As inflation continues to tick up, rising last month at a pace not seen since January, President Donald Trump continues to dismiss the concerns of Americans over increasing costs in a manner not dissimilar to former President Joe Biden, columnist Heather Digby Parton argued Sunday, who labeled the issue of inflation a “ticking time bomb” for the GOP.
“Inflation, I’ve already taken care of,” Trump said this week during a roundtable held Thursday at the White House.
Inflation, however, has not been “taken care of,” Parton argued in an analysis published in Slate Sunday. Rising costs remain a top concern for Americans, 75% of whom said their monthly expenses have increased by as much as $749, according to a new Guardian poll.
Trump’s continued insistence that there exists “virtually no inflation,” Parton suggested, was similar to that of his predecessor, whose administration frequently boasted about the strength of the economy amid the highest inflation recorded in decades during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Inflation is now a ticking time bomb for Republicans,” Parton wrote. “They should have learned from the Biden administration’s stumbles that you can’t persuade people that they should be happy about the cost of living just because the statistics are good. And in this case, the statistics are not good. In fact, they’re getting worse.”
Rising inflation was among the key factors in Trump’s 2024 election victory, with many voters blaming the Biden administration for soaring costs. A number of economists say that the Biden administration did, in fact, have culpability for allowing costs to soar as high as they did, but “only to a degree,” USA Today reported.
And now, as Trump continues to dismiss inflation concerns, Parton argues the Republican Party would ultimately pay the political price, much like the Democratic Party did last November.
“Not even Trump, with his talent for pounding falsehoods so relentlessly that it convinces a lot of people to believe him instead of their own eyes, can beat the vibes when people are paying more and earning less,” Parton wrote. “It’s another perfect storm, and this time it’s one entirely of his own making.”
