Comment: If Trump cares about affordability, he must show it

By David M. Drucker / Bloomberg Opinion

It seems like no accident that Donald Trump decided to headline a gathering of McDonald’s fast-food franchisees. The president has an affordability problem with voters, and in a rarity, appears to be admitting as much.

I’m referring to Trump’s furious attempt to convince American voters that he is, in fact, focused on reducing the cost of living (housing, groceries, all of it). The issue is their top concern, as any public opinion poll will tell you. It’s the reason Trump became only the second defeated president to eventually be reelected. Voters believed the businessman was best suited to improve the economy.

The larger problem for Trump is that voters aren’t only upset that prices remain high. They are questioning whether he even cares.

Skeptical?

Per a CBS News poll released in October, 75% of voters believed Trump was insufficiently focused on “lowering prices of goods and services.” Then, earlier this month, the off-year elections happened. Democratic gubernatorial nominees in New Jersey and Virginia, who had focused relentlessly on affordability, won in landslides. In New Jersey, voters who cited the economy as their top issue voted for governor-elect Mikie Sherrill 66% to 33%, according to exit polls. In Virginia, voters who cited the economy as their highest priority supported governor-elect Abigail Spanberger 63% to 36%.

Democrats even flipped two seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission, a panel that regulates consumer electricity rates, delivering the party’s first victory for state-level, statewide office in nearly 20 years.

Then, after all that, Trump said this: “I don’t want to hear about the affordability.” (The president’s rant was part of a broader complaint that he wasn’t getting due credit for making life more affordable compared to conditions under President Joe Biden.) If Trump were to keep this up, the 2026 midterm elections are likely to unfold disastrously for Republicans, with candidates hamstrung by the president’s cratering 41% job approval rating on the economy, according to the RealClearPolitics average.

The 45th and 47th president’s rare full retreat would suggest he belatedly figured this out. Check out what he told the Washington Examiner’s Salena Zito last week during an Oval Office interview in which he emphasized that he “relentlessly” prioritizes the economy. “I’m never satisfied,” Trump said. “We’re working to make things less expensive.” Need more evidence of the president’s about-face? On Friday, he issued an executive order reducing tariffs on beef, tomatoes, coffee, bananas and other staples to reduce food costs, despite regularly claiming his beloved trade agenda is not inflationary.

To be sure, presidents get more credit and blame than they deserve regarding the economy. And so, there’s an argument to be made that Trump can’t do much to alter voters’ perceptions of it. According to this line of thinking, Trump and Republicans in Congress need to hope for a recovery – and a quick one.

But even if you buy that argument, there is something Trump can do to prove to voters that he’s as focused on the economy as they are: Stop talking about so many other issues. Remember the CBS News poll I mentioned above? It showed that voters believed Trump was focusing too much on “criticizing political opponents” (61%); too much on “putting tariffs on goods from other countries” (60%); and too much on “troop deployments to U.S. cities (52%).

To see if Trump comprehends what voters are saying, to him and politicians in both parties, I examined his feed on Truth Social, the X-like platform he founded after leaving office in 2021. Here’s a sampling of what I found Sunday in a review of posts that extended back less than a full calendar day:

A post expressing disappointment with Republicans in Indiana for declining to move ahead with a mid-decade redistricting of the state congressional seats; a post touting the economic benefits of tariffs; a post complaining about NBC talk show host Seth Meyers; three posts criticizing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, whom he called a “traitor” and a “disgrace to our GREAT REPUBLICAN PARTY;” a post criticizing former CIA director John Brennan, a Trump critic; a post that reads “UNAFFORDABLE CARE ACT;” a post promoting the unconstitutional idea that Trump should seek a third term in 2028.

Notice anything missing?

Anything that showcases a “relentless” focus on affordability (the post on Obamacare did not include any proposals for reducing health care costs). Maybe the president is indeed singularly focused on reducing prices. But voters wouldn’t know that based on the myriad topics he is devoting his attention to publicly. And that’s what matters. “If you’re talking about other subjects, you’re not talking about what’s most important to the electorate,” Republican pollster David Winston told me recently, for The Dispatch.

Some Republicans counter that November 2026 is a long way off and point out that Trump is less than a year into his second presidency. “The idea that the Democrats have taken some kind of commanding lead on the issue of affordability that can’t be undone … it doesn’t pass the smell test,” Doug Mayer, a Republican lobbyist and political operative in Washington, told me.

As a political matter, Mayer is right. Trump has time to prove to voters that he’s as focused on the economy as he claimed to be during his interview with Zito. He can hold campaign rallies, deliver speeches, show up at grocery stores and bodegas the way he commandeered the drive-through register at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s restaurant during the 2024 campaign. He could wave the white flag on tariffs. He could stop talking about everything that pops into his head that doesn’t have to do with lowering costs.

Those last two suggestions are critical. But they might be more than this president can bear.

David M. Drucker is a columnist covering politics and policy. He is also a senior writer for The Dispatch and the author of “In Trump’s Shadow: The Battle for 2024 and the Future of the GOP.”