During his 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump relentlessly attacked then-President Joe Biden and then-Vice President Kamala Harris over inflation. Trump blamed the Biden Administration for higher prices, promising to lower them "on Day 1" if he won the election.
But ten and a half months into Trump's second presidency, prominent economists like Paul Krugman and Robert Reich are warning that his steep new tariffs will make inflation worse. And Trump is angry with Democrats for focusing heavily on "affordability," which he insists is a "hoax."
In a scathing article published on December 10, Salon's Amanda Marcotte emphasizes that Trump is resorting to "reality show" and "carnival barker" theatrics in the hope of distracting Americans from the economy. But those "tactics," she observes, aren't working.
"Donald Trump made his money through fraud," Marcotte argues. "So it makes sense, then, that he thinks the quickest way out of the affordability crisis is to rely on the same carnival barker tactics he used for decades to trick banks and investors into giving him money."
In 2024, the liberal journalist notes, Trump "managed to convince swing voters he could somehow lower costs after a few years of pandemic-driven inflation."
"Instead, he has done the opposite, and now, he is clearly annoyed at aides and reporters who insist that the cost of living is a real issue that voters care about," Marcotte writes. "Trump is notoriously lazy, even on issues he cares about, so caring about the concerns of people who weren't born rich taxes his extremely limited patience…. Trump's approval ratings are falling, especially on the economy, as voters start to realize he has no intention of even trying to relieve their economic woes."
Marcotte continues, "In response, the president has fallen back on the instinct that has gotten him this far in life: Instead of doing anything of substance, he hits his marks with a hurricane of lies and hopes his audience doesn't notice they're being cheated until it's too late. As with the COVID-19 pandemic or the Epstein files scandal, Trump's first move was to simply deny that it's happening by flinging the word 'hoax' around. Last week, he declared that affordability concerns are not just a 'hoax,' but a 'con job' and a 'scam.' One of his go-to hustler tactics is to accuse everyone else of his own sins."
Amanda Marcotte's full Salon article is available at this link.