Trump is delivering the products — however must cease promising the moon
President Trump laid out a strong case Wednesday night for his administration’s success in steering the economy away from the Biden years, which threatened real collapse.
Inflation is in check, with energy and housing costs down; some grocery staples, like eggs, are certainly cheaper now.
Crucially, wage growth is finally outpacing inflation.
Yet we have a long way to go to make up for years of stagnation that have put affordability front and center in the national conversation.
So getting real wages up, and general price hikes under control, must be a top priority.
Jobs are not where we’d like them to be, but a substantial part of that is because Trump is making good on his promise to shrink federal employment. Uncle Sam’s headcount, despite rapid growth in the Obama and Biden years, is now under 2014 levels.
Since government workers are paid by taxes, reducing their numbers is a net positive for America.
And once these folks are absorbed into the productive, tax-paying sectors of the economy, the transition will pay off doubly.
And this is starting to happen: As the president said, 100% of all new jobs have been in the private sector.
The full impact of tariffs hasn’t been incorporated into manufacturing and employment figures yet, but they certainly haven’t had the disastrous effect that doomer economists (left and right) predicted.
Similarly, the tax cuts in the Big Beautiful Bill won’t really be felt until next year — likewise, the huge positive impact of Trump’s energy policies, which are already lowering pump prices and electric rates nationwide, and are a huge plus to economic growth as well.
Of course, a Trump speech wouldn’t be a Trump speech if it weren’t festooned with a few questionable claims painted in Day-Glo.
Gas isn’t under $2; drug prices aren’t dropping by the (mathematically impossible) rate of “400, 500 and even 600%.”
And this is one pitfall of the president’s Barnumesque tendency toward hyperbole: In last year’s campaign, he couldn’t resist implying that he’d turn the economy around on a dime.
His optimism attracted many voters who wanted something different from the worn-out Biden White House, but Trump failed to manage expectations, so now he’s suffering backlash from voters disappointed that they‘re still feeling squeezed.
They also hate any suggestion that they’re imagining their pain, whether from the last guy or the new one.
Economic agita now has pundits predicting a GOP wipeout in the midterms, but if the current hints of a turnaround flower, all the Sunday morning chatter will melt away.
The president needs to continue to deliver solid wins on the economy without panic-overpromising: Voters can deal with steady progress so long as they see capable hands are at the tiller.