Trump 'giving Republicans heartburn' with 'flippant' remarks on crucial topic: analyst

A former staffer for President Donald Trump gamely attempted during a CNN appearance to find a silver lining in his surprising comments about inflation.

The 79-year-old president was asked Wednesday about inflation shooting up 4.2 percent last month, and he declared, "I love the inflation," and his former White House communications director from early in his first term tried to clean up a statement that seems tailor-made for Democratic campaign ads.

"It's absolutely going to bea big, fat campaign ad for Democrats," said Mike Dubke. "They are going to useit. I think what the president,in context, he was basicallyquoting [a 1968 song by] Blood, Sweat and Tears, 'What Goes Up Must Come Down.' Ithink that he's assuming thatonce we cease hostilities with Iran and oil prices come down,that the momentum going into themidterm elections is going tocreate a situation where peoplefeel good about the economy."

Dubke cautioned that the president might be overly optimistic in his assumption.

"Theunfortunate part, I think, rightnow is that runway, until we getto the midterms, is shrinking, and so we really we if that'sgoing to happen, it's got tohappen soon," Dubke said.

Trump's remark isn't the first recent example of him veering wildly off-script on the economy, according to CNN's Aaron Blake.

"This has been a trendwith President Trump," Blake said. "I wouldsay, dating back to last year, we might remember at the time,inflation was starting to becomea real political problem forhim, and he was supposed to goout and give some speeches andrallies in places like Pennsylvania, where he talkedabout affordability and what hewas going to do about these veryreal concerns that the Americanpeople had, and it just becameclear that he didn't reallywant to talk about this. He wastalking about affordability wasa hoax and things like that."

The polling shows voters have taken note of Trump's comments and formed a strongly negative opinion, he said.

"Sothis has been a very long-running problem for the White House and for Republicans in themidterms, where the presidentjust treats these issues very flippantly, and the Americanpeople, if you look at thepolling, have seen that and saidthat this guy is not taking thisissue seriously enough," Blake said. "Thereis a CNN poll showed two-thirdsof Americans think that thepresident is not takinginflation seriously. It was ashigh as three quarters in a CBS News poll that I've beenwatching for a while."

"So this isa very real issue, and he doesnot seem to be changing his tackon this," he added, "and I think it's giving Republicans real heartburn rightnow."

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