Trump calls affordability a "hoax"; Democrats take note

0:00You know, I've talked to a Democratic strategist who, you know, there's just times in a political cycle where writing the attack ad is pretty easy. and the strategist told me that, you know, when Donald Trump goes on camera and says that affordability is a hoax, when he goes on camera and diminishes concerns about inflation and says that the economy's great, when he does an interview with Politico on camera and says that his economy, the rating for his economy would be an A plus, plus, plus, plus, plus. Five. That's five pluses for those counting. Yeah. I mean, they're just hitting record on all those moments and you can expect to see them in attack ads later in the cycle.

0:42From the newsroom of The Washington Post, this is Post Report's weekly politics roundtable. I'm Kolbe Jekowicz. It's Friday, December 12th. Today, we're going to be discussing Trump's mixed messaging on affordability. And later, we'll discuss why Democrats think that they have the edge ahead of next year's midterms. Back at the table with me this week is Dan Merica. He's the co-anchor of our politics newsletter, The Early Brief. And I'm thrilled to be joined this week by Matt Weiser, our White House Bureau Chief. Guys, thanks so much for joining me. Thanks for having me. Great to be here. So, Matt, I want to start with you because you traveled with President Trump this week to Pennsylvania.

1:21Happens to be my home state. Because he kicked off this affordability tour. What is that? So it's an effort for Trump to start talking a little bit more about economic concerns among the electorate. Something that's kind of been on the back burner a little bit as he's been in pursuit of the Nobel Peace Prize. He's gone on a lot of foreign trips. His attention's been elsewhere. So this is a little bit of a recognition to try to get him back to talking about really the issue that drove the 2024 election, which is the economy. And back into the country, right? Talking directly to voters. Yeah. I mean, he's done relatively little domestic travel throughout his first year in office.

2:02So it's getting him back on the campaign trail a little bit. It's getting him in front of voters and kind of a more rally-like atmosphere, which we have not seen much of from him for months or throughout really his entire presidency. He's just not been out that much. Probably his most comfortable environment as well. You know, Dan, the fact that they even launched this tour seems to suggest that they realize that this is a growing problem for the White House, right? That it is a political liability that the president has not gotten the issue of rising costs of affordability under control. I mean, I think Matt is right that the first year of Trump's term has really been focused on international issues.

2:42And I think if you would have asked voters when they went to the ballot box to vote for Donald Trump that that was going to be the case, they would have been shocked by that. Yeah. Because he ran on affordability. And polling bears this out. We had a Washington Post, ABC News, Ipsos poll that found 62 % of Americans disapprove of Trump's economic performance. Wow. While just 37 % approve of it. And in large part, Trump just doesn't want to acknowledge this issue or hasn't wanted to acknowledge this issue for months now. You know, I've talked to a Democratic strategist who, you know, there's just times in a political cycle where writing the attack ad is pretty easy.

3:17And the strategist told me that, you know, when Donald Trump goes on camera and says that affordability is a hoax, when he goes on camera and diminishes concerns about inflation and says that the economy is great, when he does an interview with Politico on camera and says that his economy, the rating for his economy would be an A++++++. I wonder what grade you would give your economy. A plus. A plus. Yeah, A plus, plus, plus, plus, plus. Well, it's interesting because I talked to a supporter of yours. That's five pluses for those counting. Yeah. I mean, they're just hitting record on all those moments, and you can expect to see them in attack ads later in the cycle.

3:57I think there's also a fairly deep irony in that Joe Biden, I went to many events with him in Pennsylvania, where he also had attempted to speak to economic concerns of an electorate and largely failed, which Trump exploited in the campaign to win. And there's this reality that the president can only do so much about prices. I mean, there are things the president can do that can certainly raise prices. Some would argue that tariffs do exactly that. But I think Biden kind of dealt with this as well, that there was only so much he could do after COVID to bring prices down. Trump is now dealing with that same reality.

