"Although I'm right - about everything" Affordability becomes Trump's great weakness - and a danger for the Republicans
First Donald Trump proclaims himself "President of Affordability", then he declares the issue to be a "Democrat hoax". However, the latest election results and polls from both the left and the right show that the expensive cost of living is his Achilles' heel.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Donald Trump just declared himself affordability president, now he calls the affordability issue a "Democrat con job".
- Trump says: "I'm right - about everything." There is no inflation.
- Surveys by "Politico" and "Fox News" show that many Americans are under financial pressure and are critical of the economy.
- Affordability played a key role in the by-elections, in which the Democrats made gains. If this continues, Republicans will lose Congress in the midterm elections.
The Republicans "should win the midterm elections with record numbers", Donald Trump believes. At least that's what the president wrote on his Truth Social platform on November 29. And: "I am the president of affordability."
He has lowered drug costs like no one else has been able to, and his party needs to tell people that. "500 percent, 600 percent, 700 percent and more," writes the 79-year-old. Just three days later, however, this sounds completely different in Trump's cabinet meeting.
Not because Trump finally realizes his mistake: A 500 percent price cut would give customers money off their purchase instead of paying for it - five times the original price, to be precise. Above all, however, the New Yorker no longer wants to know anything about being the "president of affordability": Trump now sees this issue as a feint by his political opponent.
"Swindle of the Democrats"
"Our prices for energy and gasoline are really low," Trump said in a cabinet meeting on December 2. "[The price of] electricity is coming down, and when that goes down, everything goes down." Then comes the clincher: "But the word affordability is a Democrat hoax."
Why? "They say it, and then they change the subject, and everybody thinks, 'Oh, they've got lower prices.' They've had the worst inflation in the history of our country. Now some people will correct me because they love to correct me all the time - even though I'm right - about everything."
"They just say the word," Trump rages on in the White House. "It doesn't mean anything to anybody. They just say it - affordability. I inherited the worst inflation in history. There was no affordability. Nobody could afford anything."
Election results just "a little warning"?
A recent survey by Politico speaks a different language: 46% of respondents say that the cost of living is higher than ever before. In 2024, the figure was 37%. Another 46% blame Trump and his administration for the high costs.
The Democrats have recognized this weakness: The issue of affordability played a key role in the successful elections in Virginia, New Jersey and New York City. Now, in a vote in Tennessee, a Republican has prevailed with a 9 percent lead - but Trump won the presidential election there in November 2024 with 22 percent.
"This is just a little warning," conservative party strategist Ford O'Connell tells Politico, referring to the latest election results, "but Republicans need to understand that everyone needs to be on their game to hold the House of Representatives in 2026."
"Fox News" also has bad news for Trump
The trend speaks against the governing party, writes "Time": In the five by-elections this year, the Democrats performed on average 17 percentage points better than Trump a year earlier. If this continues next year, the Republican majority of 219 to 213 seats in the House of Representatives cannot be maintained.
A Fox News survey also shows that Donald Trump can become a brake for Republican candidates in elections. 76% of respondents see the economy in a "not so good" or "bad" situation - 61% are dissatisfied with the White House's economic policy.
While the president wants to make the people believe that there is no inflation, even "Fox News" admits there are problems. "Trump calls affordability 'a Democratic hoax' as concerns about inflation persist nationwide," headlines Rupert Murdoch's channel about the latest cabinet meeting.
85 percent of people said that food had become more expensive, according to the same report. At 3 percent, inflation was recently slightly above the US Federal Reserve's 2 percent target. However, the figure is from September: no more recent figures are available yet due to the shutdown.
