Look out, Donald: Inflation and economic fears are coming for you [View all]

Look out, Donald: Inflation and economic fears are coming for you
Trump and the GOP haven't learned from Biden's misread of economic perceptions

By Heather Digby Parton
Columnist
Published October 26, 2025 6:45AM (EDT)


(Salon) This time last year, America was focused on the upcoming presidential election. Despite a major hiccup during the summer, in which President Joe Biden bowed out after weeks of fevered speculation following a catastrophic debate performance and left Vice President Kamala Harris to carry the banner into November, Democrats were feeling very positive about their prospects. After all, the former guy, as Biden often referred to him, had lost the previous election, tried to stage a coup and had been convicted of 34 felonies. He couldn’t possibly make a comeback.

But no matter how they tried to explain it to voters or to shift the focus to other issues, Democrats were faced with a problem. In the end, they couldn’t escape it.

....(snip)....

During one appearance, he was asked about the soaring cost of child care. He clearly had no idea how to respond, so he first referenced his daughter Ivanka’s work on the issue during his first term. Then Trump declared that, “relatively speaking, [childcare is] not very expensive compared to the kind of numbers we’ll be taking in.” At an event at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, he posed with tables full of groceries and vowed, “When I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on Day One.”

That never happened, and now many of the people who were counting on their grocery bills going back to what they were seven or eight years ago are gravely disappointed. Still, that hasn’t stopped Trump from telling them that their vibes are wrong and that inflation is gone. During a Thursday roundtable at the White House, he dismissed such anxieties. “Inflation, I’ve already taken care of,” he said. “Economically, the country is the strongest it’s ever been — thank God for tariffs. If we didn’t have tariffs we’d be a third-world nation.”

....(snip)....

Aside from the AI boom that’s fueling the stock market bubble, the economy is basically frozen, according to economist Paul Krugman. Everyone is holding their breath, waiting to see if the mercurial Trump will continue these tariffs, or if he will pull back once he’s flattered just the right way or given something he wants in return. (On Saturday, Trump announced an additional 10% tariff on Canadian goods after a television ad funded by Ontario used the voice of President Ronald Reagan to denounce tariffs and aired during the World Series. He had already suspended trade talks with Canada on Thursday because of the ad.) But with the tariffs in effect, businesses are paying more for the imports they need to produce their goods and supply their customers. .........................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/10/26/look-out-donald-inflation-and-economic-fears-are-coming-for-you/