{"id":383271,"date":"2025-11-16T15:58:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T15:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/383271\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T15:58:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T15:58:12","slug":"trumps-gop-insists-no-affordability-crisis-after-election-losses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/383271\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump’s GOP insists no affordability crisis after election losses"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Almost two weeks after Republicans lost badly in elections<\/a> in Georgia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia, many GOP leaders insist there is no problem with the party\u2019s policies, its message or President Donald Trump\u2019s<\/a> leadership.<\/p>\n

Trump says Democrats and the media are misleading voters who are concerned about high costs<\/a> and the economy<\/a>. Republican officials aiming to avoid another defeat<\/a> in next fall\u2019s midterms are encouraging candidates to embrace the president fully and talk more about his accomplishments.<\/p>\n

Those are the major takeaways from a series of private conversations, briefings and official talking points involving major Republican decision-makers across Washington, including inside the White House, after their party\u2019s losses Nov. 4. Their assessment highlights the extent to which the fate of the Republican Party is tied to Trump, a term-limited president who insists the economy<\/a> under his watch has never been stronger. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s even as an increasing number of voters report a different reality in their lives.<\/p>\n

But with few exceptions, the Trump lieutenants who lead the GOP\u2019s political strategy have no desire to challenge his wishes or beliefs.<\/p>\n

\u201cRepublicans are entering next year more unified behind President Trump than ever before,\u201d Republican National Committee spokesperson Kiersten Pels said. \u201cThe party is fully aligned behind his America First agenda and the results he\u2019s delivering for the American people. President Trump\u2019s policies are popular, he drives turnout, and standing with him is the strongest path to victory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s approval is similar to former Presidents Barack Obama, a Democrat, and George W. Bush, a Republican, at the same point in their terms, however. Their parties had major losses in midterm elections. <\/p>\n

Trump insists there is no affordability problem<\/p>\n

Since the election, the White House has quietly decided to shift its message to focus more on affordability.<\/p>\n

Much of the first year of Trump\u2019s second term has been dominated by his trade wars, his crackdown on illegal immigration, his decision to send National Guard troops<\/a> into American cities and the longest government shutdown<\/a> in U.S. history.<\/p>\n

Trump has talked more about affordability in the days since Election Day. On Friday, he slashed tariffs<\/a> on beef and other commodities that consumers say cost too much. But Trump\u2019s primary message is that the economy is better and consumer prices lower than as reported by the media. It\u2019s much the same message that Democratic President Joe Biden and his allies spent years pushing, with little success.<\/p>\n

In a social media post Friday, Trump said costs are \u201ctumbling down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAffordability is a lie when used by the Dems. It is a complete CON JOB,\u201d Trump wrote. \u201cThanksgiving costs are 25% lower this year than last, under Crooked Joe! We are the Party of Affordability!\u201d<\/p>\n

A few days earlier, on Fox News, he asserted, \u201cWe have the greatest economy in history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s numbers about the cost of Thanksgiving dinners are off<\/a>. Grocery prices are 2.7% higher<\/a> than they were in 2024. <\/p>\n

Economic worries were the dominant concern for voters in this month\u2019s elections, according to the AP Voter Poll.<\/p>\n

Republican strategist Doug Heye said Trump\u2019s approach is not necessarily helpful for the Republican Party or its candidates, who already face a difficult political environment in 2026 when voters will decide the balance of power in Congress. Historically, the party occupying the White House has significant losses in nonpresidential elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cRepublicans need to relay to voters that they understand what they\u2019re going through and that they\u2019re trying to fix it,\u201d Heye said. \u201cThat can be hard to do when the president takes a nonmetaphorical wrecking ball to portions of the White House, which distract so much of Washington and the media.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCandidates cannot afford to be distracted,\u201d Heye added. \u201cAs we saw in the recent elections, especially in Virginia, if you\u2019re not talking about what voters are talking about, they will tune you out.\u201d<\/p>\n

