Republicans in Congress are frustrated following a new gaffe from President Donald Trump, telling The Hill that the comment landed one of the most "inconvenient" times possible as they try to craft a winning economic message for the midterms.
Speaking to the press on Tuesday, Trump was asked whether the financial strain Americans are dealing with was something he thought about while navigating his ongoing conflict with Iran. At a time when voters are the most concerned about affordability and upset about the president's handling of the economy, he said that he did not think about it, "not even a little bit," and insisted that he only cared about making sure Iran could not produce a nuclear weapon.
"The comments could not come at a more politically inconvenient time for Trump," The Hill noted in a Thursday morning report. "The Labor Department reported Wednesday that wholesale inflation spiked to 6 percent in April, up from 4 percent in March, as a result of the Iran war. That data came after the department reported Tuesday that the consumer price index increased 3.8 percent over the past 12 months."
The Hill further explained that these factors are "forcing Republicans battling to hold on to their House and Senate majorities to answer for the Trump economy," while also contending with such comments from Trump that are making it increasingly difficult, verging on outright impossible, to pin the blame for the economy on Joe Biden and other things out of their control.
While acknowledging a respect that Trump was not letting "the political situation dictate how he operates overseas military conflicts," a GOP strategist nonetheless told The Hill that he needs to do a better job of addressing economic pains ahead of the midterms.
"People are hurting back at home, and they’re paying the price for it and they’re sacrificing for it,” the anonymous strategist said. “I think that somewhat tacit hat tip to an understanding of the environment and what’s actually happening out here, I think people would generally get that. But by ignoring them or essentially saying ‘no that’s not the case, the economy is great because the stock market is doing great,’ that’s not meeting where voters are at.”
They added: "Until and unless people feel heard and at least appreciated and acknowledged for that, I think there will be negative political fallout for Republicans as a result."
Democrats, meanwhile, are already pouncing on the comment for maximum political advantage, with Andrew Mamo, a Democratic campaign adviser, marveling at its attack ad potential.
“The clip is just really nice and clean,” Mamo said. “It’s a clippable world these days, and a few seconds of Donald Trump saying ‘I think everything’s fine,’ and then you just pan to everything that is not fine is a pretty compelling message for a 30-second digital ad at this point, which is basically the currency of the moment.”