4:33It's so interesting, Matt, because you have covered both administrations now, the Biden administration and the Trump administration. And like you said, in both cases, the president had a really hard time accepting or acknowledging that the economy was not doing well under their watch. Why is it so hard for the president to just say, yeah, it's really hard for people out there? I think it's part of what I mean, Dan was mentioning this, where it is hard for a president to actually have control over prices. And I think both of them have wanted to cast themselves as transformational and sort of speak to the economy in the most glowing terms.

5:09And I think that's hard for a president to sort of do the I feel your pain kind of attitude that Bill Clinton, I think, channeled of speaking to that that plight. I was probably more struck that Biden couldn't do it just because of Biden's political biography has been all about being a middle class Amtrak Joe kind of guy. Trump's biography is much different, you know, and he sort of typically speaks to aspirations. And, you know, he's a salesman and he tries to sell you on things being rosier than maybe they are because he tends to view them as rosier than they may actually be. So, Matt, with all of that as a backdrop, Trump goes to Pennsylvania and he holds this event.

5:51You were there. Set the scene for me. So it's at the Mount Airy Casino Resort. Know it well. So it's sort of tucked away off a couple side roads and you enter it and there is a large casino floor where people are smoking, carrying their Dunkin' Donuts iced coffees. Yeah. And so Trump's event is sort of at a ballroom that's right next to that. I mean, connected internally, but he's not speaking from the casino floor. And you can't hear the slot machines in the background. It's sort of in a little bit of a different area. Big line outside, lots of people waiting in the freezing cold to get in, you know, before the event.

6:34And also, interestingly, in a county that's kind of swingy, you know, Trump narrowly won this in 2024, you know, but Kamala Harris was quite close to him. He lost it to Joe Biden previously and Hillary Clinton. So it's in kind of an interesting political area. It's the kind of area in Pennsylvania that can decide who wins Pennsylvania. How did it go? How much was he able to focus on this question of affordability? I mean, it was interesting because, you know, he came, there were charts, bar graphs during it where he was trying to sort of talk about interest rates, you know, how the mortgages are different now and, you know, kind of get in the weeds of some of the economic data that he's trying to showcase.

7:19There were signs about higher wages. You know, everything that the visual tapestry was geared toward talking about the economy. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent kind of warmed up the crowd by by forecasting a good bond market in 2026, which you don't typically see people cheering for. But, you know, once Trump got on stage, you know, he often veered away from that. He talked about climate change, transgender issues. It made fun of the media in the back of the room, as he typically does. Disparaged Somalia, you know, kind of weaving around to different topics and trying to like find his way back.

8:00But, you know, there were digressions from from what the focus was supposed to be. And even how he talked about affordability, sort of referring to it as a democratic hoax. But I say, you know, and I said it the other day and a lot of people misinterpreted. They say, oh, he doesn't realize prices. Prices are coming down very substantially. But they have a new word. You know, they always have a hoax. The new word is affordability. So they look at the camera and they say, this election is all about affordability. He later kind of tried to walk that back a little bit, saying, you know, the issue of affordability is not necessarily a hoax itself.

8:40It's that Democrats are talking about it, you know, and that's the hoax. But like Democratic consultants got their soundbite. This is kind of the inherent issue with President Trump is that in his rhetoric is that he uses the term hoax quite liberally and describes issues as hoaxes, even if they are pressing to the minds of voters. And I just have to say, nothing screams like powerful political event like the Treasury Secretary warming up the crowd with monetary policy while at a casino. Right. That combination has got to be just like, that has to be the first of its kind in political speak history.

9:16Well, Matt, you can speak to that because you actually were out in the casino talking to voters, right? Like you were there among the penny slots. I heard a rumor he was gambling. I don't know. I mean, how many, like was your pockets were filled with pennies? You were ready. Yeah. Actual pennies. Actual pennies. Yeah. And they're going to be out of production soon. So you better get it while you can. But you spoke to voters. What do they say about this? How are they feeling about Trump, his performance, him being there? You know, covering the White House, these are some of the best events because it gets you outside the Beltway.

9:50It gets you to actual voters and actual people. So there were two things I did. First, I went to a grocery store that was about five miles from the casino. And then once I got to the site, I sort of wandered around as people were at the craps tables and penny slots to talk to them. And it was pretty universal. So anyone you approached and asked how the economy is doing, what do they think about affordability? Immediately, it's my energy prices are up. The meat over in the meat aisle is way up. You know, it did not take long for people to sort of speak to the economic conditions that they're facing.

