Trump Takes Affordability Tour to Georgia as Americans Still Feel Squeezed

Andra Gillespie, professor at Emory University, said that President Trump has a 'big task' ahead of him to convince Americans that he has a handle on affordability, ahead of the president's speech in Rome, Georgia later today. Gillespie touched on election integrity in Georgia, after the DOJ seized voting documents related to the 2020 election. Gillespie said that the ongoing disputes around Georgia's elections have the potential to divide republicans in the state.

The great inflation shock of the 2020s, which helped bring President Donald Trump back to power, is in the rearview mirror now. But the hangover is all around.

Shoppers have been forced to get used to a new normal they plainly resent. While inflation has slowed overall, the costs of things Americans often want or need most continue to rise — like groceries, utilities and housing. For those forced to borrow to cover their bills, it’s becoming a struggle: delinquency rates just climbed to the highest in almost a decade.

All of this has put the question of “affordability” at the center of November’s congressional elections. Living standards are always a key battleground, and there’s been some encouraging data lately. Last month saw inflation come in below forecasts – though it’s still high enough to keep the Federal Reserve worried – while jobs beat them. But in the US economy nowadays, even good news can’t always dispel the bad vibes.

There’s a psychological dimension behind that – the threat of tariff-led price hikes can be a worry even when they don’t materialize — but it’s borne out in the math too. Wages are rising more than prices on average, but they haven’t always kept up, especially for essentials. As consumers dole out $126 for what cost them $100 before the pandemic, many are left with the sense they’re treading water at best, instead of getting ahead like the American Dream says they should be.

“I just feel like it’s penny-pinching as much as you can,” said Justin Kevin Rodriguez, 25, who is helping his parents and grandmother in North Plainfield, New Jersey keep up with rising household expenses. “I think about what life used to be like: we could go on vacations, we could afford to eat out without worrying about living paycheck to paycheck.”

Democrats are seizing on such concerns ahead of the midterms, just 15 months after the same issue helped push them out of the White House. Trump, who promised to bring prices back down, has rolled out election-year plans to alleviate costs as his Republicans ready for a fight over affordability.

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