooked\u201d was the best nickname for Joe Biden, parodied a Scottish accent and insisted it was only because of him that Americans were able to say \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d again.\n <\/p>\n
\n Incorrigible as ever, Trump lampooned the entire purpose of this trip. \u201cIf I read what\u2019s on the teleprompter, you\u2019d all be falling asleep right now,\u201d he joked. Beaming at raucous supporters, he put in one of his most energetic performances in weeks, after he\u2019s twice seemed to be dozing off<\/a> in White House events.\n <\/p>\n \n But he\u2019ll never change. After a lifetime of hyperbole, he struggles to admit that things are anything less than spectacular on his watch. \u201cWe are the hottest country anywhere in the world,\u201d Trump roared, before showing charts purportedly showing rises in real wages and falls in food prices.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cDemocrats talking about affordability is like Bonnie and Clyde preaching about public safety,\u201d Trump said, but offered no new plans to tackle high prices or the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies that will mean doubled premiums for many Americans next year.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump\u2019s triumphalism was a jarring contrast with how many voters are feeling. Polls show voters have lost faith in Trump\u2019s economic management. Consumer confidence is near record lows, and contrary to his claims most prices are not significantly down since he took office.\n <\/p>\n \n One Pennsylvania resident told CNN on Tuesday about how hard it is to stay afloat in the current economy. \u201cI heard a lot of him talking about he\u2019s going to make things affordable again when he was running,\u201d Lynn Weidner, an executive board member at SEIU Healthcare said on CNN\u2019s \u201cThe Situation Room.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cAnd now affordability is apparently a hoax, which it just doesn\u2019t seem to make sense to me,\u201d said Weidner, who described herself as a lifelong Republican.\n <\/p>\n \n The gap between Trump\u2019s rhetoric and Americans\u2019 experience will become especially important if a sour public mood about the economy doesn\u2019t improve ahead of the midterm elections next year. Things are especially tight in Monroe County, where Trump appeared Tuesday, which he won by just over 600 votes in the 2024 election. Republicans won two adjacent congressional districts by around 4,000 and 6,000 voters respectively meaning they are top targets for Democrats in their quest to take back the House of Representatives.\n <\/p>\n \n This is why something Trump said even before traveling to Pennsylvania Tuesday could prove so damaging. Asked by Dasha Burns of Politico how he\u2019d grade himself on the economy, the president answered: \u201cA-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus.\u201d<\/a>\n <\/p>\n \n This may not age well. If Republicans lose the House, it will join the list of phrases that define failed administrations, alongside President George W. Bush\u2019s \u201cMission Accomplished\u201d after the Iraq War and the tin-eared \u201cBidenomics.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Trump has twice expertly weaponized voter anger to win the White House, in 2016 and 2024. But he\u2019s less good at feeling their pain. He seemed concerned with almost everything else recently and looks like an out-of-touch billionaire president. He\u2019s fixated on his planned new White House ballroom<\/a>, wants to transform Dulles Airport<\/a> and is throwing himself into foreign policy legacy gambles.\n <\/p>\n \n When he was campaigning, Trump found a way to identify with the grievances of regular Americans through rallies which helped him transform the Republican Party in a blue collar movement. But since moving back into the White House, he\u2019s been more distant and spends most weekends with the wealthy members of his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida and seems most comfortable in the company of mega rich business titans and tech moguls. These folks don\u2019t worry about how much groceries cost, or how to pay for housing payment or health care.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump on Tuesday trod a futile path of presidents who get into trouble over the economy and head out into the country to try to show they care.\n <\/p>\n \n In rare on message moments, he highlighted parts of his One Big Beautiful Bill domestic policy law, including no taxes on tips. And he predicted higher wage packets under his tax reforms \u2014 from which the wealthiest will get most relief.\n <\/p>\n \n Reading out long lists of legislation passed and promising things are getting better rarely works. Ask Biden. In June 2022, with inflation at 9.1 % <\/a>year-on-year, he traveled to Philadelphia<\/a>. \u201cThe bottom line is this: I truly believe we\u2019ve made extraordinary progress by laying a new foundation for our economy, which becomes clear once global inflation begins to recede,\u201d Biden said, adding that he\u2019d \u201cnever been more optimistic about America than I am today.\u201d But voters knew life was more expensive \u2014 one reason why Trump aced the affordability issue in 2024.\n <\/p>\n \n There\u2019s some truth in the current president\u2019s claims that he was left a bad hand on prices by Biden. Grocery and rent costs are up 30% over the last five years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But while such data suggests the cost of living crunch is not just his fault, things are not measurably better. When Trump took the oath of office, inflation was at 3% \u2014 it dipped over the summer, but now it\u2019s on an upward tick and was back up at 3% in September.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump has proven adept at leveraging power to order up big foreign investments. He claimed $100 billion for Pennsylvania alone, as part of what he says has been a multi-trillion dollar windfall for the US so far on his watch. His policies are also convincing some firms to relocate factories inside the country.\n <\/p>\n \n Hyundai this year announced a $20 billion investment<\/a> that includes a $5.8 billion steel plant in Louisiana to supply its factories in Alabama and Georgia. Rolls-Royce is putting up $75 million program<\/a> to build its mtu Series 4000 engines for luxury yachts, locomotives and generators in South Carolina.\n <\/p>\n \n But even if Trump\u2019s plan for a new manufacturing golden age works, it will take years and won\u2019t ease frustration among voters over high prices in the short-term.\n <\/p>\n \n His other policies meanwhile may stifle inward investment. Tariffs hike the costs of raw material and components US factories need. Trump\u2019s constant rising, lowering and pausing of arbitrary duties stifles certainty investors prize. Manufacturing lost about 30,000 jobs between February just after Trump took office, according to monthly Bureau of Labor Statistics data.\n <\/p>\n![\"Attendees](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/gettyimages-2236816222.jpg\")
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