10:28The variety came in like, OK, who do you blame for that? And do you think that Trump bears some responsibility? And those answers depended somewhat of where their perspective came from. There were a couple of Trump voters who said, I wish he would speak more about this. I wish he would address this. But for the most part, if you voted for Trump, if you're a Trump supporter, you're willing to give him a little bit more time. You're sort of willing to see how the tariff stuff shakes out, you know, and see how some of his policies, you know, go into effect. And, you know, in that regard, if you didn't vote for Trump, then you're sort of.

11:06fully blaming him and you're upset that he's distracted and not speaking to this. I mean, this is what's interesting about the affordability issue is, yes, it's a policy concern, but it's so much more personal to voters than that. Like we've covered elections that have been decided by abortion policy or the issue of guns or foreign policy. All of those have some impact on a voter's life, but none like affordability do. So you can talk to somebody at the penny slots in Pennsylvania and they can remember that, oh my gosh, my energy bill was $30 higher than it was a year ago. That's something that they have personally had to deal with.

11:42And that's why I think it's so front of mind when you talk to voters, because they know how that's impacting their daily life. And I think the way that Trump talks about it, he doesn't talk about it in a visceral way that necessarily connects with some of those people. When he talks about the economy, he talks about the stock market, your 401ks. I mean, the only thing that's really going up big, it's called the stock market and your 401ks. It's going on. It's not relatable. The woman at the penny slots who's like gambling more now than she used to because she's hoping to make some money on the slots.

12:19Yeah. It is not, you know, not receiving the message about the bond markets and the 401ks, you know, the same visceral way as she is when she looks at the gas prices or the grocery store prices. I mean, speaking of affordability, there's also this issue of health care costs. Right. I mean, millions of Americans are seeing their health care premiums rise. This was an issue that shut down the government very recently because Congress could not agree on whether or not to extend these Affordable Care Act subsidies that help bring the cost of health care down. It's Thursday late morning. The Senate is actually voting on this right now.

12:57So I'm curious to know where it stands, but also if they fail to do this and nearly 25 million Americans either have to pay extremely higher premiums or maybe choose to forego their health care in 2026, what is that going to mean for the political climate? And is Trump paying attention to that? I mean, I think this is the issue for Republicans is that kind of everything feeds into the affordability issue. You can look at inflation. You can look at the way prices are going up at the grocery store. But you can also look at health care policy. That's an affordability issue as well. So the Senate is going to vote Thursday on a Republican bill and a Democratic bill on the ACA credits.

13:37Both are expected to fail, which really raises this question about what did the Democrats get out of the shutdown, the longest shutdown in U.S. history? Because this was the vote that they said was going to be kind of the thing that they won. If both of these bills fail, especially if the Democratic bill fails, you have to ask the question of what did Democrats really achieve in that shutdown and the deal that they struck with Republicans to reopen the government. But as a political issue, Democrats are looking at next year as the affordability election. I had somebody tell me that, you know, in 1992, James Carville, who was the political mastermind for Bill Clinton's rise and eventual ascension to the presidency, wrote on a white board in Little Rock, the economy's stupid.

14:19And you could write on a board in Little Rock or wherever this election, it's affordability stupid. And so there is a political message that Democrats can take away from this fight. You've seen Democrats sort of carefully argue that, that like even if these bills fail, the politics of this are very good for the party. That ignores the fact that there could be millions of Americans next year either paying more for health insurance or just foregoing health insurance entirely. And what does that mean is like for the health of the country is a big existential question and is probably not good. But Democrats do feel pretty good that the politics of this are on their side.

14:55Yeah. Matt, is the White House worried about this health care question? Like, is it top of mind for them or do they think that they can kind of move past it? I mean, you have heard Trump talk about it a little bit more. But as he said, like, it's more a concept of a plan. And so I think they recognize the issue and they have for some time. But as to what they're doing about it, it's sort of still an open question. And I think to Dan's earlier point, like I think Democrats did not get something functional out of the shutdown. I think their bet is that they were willing to shut down the government to try to act as soon as possible to do something because they were sort of seeing this issue on the horizon and nothing's been done.

