Politico reported President Donald Trump's fans are thrilled to see him back on the road and in his campaign rally element — but the things he’s saying on the stump are scaring them.
“Trump stirred up fresh concerns Tuesday at a Pennsylvania rally that was supposed to focus on easing Americans’ anxieties over pocketbook pressures,” reported Politico. “Instead, he veered off script, at one point urging austerity amid the holiday shopping season by resurfacing a line from earlier this year that American kids should be happy with ‘two or three’ dolls.”
“I think a lot more domestic events outside of Washington are great. Let’s do more of it,” an anonymous former Trump senior adviser told Politico. But, “Unfortunately, I just don’t think Trump is temperamentally capable of reversing himself and saying, ‘Yes, affordability is a concern.’ He’s stubborn.”
Trump was once a fiery crowd pleaser, but he is now an “imperfect messenger more apt to voice bullishness on his stewardship of the U.S. economy than he is to acknowledge the financial squeeze voters say they’re feeling,” reported Politico. This could present a problem as angry voters take to the polls next year and vent their frustration over the economy by ousting the political party in charge of Congress and the White House.
Critics are already calling Trump’s Pennsylvania rally “a flop,” particularly after a slew of off-year elections this month and last gave Democrats resounding success on their message of affordability and inflation concerns. Republican strategists are rattled at how strongly voters have spurned Republican candidates within the span of a year, the report stated.
“And there are signs the White House is looking to other surrogates to help carry the administration’s affordability push into next year, as Trump allies concede the president is unlikely to morph into a nuanced and empathetic messenger,” reported Politico.
Trump has called arguments that Americans are suffering under the economy a “hoax” and a “con job," but some Trump aides counter that the president’s “hoax” line is being taken out of context.
One White House official argued that Trump isn’t dismissing Americans’ pain, but is instead calling the Democrats’ affordability campaign “hypocritical” and a “con job” because the left is trying to “rewrite their own history” and “hijack the phrase.”