Trump “I – President Donald Trump has repeatedly dismissed Americans’ worries about rising prices—telling reporters “I love the inflation” after fresh Bureau of Labor Statistics figures—drawing criticism, baffling some Republicans, energizing Democrats for the 2026 midte
President Donald Trump’s economy talk has never stayed inside polite boundaries. For years, he has tested what politicians can say out loud—and this second term, he’s doing it again with prices.
After the Bureau of Labor Statistics released figures showing prices had risen at the fastest rate in three years, Trump told reporters, “I love the inflation.” He didn’t walk it back. He doubled down.
Just weeks earlier. he had shrugged off the everyday squeeze on household budgets. saying. “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation.” In the administration’s telling. the reason isn’t a lack of awareness about prices. It’s that inflation and affordability have been pushed to the side of a larger priority: ending conflicts abroad.
Those comments have landed with a thud across the political landscape. Some supporters and opponents criticized him at once. Republicans were baffled by the approach. Democrats, meanwhile, appeared delighted—seeing fresh ammunition for the quickly approaching 2026 midterm elections.
Behind the scenes, the tension is showing. Shelby Talcott. who covers the White House for Semafor. has spent months speaking with administration officials and Trump allies about his economic messaging and what the president is focused on in his second term. In an excerpt from the “Today. Explained” podcast with co-host Noel King. Talcott describes how the administration is processing Trump’s remarks.
When King asked what Trump’s most attention-grabbing comments have been lately. Talcott said the through line is blunt: Trump effectively doesn’t care about the economy in the way voters expect. She pointed to his repeated insistence that inflation worries are secondary when he’s making decisions tied to the Iran War. She cited his framing that he is “not focused on Americans’ economic situation when I’m negotiating with Iran” and that he “doesn’t care about this inflation number.”.
Talcott said Trump’s language comes from a broader mindset inside the administration—one where Iran is at the center of the story. She described how Trump has long argued that Iran should not be able to obtain a nuclear weapon. and how. in that view. defending the global decisions he has made matters more than the immediate economic argument.
There’s another motive, too: legacy. Talcott said Trump is less worried about the midterms and more focused on how he will be remembered. She recounted asking someone close to the White House months earlier why he wasn’t leaning harder into inflation and everyday costs—and being told. in essence. that history books won’t measure his presidency in eggs and grocery receipts. The answer. Talcott said. was that Trump will be judged for reinvigorating Venezuela and for going into Iran and getting their nuclear material.
That legacy fixation helps explain the timing, Talcott said, even as she acknowledged how hard it is to square those remarks with Americans who are struggling.
King pressed on the question of timing: Trump must know it isn’t the moment to talk about inflation as something he loves. Talcott didn’t dismiss the possibility that the president simply doesn’t care—she suggested the politics are shaped by something else. Because Trump is in his last term. she said. the midterms may matter to the party. but they don’t directly touch him at the ballot box the way they would if he were running again.
Still, she said, it will impact Republicans in practice. If Republicans lose. Talcott said. it becomes harder for Trump to get anything passed—already difficult with Republicans holding the majority. It also affects the president’s team’s fear that Democrats could push forward against him if they take back control. including impeachment concerns.
Talcott described what that pressure looks like inside the White House: lawmakers are concerned. and White House officials are trying to “walk back what he said. ” adding that the president’s remarks weren’t meant in the way voters might hear them. She said advisers. when they hear Trump speak like this. often “sit back and sigh heavily” because it doesn’t make their jobs easier.
Who is shaping the economic messaging?. Talcott’s answer was direct. “If we are being honest. the answer is the president.” She also named James Blair as one of Trump’s closest confidantes who has shifted into a midterms role but remains deeply involved in the White House. She said Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has urged Trump over the past several months to focus more on the midterms.
But ultimately, Talcott said, it is still “Trump’s show.”
On the other side, Democrats see the comments as pure political leverage. When King asked what Democrats think when Trump says “I love the inflation. ” Talcott said they’re “giddy.” She also said even Republican operatives she has spoken with expect the line to be used aggressively. Even if it isn’t what Trump “meant,” it’s the kind of statement that gets clipped into ads.
Trump’s strategy, Talcott said, mirrors how he beat then-President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the 2024 election—by framing himself as someone who isn’t helping voters with the economy while blaming the people in charge.
Talcott added that Democrats are trying to run that same play now for the midterms: take Trump’s rhetoric and turn it into a message that voters—already struggling—can’t unsee.
King then pointed to how unusual it would have been years ago. Ten or 15 years ago, he said, a president saying “I love the inflation” or “I don’t care about Americans’ economic circumstances” might have ended a term. There would have been people in the streets.
Talcott argued the country has changed. She said voters have shifted in recent years toward dismissing presidential arguments about the economy. whether under the Biden administration or now under Trump. She described how messaging has increasingly sounded like reassurance: things are good. the pain is temporary. and voters shouldn’t worry—often paired with data intended to prove that people aren’t as badly off as they feel.
But to voters standing in grocery aisles, she said, those arguments don’t land. “They’re looking at that and saying, ‘I’m going to the grocery store. I’m struggling to pay for my groceries. That’s not a real message.’”
Still, Talcott said Trump has also changed the politics of language itself. He is uniquely willing—and uniquely able—to say things that previous presidents couldn’t get away with, she said. Whether future presidents will be able to follow that same path is uncertain. but for now the immediate political effect is clear: inflation. once a background economic measure. is being treated like a slogan—and opponents are already turning it into a weapon.
As 2026 draws closer. the question isn’t just whether Trump can govern while voters and the party disagree on what matters most. It’s whether that gap—between what prices mean to households and what the president seems to measure in history—will keep widening. every time he takes the microphone to talk about the economy.
Donald Trump inflation Bureau of Labor Statistics economy Iran negotiation Susie Wiles James Blair 2026 midterms healthcare? groceries political messaging