President Donald Trump’s Tuesday night visit to the swing state of Pennsylvania was billed by administration officials as part of an ongoing, broader effort to reshape perceptions of an economy that many Americans say is failing to meet their needs.
But what viewers actually got was a meandering speech in which the president doubled down on his prior assessment of affordability as a partisan “hoax” before blasting former President Joe Biden as “a sleepy son of a b—-,” praising White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s “beautiful face and those lips that don’t stop” talking, and railing against Somali immigrants in Minnesota — among other issues unrelated to the economy.
It took 15 minutes into his speech before Trump first uttered the word “affordable” — and it wasn’t long before he began railing against the concept entirely.
“They have a new word, you know?” Trump said of Democrats. “They always have a hoax. The new word is ‘affordability.’ So they look at the camera and they say, ‘This election is all about affordability.’”
Later, Trump contradicted those comments.
“I can’t say ‘affordability hoax,’ because I agree the prices were too high, so I can’t go to ‘hoax’ because they’ll misconstrue that,” he said.
Beneath a banner touting “LOWER PRICES, BIGGER PAYCHECKS,” Trump sought to paint an optimistic picture of economic conditions and blame Democrats for everyday Americans’ struggles.
“They gave you high prices,” Trump said. “They gave you the highest inflation in history, and we’re bringing those prices down rapidly — lower prices, bigger paychecks.”
Between mocking Biden’s alleged cognitive decline and railing against the Democratic-led impeachments he faced in his first term, Trump touted a drop in the prices of eggs and Thanksgiving turkeys. He brought onstage local workers whom he said benefitted from his policies, including eliminating taxes on tips and overtime work. And he made several dubious claims — about newly-created jobs going entirely to American citizens and wage growth for factory workers and miners — that do not appear to be supported by publicly available evidence.
Trump’s comments came the same day that, in an interview with Politico’s Dasha Burns, the president graded the economy under his leadership “an A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus,” and insisted that “prices are coming down.”
But the reality is more complex, and the White House has scrambled to soften some of the harsher consequences of the administration’s economic policies. Last month, the White House rolled back tariffs on dozens of food products in an effort to reduce rising prices for consumers. And on Monday, the administration rolled out a $12 billion aid package for farmers who have been hit by Trump’s trade war.
“We gave the farmers a little help, $12 billion, and they are so happy, and all they want is a level playing field,” Trump said Tuesday night. “And now it’s happening, and the tariffs are making them rich.”
Other measures cannot be so easily undone. The Trump-backed “Big Beautiful Bill” enacted historic cuts to both Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which many low-income Americans rely on to afford health care and groceries. More than 20 million low- and middle-income Americans are about to be walloped with skyrocketing health care premiums if Congress does not extend enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies by the end of the year.
Nonetheless, Trump claimed during his speech that the ACA itself — which he called a “scam” — is behind the rising costs of premiums.
Polls show American consumers are feeling the squeeze, and many — including a substantial number of Trump supporters — hold the president responsible for rising prices. A new Harvard CAPS/Harris poll out Tuesday shows that affordability and inflation remain top concerns for voters, and that a majority of voters think Trump’s tariffs are hurting the economy.
A Politico poll released last week found that almost half of respondents — including 37 percent of Trump voters — say the cost of living is the worst they ever remember. And a Fox News poll released in November found about twice as many voters blame Trump for the economy than blame former Biden.
Democrats seized on these findings while slamming Trump’s attempted messaging pivot.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, wrote on X: “Go buy groceries and tell me the economy is A+.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro told Politico’s Playbook newsletter on Tuesday afternoon that Trump’s five-A-pluses assessment of the economy “does not reflect the reality on the ground here in a community where many Pennsylvanians voted for him in the last election.”
“The record is clear: his policies have hurt the very communities that propelled him to the White House,” Shapiro said, hours ahead of Trump’s visit to the commonwealth. “Trump’s tariffs and economic policies have raised prices at the grocery store, shuttered markets for our farmers, hurt our manufacturers, and dramatically increased the cost of living for Pennsylvanians.”
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