15:42And so I think they think that they can remind people of that and try to blame Republicans for not acting on a problem that everybody knew there was something coming. Right. The deadline for these subsidies to expire was not a surprise. It's not secret. Yeah. I mean, you wouldn't want to be a Republican going to the ballot box in 2026 if there are tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, depending on what state you live in, of voters who either don't have health care or are paying a lot more for their health care. That's a pretty bad equation for a Republican facing reelection this cycle. And that's why they're motivated in large part because they don't they know that they're aware of that.

16:19Yeah, well, that's a great place to pause because after the break, we're going to go deeper on the issue of why Democrats feel this affordability issue is giving them the political advantage. We'll be right back.

16:49Right now, you can get a premium subscription to The Post for$6 every four weeks. Just$6 unlocks trusted reporting to share with other people in your life. After your first six months, it'll cost$19 every four weeks. You can cancel anytime. Head over to WashingtonPost.com slash subscribe and get premium access to The Washington Post today. That's WashingtonPost.com slash subscribe. So, Dan, we've talked a lot on the show about Democrats' electoral successes this year. You've been following them closely, including some recent elections in Tennessee and in Florida, where Democrats have really outperformed expectations.

17:32What happened in those races? Yeah, it's really interesting. I mean, Democrats entered 2025 at a real low point, kind of in the wilderness, searching for who they are as a party. and over the last few months, they've had a lot of success at the ballot box, where you could argue it matters the most for a political party. You mentioned the Tennessee race that I covered, a special election for a House race, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, Afton Bain was the Democrat. She ran against Matt Van Epps, the Republican. This is a district that Donald Trump won by over 20 points in 2024 that Republicans have dominated for years.

18:07And then in a normal election, you likely wouldn't have a Democrat, you know, being at all viable in this seat. And Afton Bain actually kept it very close in this special election, ended up losing by in single digits. She focused intently on affordability, which we've talked about. That seemed to really work for her. It boosted turnout in this district around Nashville and kind of the more progressive areas around Nashville. Democrats saw that as a win, even though she did lose. Democrats did win in the Miami mayoral race this week. The Democrat in that race defeated her Republican opponent by around 20 points.

18:46I believe it figured out around 19 percentage points. And why that matters is that South Florida is a hugely politically significant area of the country. It has moved to the right over the last decade during Donald Trump's rise in a really dramatic fashion. I mean, when Matt and I were covering Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016. We spent a whole lot of time in South Florida, in Miami, and their Democratic candidates for president just don't do that anymore. Yeah, it's not a swing state anymore. Yeah, because Miami has moved so far away from their party. All of this is to say that Democrats think and sense that they have momentum headed into 2026, in large part because of the way they're performing in these elections, backed by that affordability message.

19:32And if they can keep that up into 2026 and into the midterms where obviously control of the House is at stake, possibly control of the Senate is at stake. They do feel like this could be a really good year for them politically after what was in 2024 a pretty crushing loss for the party. Yeah. I mean, it's interesting you mentioned momentum because that's what this is all about, right? I've always been a little skeptical that you can read too much into like an off-year election that has lower turnout than, you know, your typical November elections. But the Democrats certainly feel like the wind is at their back.

20:03And I wonder, Matt, like, do the White—does the White House sense that? Does the White House feel like they're on their heels? There was a moment on Wednesday where President Trump was having a business roundtable and he started to talk about trends and years where the power—the party out of power typically wins. For whatever reason, and nobody's been able to give me an answer, when you win the presidency, You seem to lose the midterms, even if you win the presidency a lot and you do a great job as president. You know, some presidents have done good and they've lost. You know, A, he's right. But B, it sort of is sounding like Trump laying the groundwork for not a good year next year and kind of acknowledging the political headwinds that Republicans are now facing.

