Donald Trump in recent weeks has hosted a lavish Great Gatsby themed party at his Mar-a-Lago resort — complete with dancers spinning in giant cocktail glasses — touted his newly gilded toilet on social media and sped up entry for billionaires into the US.
Now the man who rode to the White House last year on a promise to fix America’s cost-of-living crisis is struggling to convince voters that he even thinks it is a real issue after dismissing it as a Democratic “hoax”.
It is a messaging problem for the populist Republican, whose approval ratings have ebbed as prices for basic needs such as groceries and rent have continued to rise since his return to office.
It also marks a stark reversal for the president. Voters’ frustration with out-of-touch elites was among Trump’s greatest assets on the campaign trail. Now, even allies say it is a liability.
RM Block
Democrats who have run on affordability have won or outperformed in recent elections, most recently winning the race for Miami mayor for the first time in almost 30 years. That has fuelled Republican concerns over the party’s prospects in crucial midterm elections next year.
“This is going to decide the 2026 elections: whether people feel that Trump has made an impact in their personal lives, with their wallets,” said Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist. “He’s got to create the momentum and perception that he is changing things, even if it’s difficult.”
“You can’t say [affordability] is a hoax. Because many people don’t feel that way,” added Bonjean. “He’s got to energise the base in person, he’s got to speak directly to kitchen table pressures.”
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Last week, the president set out to do just that as he took to the road for his first rally in months to reboot his economic message and put to rest concerns that he had lost touch with ordinary Americans.
But his message was largely lost amid a weave of rhetoric about everything from Somali immigration to Americans buying too many pencils and dolls.
“You can give up certain products — you can give up pencils,” Trump told the crowd in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania.
“You don’t need 37 dolls for your daughter ... Two or three is nice.”
Acknowledging prices were too high, he initially walked back his claims of an affordability hoax before later doubling down.
The speech epitomised a broader challenge for the president, who has struggled to stay on message as voters grow increasingly disenchanted with his handling of the economy.
Trump’s approval ratings have slipped from above 50 per cent when he took office to about 44 per cent, according to a Real Clear Politics polling average. In a recent Politico poll, 46 per cent of voters said the cost of living was the worst they could recall — including 37 per cent of those who backed Trump in last year’s presidential election.
Democrats have seized on the opportunity, pointing to the president’s appointment of the wealthiest cabinet in US history and construction of a new luxury White House ballroom.
Republican advisers say Trump’s bravado — an asset on the campaign trail — is less effective while governing during a time of economic hardship.
“Trump’s very ostentatious: he likes gold plaques, that’s kind of his deal,” said John Feehery, a Republican strategist. “It’s not like he’s going to ever be Jimmy Carter putting on a sweater and hanging out by a fire giving a fireside chat. He’s just going to be Donald John Trump ... the guy who is larger than life. And sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t.”
“It works fine when the economy is great, when people feel confident and feel optimistic. It works poorly when people feel down and out and uncertain about the future,” said Feehery.
The White House has sought to flip the script on the economy by focusing on the prospect for economic growth driven by tax cuts in the president’s flagship One Big Beautiful Bill and an uptick in investment from overseas.
But boasts of a booming stock market and strong bond market auctions — touted by Treasury secretary Scott Bessent at the Pennsylvania rally — have rung hollow for many working Americans struggling to pay their bills.
Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former ally, has accused Trump of “gaslighting” voters by telling them prices are falling as they continue to rise. “Affordability or the lack of ability of Americans to afford the cost of living is not a Democrat hoax,” Greene told PBS last week.
Inflation sat at about 3 per cent in September, well below the 9 per cent it hit under Joe Biden, Trump’s predecessor, but still firmly ahead of the Federal Reserve’s 2 per cent target.
White House spokesman Kush Desai said: “No one has been taking Joe Biden’s inflation crisis more seriously than president Trump, who has consistently and correctly pointed out how the Biden administration’s idiotic policies got America into this mess.”
He added: “Every member of the Trump administration has been and remains laser-focused since day one on delivering economic relief for the American people.”
Advisers have urged the administration to focus on providing real-world solutions to the affordability issue, rather than getting bogged down in a war of words with Democrats.
“I keep just reminding people don’t fall into the affordability trap of playing the game of the Democrats,” said Steve Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist during his first term, urging the White House to focus on its economic wins.
“It’s no use having the argument [over] are things more affordable today. Certain things have definitely come down, like the energy and other stuff, but the lived experience of people is the lived experience of people.”
- Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
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