WSJ editors hammer Trump's ‘damaging gimmicks’ as GOP faces bleak reality

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board says fresh inflation numbers explain Republicans’ midterm losses, and argues President Donald Trump should leave the fix to the Federal Reserve.

In an editorial titled “A Short Lesson in Why Republicans Lost,” the board points to October’s consumer price index, which climbed 0.4 percent. About a third of that came from shelter costs, and energy was up 0.7 percent. Stripping out food and energy, prices still rose 0.3 percent, matching the two prior months. The board says the increases were widespread, citing car repair, hospital services and day care, and suggests the Iran war is pushing up costs for food and airfares.

The bottom line is that wages aren’t keeping up, the board argues. It says inflation-adjusted hourly earnings didn’t grow in October and sit about where they were in January 2025. It cites exit polls showing 79 percent of voters described inflation as a hardship, and that 62 percent of those voters backed Democrats.

The board allows that part of the problem dates to the Joe Biden years and what it calls the Fed’s premature easing in 2024. But it says Republicans took the blame after two years in power, and that any 2028 comeback hinges on lifting real wages by bringing inflation down to 2 percent or below.

The board says Trump should hand that task to Fed Chair Kevin Warsh. It urges the administration to pursue deregulation and permitting reform in place of “damaging gimmicks” like credit-card interest rate caps and transfer payments, which were favorite policies of the Biden administration.

Trump, for his part, has fiercely defended both his economic and foreign policies, claiming they are necessary to protect America.