Trump Rebrands Affordability

Democrats won campaigns in November by focusing on the economy and cost of living. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump traveled to Pennsylvania to sell his administration’s actions on affordability.

Trump said, "I can't say affordability hoax because I agree the prices were too high." He talked about the economic conditions he was handed from the Biden administration and added, "Our prices are coming down tremendously from the highest prices in the history of our country." He also touched on immigration, arguing that immigrants’ jobs are now going to American workers.

Across the spectrum, commentators agreed that there was an affordability crisis resulting from high costs of goods, housing, healthcare, and childcare, and wages not rising enough to make ends meet.

Voices on the left tended to emphasize that Trump’s policies will make the economy worse, while those on the right pointed out the economy he started with and noted that it may take time to see the effects of Trump’s policies.

Thomas B. Edsall (Lean Left bias) wrote in the New York Times Opinion (Left), “I originally set out to try to put a dollar figure on how much the median family has lost this year as a result of Trump’s tax and spending policies, his tariffs and immigration restrictions and their effects on growth, inflation, wages, taxes and wealth…I came up with an estimated net loss of $2,250 [31.%] in 2025 spending power…As I dug into the research, something far more important than the specific dollar estimate of an average family’s loss emerged: Trump’s economic policies have put the nation on a long-term path of decline, in terms of gross domestic product, employment, capital investment and wage growth.”

An opinion in the Washington Examiner (Lean Right) said, “Trump is stuck dealing with a particularly sticky problem, explained by this simple statement: When inflation is going down, prices are still going up. Under Biden, inflation hit 9.1%, the worst in a generation. But when the rate of inflation goes down, as it has — it’s now 3% — that means prices are still going up, just at a lower rate than during Biden’s time in office…it will take some time for wages to catch up with the cumulative effect of Biden-era inflation. Plus, Trump’s tariffs have raised some prices, although not nearly as much as predicted.”

A piece in the New Republic (Left) read, “Everyday indicators show that American families are stretched and stressed…But even that might no longer provide a full picture of who is struggling because the administration has been hostile to the kinds of data-gathering efforts that would give us a fuller picture of the economy, like the rates of Black and Latino unemployment. That also might explain why Trump is pushing back on the idea that there is an affordability crisis, and why he keeps insisting that the economy is great and that he is also going to make it better.”

The New York Post Editorial Board (Right) wrote, “[Trump] needs to be careful: Slamming Democrats’ talk of ‘affordability’ as a ‘con job’ is readily twisted to make it seem like he doesn’t think people are suffering. We realize that he means that Dems are responsible for the nation’s current woes; they can’t credibly claim to be the party of strong economic growth, which is the only way out of this box…voters elected him to fix things — and so far they haven’t seen great progress. Trump certainly has some good economic news to tout: Average gas prices, for example, have fallen below $3 for the first time since May 2021; that’s likely just a first taste of how his energy policies will deliver for all, including by boosting manufacturing and other sectors that pay good wages.”