Trump doubles down on the economy despite a strong rebuke from voters

Even as Republicans have started to feel political heat on economic issues, Trump has continued to insist that the economy is better than ever.

It’s not in President Donald Trump’s nature to accentuate the negative — at least not when it comes to his own performance or plans — and in the current moment, that has put him at risk of sounding out of touch with Americans who are struggling to make ends meet.

“We had the greatest economy in the history of our country,” Trump said of his first term in an interview with Norah O’Donnell for CBS’ “60 Minutes” a week ago. “But my second term is blowing it away.”

Two days later, voters blew away Republican candidates up and down the ballot in Virginia and New Jersey, results that reinforced NBC News polling showing that the vast majority of voters — about two-thirds — think the president hasn’t lived up to his promises to curb inflation and improve the economy. The common watchword for Democratic candidates who won on Tuesday — both progressives and centrists — was “affordability.”

Look no further than Trump's predecessor to see the peril for the president. Early in his single term, President Joe Biden ignored inflation, then his administration dismissed it as a “transitory” effect of government spending during the Covid-19 pandemic, before scrambling to minimize the political fallout of losing trust with the public.

For Trump, who has described himself as a “cheerleader” for the country, his handling of the substance and messaging around affordability amounts to a bet that he’s on the right track — and can prove it quickly — even if most American voters don’t see it that way right now. Biden thought the same.