Trump calls affordability a "hoax"; Democrats take note

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The Washington Post

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🗓️ 12 December 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

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Summary

In the first year of his second term, President Donald Trump has focused his attention on foreign policy and made numerous trips abroad – with an eye toward the Nobel Peace Prize. But as he discusses peace deals with foreign leaders, his ratings domestically have fallen. Critics say that he isn’t doing enough to ease American’s economic concerns. So, this week, Trump returned his attention stateside and kicked off his affordability tour in Pennsylvania, while simultaneously branding “affordability” as a democratic “hoax.”

Today on the politics roundtable, we discuss why Trump’s tour signals the administration’s concerns about the politics of affordability, and how some Democrats could use this as a way to gain an edge during the 2026 midterms.

Host Colby Itkowitz speaks with Dan Merica, the co-anchor of our politics newsletter, The Early Brief, and White House Bureau Chief Matt Viser.

Today's episode was produced by Josh Carroll and Thomas Lu. It was mixed by Sean Carter. It was edited by Reena Flores. Thanks also to our Politics editors.

Subscribe to The Washington Post here. Watch this episode on YouTube here.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You know, I've talked to a Democratic strategist who, you know, there's just times in a political
0:05.1	cycle where writing the attack at is pretty easy.
0:08.3	And the strategist told me that, you know, when Donald Trump goes on camera and says that affordability
0:13.1	is a hoax, when he goes on camera and diminishes concerns about inflation and says that the economy
0:18.6	is great, when he does an interview with Politico on camera and says that the economy is great when he does an interview with Politico
0:21.2	on camera and says that his economy the rating for his economy would be an a
0:26.2	plus plus plus plus five five that's five plus is for those counting yeah I mean
0:31.8	they're just hitting record on all those moments and you can expect to see them
0:36.3	in attack ads later in the cycle.
0:42.3	From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Report's weekly politics roundtable.
0:47.6	I'm Kolby Ikowitz. It's Friday, December 12th. Today, we're going to be discussing Trump's
0:53.7	mixed messaging on affordability. And later,
0:56.6	we'll discuss why Democrats think that they have the edge ahead of next year's midterms.
1:02.5	Back at the table with me this week is Dan Marica. He's the co-anchor of our politics newsletter
1:07.1	the early brief. And I'm thrilled to be joined this week by Matt Weiser, our White House bureau chief.
1:12.9	Guys, thanks so much for joining me. Thanks for having me. Great to be here.
1:17.5	So Matt, I want to start with you because you traveled with President Trump this week to Pennsylvania,
1:21.9	happens to be my home state, because he kicked off this affordability tour. What is that?
1:29.6	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
1:35.9	been on the backburner a little bit as he's been in pursuit of the Nobel Peace Prize. He's gone
1:40.1	on a lot of foreign trips. His attention's been elsewhere. So this is a little bit of a
1:44.4	recognition to try to get him back to talking about really the issue that drove the 2024
	...

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