Trump addresses affordability, blames Democrats at Pennsylvania rally

Enlarge

President Donald Trump road-tested his claims that he’s tackling Americans’ affordability woes at a Tuesday rally in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania — a trip that came as polling consistently shows that public trust in Trump’s economic leadership has faltered.

Following dismal results for Republicans in last month’s off-cycle elections, the White House has sought to convince voters that the economy will emerge stronger next year and that any anxieties over inflation have nothing to do with Trump.

Trump is determined to blame Biden and Democrats for consumer prices that have risen during the year he returned to the White House.

He summed his message up succinctly: “They caused the high prices and we’re bringing them down.”

“If I had one message tonight …” he added, before breaking off on a two-minute tangent recognizing members of his White House staff. “But that’s our message,” he said, returning to his point. “They gave you high prices. They gave you the highest inflation in history. And we’re giving you — We’re bringing those prices down rapidly.”

The president has consistently blamed Biden for inflation even as his own aggressive implementation of policies has pushed up prices that had been settling down after spiking in 2022 to a four-decade high.

The trip hints the dilemma faced by Trump. He wants to take credit for rewiring the U.S. economy with his large tariff hikes and extension of income tax cuts, but he also continues to blame Biden for the increase nationwide in inflation rates that occurred this year during his own presidency. Overall, inflation is tracking at 3% annually, up from 2.3% in April when Trump rolled out a sweeping set of import taxes.