President Donald Trump has reportedly been struggling to understand how inflation works — and it's inadvertently helping Democrats who secured key wins in the recent November elections.
After he promised to lower the cost of living, Americans have watched inflation climb, and their anger has escalated as Trump denies it, according to a new report published by The Atlantic on Tuesday.
"We don’t have any inflation,” Trump said this month.
He also insisted that groceries are now less expensive.
“Our prices are coming down very substantially on groceries and things,” Trump said.
He refuses to stand down on his signature policy of his second administration and "really loves tariffs," the report adds. Trump also thinks that sending $2,000 checks from revenue checks would help people, but instead it would draw the U.S. further into inflation, The Atlantic reported.
"A problem with this plan is that there are no dividends to pay out: sending $2,000 checks to most American households would demand more than what the government has collected in tariff revenues so far," the report reads in part. "In other words, what Trump is proposing is dumping hundreds of billions of dollars in deficit-funded stimulus spending into the economy."
Trump also argued that, as looming Affordable Care Act subsidies are set to expire, the ACA should be repealed, and Americans should "negotiate and buy their own, much better, insurance.”
Housing has remained a major problem plaguing people.
"Perhaps the single biggest source of anxiety about rising prices involves housing costs," The Atlantic reported. "Rents have soared across the U.S. in recent years, and new homebuyers are struggling to get into the market. This is mainly a problem of supply, given high building costs, high interest rates (which deter homeowners with low-interest-rate mortgages from reentering the market), and tight regulations limiting new construction."
Trump's attempt to address this — including a suggestion that a 50-year mortgage be introduced — has misunderstood the problem, The Atlantic wrote.
And his "snake oil solutions" have started to wane, which is in turn helping Democrats, according to the report.
"Voters now hold him personally responsible for the cost of living (in part because he made all those promises about slashing prices), so he has to do something. But his latest schemes, if they ever materialize, will likely make voters angrier. Democrats routed Republicans in the recent off-year election cycle by attacking their failure to lower living costs. Trump seems keen to ensure that this messaging continues to serve Democrats well."