President Donald Trump and Republicans campaigned heavily on ‘affordability’ in 2024. Now he wants us to believe he’s never heard of it before?
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Democrats seeking to win or hold onto seats in Congress in November’s midterm elections probably hope that President Donald Trump keeps going on and on about “affordability.”
That’s Trump’s go-to gripe these days about Democrats, as they seek to win control of Congress and then bring some oversight to his lawless presidency. He hears “affordability” – he promised to improve the economy but then made it worse – and he fears the accountability that comes from that discussion.
And yet, Trump keeps talking about it.
Trump forgot he used to pretend to care about affordability
In a July 22 campaign speech in Marietta, Georgia, Trump started his riff on affordability by complaining that journalists asked him on the first day of his second term, “What are you going to do about the prices?”
Here’s what Trump didn’t say in that speech: While campaigning in 2025, he repeatedly promised to lower prices in America “on day one” of his second term. Journalists held him accountable for that specific campaign pledge. And he hated that.
So what does Trump do? He lies and exaggerates and blames Democrats, as always. In Georgia, he said this: “And they used the word – first time I heard it – it was a word made up by the Democrats, affordability.”
There is a well-established public record of Trump using the word affordability in his three campaigns for president and during his first term. But now he wants us to believe he’s never heard of it before?
Is this the faltering memory of an 80-year-old who struggles to stay awake in public? Or just more political chicanery from the most dishonest president in American history?
Either way you answer, Trump probably still cares what you think about him.
Voters have realized Trump is making things worse
A Fox News poll released on the same day as Trump’s Georgia speech showed that 54% of the voters surveyed said Democrats would better handle the economy than Republicans, who were at 45%. And 67% disapproved of how Trump is handling the economy.
A Politico poll also released on July 22 revealed that 37% of Trump’s MAGA base now thinks his war with Iran was worth the economic cost back home, down from 50% in May. And 57% of voters who identified as MAGA supporters blamed the war for driving up the cost of gas.
This is quite the reversal of fortunes for Trump, who won the 2024 election with expectations that he would revive the American economy. And now that economy is his most dangerous political weakness as the midterms loom in 14 weeks.
This is all bad for Republicans in the midterm elections
Trump looks very much like a man without a plan to improve the economy, or end the war in Iran, or to do just about anything else. It wasn’t always that way.
Remember that “on day one” talk? A decade ago, during an October 2016 campaign rally in Florida, Trump vowed to bring “affordability” to American healthcare by asking Congress “on my first day in office” to repeal and replace Obamacare.
Trump, during his first term, used a July 2017 national radio address to again promise “affordability” in health care by killing Obamacare.
Trump failed to accomplish that in his first term. His second-term solution: Drive up the cost of Obamacare. So much for affordability.
Trump, in remarks at the White House in October 2019, spoke about how expensive cars had become, promising this: “So we’re going to have affordability.” See if that quote knocks down the price the next time you visit a car lot.
While campaigning in October 2020 in Florida, Trump made a pitch to that state’s sizable block of elderly voters, claiming, “My administration has fought to deliver greater security, affordability, fairness, and economic stability to our nation’s seniors.”
On the campaign trail in North Carolinian in August 2024, Trump dropped the word affordability four times, promising exactly that for the prices of cars, housing, insurance, and prescription drugs.
So, yeah, Trump knows a thing or two about politics and affordability. And, also yeah, he lies about it.
Trump must know we see and hear those lies. So look past that and listen for why he now feels compelled to appear flummoxed by a common word.
The answer is bad news for Trump and good news for Democrats in the midterms – despite talking about affordability for a decade, Trump has no plan to achieve it, and his second-term actions have only made it worse.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Chris Brennan on Bluesky, @bychrisbrennan.bsky.social, and on X, @ByChrisBrennan. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, Translating Politics, here.