Trump blasts Dems over ‘con job’ affordability rap against GOP after disastrous election

WASHINGTON — President Trump went on the offensive Thursday after Republicans suffered crushing defeats Tuesday in off-year elections — accusing Democrats of a “con job” in presenting themselves as champions of affordability.

“What the Democrats do is, they lie. We are the ones that have done great on affordability. They’ve done horribly on affordability,” Trump fumed at an Oval Office event highlighting his deal with weight-loss drugmakers to lower prices.

“We just lost an election, they said, based on affordability. It’s a con job by the Democrats.”

Trump touted Walmart unveiling a Thanksgiving meal kit that is about 25% more affordable than last year — with the retail giant offering turkey-and-trimmings baskets that serve 10 people for an average of under $7 per guest.

3

“Our Thanksgiving this year coming up will cost 25% less than [under] sleepy Joe Biden,” Trump said, though there were just 15 food items in this year’s Walmart dinner set, compared to 21 last year — with no more pecan pie, sweet potatoes, celery stalks, muffins or Hawaiian rolls this time. 

“I was angry last time with the Republicans. I say, ‘You don’t talk about this stuff.’ Nobody talks about it. I rely on a question from a reporter to get that out. We should be talking about it, because they talk about affordability — they don’t have affordability.”

Trump’s messaging follows fellow Republicans sounding the alarm on voters’ economic concerns going into next year’s midterm elections, which will determine whether Trump’s final two years in office are bogged down by investigations, impeachment attempts and legislative gridlock.

Ohio GOP gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy pleaded after blowout losses in New Jersey and Virginia state races that “our side needs to focus on affordability,” which exit polls showed were the top issue for voters.

“Make the American dream affordable, bring down costs — electric costs, grocery costs, health care costs and housing costs, and lay out how we’re going to do it,” Ramaswamy urged.

The president’s prior claims of unfair treatment by Democrats were successfully wielded to retain near-complete party loyalty as he fought back against a pair of first-term impeachments and then four criminal prosecutions before retaking the White House.

3

“Affordability is the current buzzword, but it’s really just the ‘economy, stupid,'” said a Republican strategist close to Trump.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair told Politico Wednesday that Trump “is very keyed into what’s going on, and he recognizes, like anybody, that it takes time to do an economic turnaround, but all the fundamentals are there, and I think you’ll see him be very, very focused on prices and cost of living.”

Blair credited socialist New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani with effectively using the issue.

“Why did Zohran Mamdani do so well last night? He relentlessly focused on affordability,” Blair said. “People talk about communists, they can say all these things, but the fact is he was talking about the cost of living.”

By contrast, in Virginia, where Republican nominee Winsome Earle-Sears was crushed by Democratic Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger, “over half of Winsome Sears’ ads talked about transgender. And it’s not even [among] the top five issues, according to voters.”

Trump insisted during a Wednesday speech in Miami that he had already notched many accomplishments on that front, but did not until Thursday focus on calling claims to the contrary a Democratic “con job.”

3

Defending his record on affordability, Trump pointed out that inflation, currently at an annual rate of 3%, is much lower than its 9.1% peak under former President Joe Biden, and highlighted his drive to boost foreign investments and drive down drug costs through tariff-driven deals with companies.

“Since I took office, wages for the typical factory worker are up $1,300, construction workers’ pay is up $2,200, and miners are up nearly $5,000 this year alone,” he said, despite the fact that rising take-home pay is coupled with record-high household debt.

“Gasoline prices have plummeted to the lowest in two decades, and we’re going to soon see $2 gasoline,” Trump said too, despite gas prices being essentially unchanged over the past 12 months and averaging $3.08, according to AAA data.

“The cost of the typical new mortgage is down by nearly $3,000 a year,” he added in that speech. “Day by day, we’re making America affordable again. It’s going to be affordable again at a really record pace.”