(Washington) During a meeting supposed to revive the momentum of his presidential campaign Donald Trump assured Tuesday that prices were falling “tremendously” thanks to him, even if inflation accelerated in the United States according to the latest published statistics, dating back to September.
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The president, during a meeting in Pennsylvania intended to convince disgruntled Americans that his economic policies are working, accused the Democratic opposition of promoting a “deception” when it denounces the still high cost of living.
“Prices are falling quite substantially. They (Editor’s note: the Democrats) always have to find a deception. (Their) new word is “cost of living”,” criticized the Republican leader.
“Democrats who talk about “cost of living” are like Bonnie and Clyde talking about public order,” he quipped.
Abandoning economic issues, the 79-year-old billionaire also violently attacked his political adversaries, journalists and especially immigrants, particularly Somalis, his favorite targets recently – the room then began to shout “Send them back!” Send them back! “.
Donald Trump, who suspended immigration applications from 19 of the poorest countries on the planet, also used an expression that shocked many during his first term by saying that the United States was letting in people from “shithole countries”.
“Sleeping bastard”
He called his predecessor Joe Biden a “sleeping asshole” by criticizing the disastrous record left by the former Democratic president, an argument that resonates at least with his most fervent supporters.
“Yes, prices are high right now… but things have to get worse before they get better,” Brianna Shay, 26, a public education administrator, who came to attend the rally, told AFP. “Unfortunately, the previous president really screwed us over,” she added.
PHOTO MATT ROURKE, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Donald Trump supporters cheer during a rally at the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania.
The president’s approval rating has fallen to its lowest level since he returned to power in January, in part because of the cost of living that Americans blame in part on his tariffs.
However, polls indicate that Donald Trump’s popularity has fallen under the weight of the poor performance of his economic policy.
The Republican also faces divisions within his own Make America Great Again movement, with calls to focus domestically rather than internationally.
He chose the Mount Airy Casino resort for the meeting, billed as the first in a series of rallies across the country. Before becoming president, he had several casinos in his business portfolio, several of which went bankrupt.
Donald Trump insists prices are falling for key products like beef, eggs, coffee and gasoline.
Midterm elections
But price increases continued to accelerate, reaching 2.8% in September, according to the latest published statistics.
The theme was at the center of the Democrats’ campaign during the elections won in November for mayor of New York and for the governorships of New Jersey and Virginia. He also promises to dominate the battle for the mid-term legislative elections in the fall of 2026.
Working-class Pennsylvania is an electorally key state. Donald Trump narrowly won this northeastern state in 2016 and 2024, and narrowly lost it to Joe Biden in 2020.
He is not eligible to run again in 2028, despite calls from some of his supporters—in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, audiences chanted “Four more years!” Four more years! », the usual slogan to encourage a president to run for a new term.
The president’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, indicated that he would nevertheless be on the ground next year, in order to mobilize a base tempted by abstention before the midterm elections.