20:55The other thing that's kind of interesting, I think, for next year for them is it's one of our early windows into the post-Trump Republican Party. They've always struggled when Trump's not on the ballot and Trump won't be on the ballot for the midterm. So how do they grapple with that? And how does Trump, he was not involved in many of these races that we've had this year in Virginia, in some of these ones where Democrats have had momentum. He kept an arm's length, oftentimes intentionally. But so what is his role going to be next year? And, you know, how invested is he going to be in building the party?

21:34And Trump isn't this political newcomer anymore. He has experienced this himself. I mean, he experienced this after the 2016 election in 2018. Right. When Republicans were swept out of power in the House in an election that was largely about his leadership. there's a chance here, if Democrats can continue this momentum, that it's going to be deja vu for the president again, where he's going to win a presidential election. He's going to have this control of Washington, and then he's going to slowly lose power. And I think Republicans know that beyond just control of the House, the kind of the future, the last two years of Trump's presidency are on the line as well, because there are serious questions about what he could get done if Republicans lose control of the House in 2026.

22:20All right, guys, we're going to end here the way we've been ending the last couple of weeks, which is Dan asked his newsletter readers to send us questions that we could answer here on the podcast. And we're thrilled that they've been responding so enthusiastically about it. So we're going to take one today from John Moore of Asheville, North Carolina. And he asks about Texas Democratic Representative Jasmine Crockett's decision to run for the Senate and whether her entrance into the Democratic primary, whether that destroys any chance of a Democrat actually winning the Senate in Texas. I love these very milquetoast questions we get at the newsletter.

22:57Dan, what do you think? Yeah. So Jasmine Crockett is a progressive firebrand member of the House. She represents Dallas and some areas around Dallas. she has made her name by being a firebrand by someone who has taken on the Trump administration in largely viral moments. She jumped into a race for Texas Senate against James Talrico, who is a state rep in Texas, but has really risen in recent years with these also viral moments that are distinctly different than what Crockett's offers. He often talks about religion. He talks about somewhat bringing down the temperature. He talks about how the political divisions in this country are not right versus left, but top versus bottom, kind of drawing the ire at the wealthy and about the 1 % and less about Republicans versus Democrats.

23:47Tal Rico is largely kind of the type of Democrat that people think can win in Texas. It has been, I believe, since 1994, since a Democrat has won statewide in Texas. It is a deep red state, despite Democrats who for the last 15 years have said, Texas is going to go blue. It has not gone blue. And so there's this concern that by jumping into the primary, Crockett will clearly fire up the Democratic base in Texas. She has a unique ability to capture what Democrats kind of innately feel about Donald Trump, to capture their anger. And that may push the primary to the left. And Republicans in that race have a very interesting primary as well.

24:24But to answer John's question is we don't know, but there are certainly Democrats who are concerned that the kind of Democrat that Crockett represents, the kind of strain of the Democratic Party that she represents may not resonate with general election voters in Texas. But this could be a very good year for Democrats. So there is a chance that she could surprise people and actually pull something off in Texas that hasn't happened in three decades. Yeah. Well, we're going to leave it there. John, thanks for your question. That's it for today's episode. Dan, Matt, this was a lot of fun. Thanks so much.

24:55Thanks for having us. Thanks, Colby. Dan Merica is the co-anchor of our politics newsletter, The Early Brief. Matt Weiser is the Post's White House Bureau Chief. After we had this conversation, the Senate voted on one of the affordability issues that we talked about, health care. Senators voted down a Democratic bill to extend ACA health care subsidies. They also rejected an alternative health care plan from Republicans. So, absent a deal in Congress, millions of Americans will see their health insurance costs skyrocket in the new year. If you want to watch our show, you can find it on the Washington Post podcast YouTube channel.

25:35We'll include a link in our show notes. Today's episode was produced by Josh Carroll and Thomas Liu. It was mixed by Sean Carter and edited by Rena Flores. Thanks also to our politics editors. Our team also includes Ted Muldoon, Alana Gordon, Ariel Plotnik, Renny Sviernovsky, Sabi Robinson, Emma Talkoff, Peter Bresnan, Laura Benshoff, Alahi Izzadi, and Martine Powers. I'm Kolbie Echowitz. Have a great weekend.