A view from a key governor\u2019s race<\/p>\n

The reality outside Washington suggests that not every Republican candidate shares Trump\u2019s outlook.<\/p>\n

New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, a House Republican leader who began a campaign for governor last week, said there is no question about the top issue for her constituents: affordability. She also played down her party\u2019s focus on conservative cultural priorities, including transgender athletes, which was a top Republican focus in the recent Virginia governor\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly I support women and girls sports and protecting them, but as you see in all of our messaging, we\u2019re focused on the top issues, which every conversation with voters is about the high taxes and spending, the unaffordability,\u201d Stefanik told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

She offered a nuanced perspective on Trump\u2019s leadership, unwilling to criticize any of his major policies or governing decisions, but also unwilling to say her party is fully unified behind him.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy sense is our party is fully united behind firing Kathy Hochul,\u201d Stefanik said of New York\u2019s Democratic governor, when asked about her party\u2019s support for Trump. \u201cI am laser focused on delivering for New Yorkers and putting New Yorkers first.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Stefanik said it is important for the governor to have \u201can effective working relationship\u201d with Trump, she declined to say whether she would support a hypothetical Trump move to send the National Guard to New York City, as he has threatened. \u201cIt wouldn\u2019t need to happen if there was a Republican governor,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Stefanik\u2019s comments reflect the challenge ahead for Republican candidates running in a challenging political terrain.<\/p>\n

Defiant talking points<\/p>\n

The Republican National Committee, which serves as the political arm of Trump\u2019s White House, issued a series of talking points that shrug off the recent election losses as a byproduct of Democratic voter advantage in the states where the top races played out. <\/p>\n

The talking points, obtained by The Associated Press, ignore Republican losses in Georgia and Pennsylvania. They also overstate Trump\u2019s political strength, claiming that he is more popular than Obama and Bush were at the same time in their tenures.<\/p>\n

The claim has been echoed across conservative media in recent days.<\/p>\n

An AP polling analysis finds that Trump\u2019s approval is not higher than Obama\u2019s or of Bush at a similar point in their second terms. <\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s approval, at 36% in a November poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research<\/a> is slightly higher than it was at this point in his first term. But both Obama and Bush has approval ratings were in the low 40s at this point in their second terms, according to Gallup polling, which is similar to where Trump landed in Gallup\u2019s latest approval poll in October.<\/p>\n

For Obama and Bush, their parties had big losses in the midterm elections that followed.<\/p>\n

The Republican messaging crafted by Trump\u2019s team, however, doubles down on supporting the president and his policies. <\/p>\n

The recent elections \u201cwere not a referendum on President Trump, Republicans in Congress, or the MAGA Agenda,\u201d the RNC talking points state. To win in 2026, \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d voters \u201cwill need to show up at the ballot box; President Trump and Republicans are going to make that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Will Weissert and Amelia Thomson DeVeaux in Washington contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Almost two weeks after Republicans lost badly in elections in Georgia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":383272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[11744,84,69,144532,90,22808,10104,57,3755,4353,86,82,5371,183197,401,405,403,50,5217,2830,80,89,322,67,370,132,68,906,93],"class_list":{"0":"post-383271","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-barack-obama","10":"tag-district-of-columbia","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-doug-heye","13":"tag-elections","14":"tag-elise-stefanik","15":"tag-ga-state-wire","16":"tag-general-news","17":"tag-george-w-bush","18":"tag-georgia","19":"tag-government-policy","20":"tag-joe-biden","21":"tag-kathy-hochul","22":"tag-kiersten-pels","23":"tag-new-jersey","24":"tag-new-york","25":"tag-new-york-city","26":"tag-news","27":"tag-pa-state-wire","28":"tag-pennsylvania","29":"tag-politics","30":"tag-u-s-democratic-party","31":"tag-u-s-republican-party","32":"tag-united-states","33":"tag-united-states-government","34":"tag-unitedstates","35":"tag-us","36":"tag-virginia","37":"tag-washington-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115560205949304079","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}