{"id":423223,"date":"2025-12-04T03:29:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T03:29:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/423223\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T03:29:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T03:29:20","slug":"trump-makes-another-affordability-push-as-americans-sour-on-the-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/423223\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump makes another affordability push as Americans sour on the economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The White House on Wednesdaymoved to scrap<\/a> Biden-era fuel economy requirements, saying the change would help drive down automobile prices. It\u2019s the latest attempt to convince Americans that their bank accounts are better off under President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump bashed former President Joe Biden for his previous fuel efficiency regulations, calling them a \u201cgreen new scam\u201d that had \u201cbrainwashed\u201d people.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople were paying too much for a car that didn’t work as well,\u201d Trump said. \u201cNow, they’re going to have a great car that’s environmentally friendly, but it’s going to cost you a lot less.\u201d<\/p>\n

But those changes aren\u2019t likely to affect car prices any time soon,according to industry experts<\/a>. Meanwhile, the cost for everything from groceries to utility bills remains stubbornly high, and Democrats have been buoyed by a set of election wins in New Jersey, Virginia and recently Tennessee, where affordability concerns took center stage.<\/p>\n

Administration officials have said they\u2019re doing their best to blunt the effects of what they call years of Democrats\u2019 bad policy decisions, and have urged the public to be patient.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe word \u2018affordability\u2019 is a Democrat scam,\u201d the president said Tuesday at a Cabinet meeting, after going through a litany of investments and achievements he said have helped the country prosper. And Vice President JD Vance assured reporters during the meeting that next year will see an economic boom.<\/p>\n

\u201c2026 is going to be the year when this economy really takes off,\u201d Vance said.<\/p>\n

But the public may not wait that long to see results. The president faces questions about the cost of living at virtually every public appearance, and his \u201cblame the Democrats\u201d message doesn\u2019t seem to be convincing Americans, at least so far.<\/p>\n

According to a Yahoo!\/YouGov pollconducted before Thanksgiving<\/a>, 49 percent of respondents said Trump\u2019s actions since taking office have raised prices. In addition, more people said they blamed Trump for current levels of inflation \u2014 38 percent \u2014 compared to those who said they blamed Biden at 31 percent.<\/p>\n

Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) said in an interview with POLITICO Wednesday that he had many legislative proposals aimed at reducing prices, including one related to a persistent economic pain point: housing. But that takes engagement from the administration, he said.<\/p>\n

Congress hasn\u2019t \u201cseen enough effort legislatively to push through the process\u201d of getting prices down. \u201cThe administration could help. They could work with Congress to actually make law with us and then we\u2019d have more policy solutions that actually drive down cost. In the absence of that, we\u2019re left with politics and messaging.\u201d<\/p>\n

Young added that this isn\u2019t a problem unique to Trump, however.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t say this critically, because certainly the Biden administration didn’t do this,\u201d he said. \u201cIn fact, I haven’t encountered any [administrations] that have done it really well since I arrived in Washington in 2011.\u201d<\/p>\n

White House spokesperson Kush Desai said Wednesday\u2019s announcement \u201cperfectly illustrates how Democrats are the ones who drove up cost of living for Americans,\u201d adding that \u201cit was Democrats like Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg who illegally rammed through phony [fuel efficiency] regulations that made cars more expensive and less safe,\u201d <\/b>he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMuch work remains,\u201d Desai added in a statement. \u201cBut with inflation cooled and real wages up, the Administration is confident that President Trump\u2019s agenda will continue to restore working-class prosperity \u2014 just as it did during his first term.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even some Republicans acknowledge that high costs are making life difficult for Americans.<\/p>\n

Though he didn\u2019t address whether the Trump administration\u2019s policies are responsible, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), said while home for Thanksgiving break, he heard from people in his state who said \u201cthey can\u2019t afford their health care.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAffordability, cost of living, it’s huge for people \u2014 people don\u2019t feel like they’re getting ahead at all because they’re not, they can’t … everything around them is getting more expensive and health care leads that list.\u201d<\/p>\n

Voter discontent is starting to show at the ballot box, as well.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Democrats claimed big wins in New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races, where affordability concerns featured prominently. And on Tuesday, in a special election in Tennessee, the Democratic candidatelost<\/a> by 9 points in a deep-red MAGA seat that Trump won by 22-points in 2024. Both candidates framed the election as one based on affordability concerns.<\/p>\n

The National Republican Congressional Committee claimed victory Tuesday, as Chair Richard Hudson (R-N.C.)said in a statement<\/a> that \u201cno one is better positioned to take up the mantle and deliver results for Tennessee families, workers and small business owners,\u201d than Republican candidate Matt Van Epps.<\/p>\n

But during a closed-door briefing for House Republicans Wednesday, top Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio said the too-close race was because Republicans weren\u2019t talking enough about affordability concerns, POLITICO has learned.<\/a><\/p>\n

Still, after Democrats swept several statewide and local races earlier this month, Trump acknowledged public discontent over the cost-of-living \u2014 noting that many Americans \u201cjust don\u2019t feel\u201d an economic boom, despite his administration\u2019s view of the economy as strong. In response to the results, the administration began rolling back some tariffs on consumer goods, such as beef and coffee, to try to ease price pressures.<\/p>\n

Last month, the White House ran a post titled \u201cLower Prices Bigger Paychecks,\u201d claiming that certain commodity indexes like groceries and everyday essentials were dropping, and that wage growth was outpacing price increases. In a recent policy rollout on drug pricing, the administration used the affordability lens. The White House consistently has cited data on food and household essentials, asserting that \u201ceveryday prices are beginning to drop.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Trump again bashed Democratic policies as responsible for the country\u2019s economic ills, and said that commodity prices such as beef and eggs are \u201ccoming down.\u201d While retail egg prices have come down, beef prices remain elevated. Last month, the CEO of Omaha Steaks told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo<\/a> that Americans could soon pay $10 a pound for ground beef, significantly more than its current cost.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember this, when they use the word affordability, they never say anything else,\u201d Trump said Wednesday. \u201cWe’re getting those prices down. And they’re coming down rapidly. And you’ll see those results very soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) also urged patience, saying that some prices are down. He said he paid $2.50 per gallon for gasoline in Alabama over the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I understand a lot of things are not, not down \u2014 but again, President Trump went with his head underwater back in January. Now he’s just barely, barely getting his head above water. But we’re making progress,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Jordain Carney contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The White House on Wednesdaymoved to scrap Biden-era fuel economy requirements, saying the change would help drive down…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":423224,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[8161,9331,197469,64,7033,69,79,197470,197471,17586,29621,175319,67,132,68,1803],"class_list":{"0":"post-423223","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-affordability","9":"tag-americans","10":"tag-automobile-prices","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-democrats","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-economy","15":"tag-efficiency-regulations","16":"tag-fuel-economy","17":"tag-president-joe-biden","18":"tag-the-white-house","19":"tag-todd-young","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-vice-president-jd-vance"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115659182266284035","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423223","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=423223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}