White House aides are trying to make up for President Donald Trump calling Americans’ economic frustrations ‘fake’ by sending him out on tour.
CNN reported Wednesday that Trump’s advisers have been plotting for the president to travel across the country and deliver economic-focused speeches to improve his standing on the issue.
They believe sending him out on the road for political rallies could help recapture voter enthusiasm.
Aides are also considering pulling back on the president’s international travel so he can stay focused on domestic concerns.
Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, among others, has criticized Trump for not being ‘America first’ enough, as he’s often focused on foreign policy.
Trump advisers are also putting more ‘policy time’ on the president’s schedule, CNN said, intending to speed up the administration’s efforts to curb inflation.
During last week’s off-year elections, Republicans suffered a drubbing in both Virginia and New Jersey, as Democrats co-opted Trump’s message on affordability, which the president used to win the White House in 2024.
On Monday, Trump continued to say Americans were experiencing the ‘greatest economy we’ve ever had,’ during his interview with Fox News Channel’s Laura Ingraham.
President Donald Trump said the polls were ‘fake’ that showed that Americans were anxious about the economy, during his sit-down with Fox News Channel’s Laura Ingraham that aired Monday night
Trump and Laura Ingraham of Fox News inside his newly redecorated Oval Office
When she asked why Americans are feeling anxious about the economy, he brushed those concerns away.
‘I don’t know that they’re saying that,’ the president answered. ‘I think the polls are fake.’
Trump’s comments echoed those of Democratic President Joe Biden, who downplayed frustration over inflation by pointing to other economic progress his administration had made, trying to pull the country out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Biden was able to be portrayed as out of touch, and the Democrats’ eventual 2024 nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, didn’t do enough to distance herself from Biden’s record.
Cut to 2025, and polls show Americans still are feeling sour about the economy and have mixed feelings about some of Trump’s policies – including tariffs – that the president believes will improve it.
‘You can’t convince people that their experience, what they’re feeling at home, isn’t reality,’ a Trump adviser told CNN, acknowledging the problem.
A senior White House official told the network that ‘the president gets it.’
‘But he’s frustrated he’s not getting credit for what he’s doing,’ the official said, pointing to the Big Beautiful Bill’s extension of the 2017 tax cuts and energy deregulation.
President Donald Trump is peak Trump on the campaign trail, so aides look to recapture that magic by sending him out on the road to deliver economic-themed speeches
If Republicans aren’t able to adequately message on the economy, it imperils the entire MAGA agenda.
If Democrats win a majority in the House of Representatives during next year’s midterms, Trump becomes a lame duck.
Republicans that the Daily Mail interviewed last week suggested that Trump and GOP candidates needed to point to the progress that’s been made, but say they’re not done yet.
‘The Biden problem was this: they were trying to tell us, “don’t believe your lying eyes.” Prices were up during the Biden administration, and they were like, “Oh, it’s no big deal,”‘ former White House press secretary Sean Spicer told the Daily Mail.
He offered a simple analogy: something that cost $3 rose to $5 under Biden, and is now back to $4 under Trump.
‘Where Trump needs to step it up is to say “Hey guys, it went from $5 to $4, I want to get it to $3, we’re not there yet, and we’re going to keep fighting for it,”‘ Spicer advised.
