Trump's reality TV tricks can't hide the affordability crisis

[marmar]

Trump’s reality TV tricks can’t hide the affordability crisis
The president's policies cost families $2,250 in 2025 — and the economy is only getting worse

By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published December 10, 2025 6:45AM (EST)


(Salon) Donald Trump made his money through fraud. So it makes sense, then, that he thinks the quickest way out of the affordability crisis is to rely on the same carnival barker tactics he used for decades to trick banks and investors into giving him money.

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Still, Trump’s skill at bamboozling people helped him win not just in 2016, but again in 2024, when he managed to convince swing voters he could somehow lower costs after a few years of pandemic-driven inflation. Instead, he has done the opposite, and now he is clearly annoyed at aides and reporters who insist that the cost of living is a real issue that voters care about. Trump is notoriously lazy, even on issues he cares about, so caring about the concerns of people who weren’t born rich taxes his extremely limited patience. He craves a quick fix to this whole economic dilemma — the same disaster he created through chaotic policies that have raised costs on everything from housing to health care to groceries, often for no other reason than a narcissistic insistence that he knows economics better than economists.

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The result is that Trump’s approval ratings are falling, especially on the economy, as voters start to realize he has no intention of even trying to relieve their economic woes. In response, the president has fallen back on the instinct that has gotten him this far in life: Instead of doing anything of substance, he hits his marks with a hurricane of lies and hopes his audience doesn’t notice they’re being cheated until it’s too late.

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The president is now hoping he can drown out the bad economic news with a torrent of lies and distractions. On Tuesday, he held a rally in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, to sell his administration’s supposed policies on affordability. But he couldn’t conceal his aggravation at having to talk about money with the proletariat, even a red-hatted audience that loves him. ................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/12/10/trumps-reality-tv-tricks-cant-hide-the-affordability-crisis/