Trump keeps calling the term ‘fake’ despite Republican adoption
The Journal’s analysis used an in-house tool that monitors social-media trends, podcasts, and more than 10 million TikTok and Instagram posts gathered from across the internet. It covered tens of thousands of hours of podcasts aired since January.
A conservative podcaster captured the shift in plain terms, telling the Journal: “I love the president, and I think the president’s doing a great job. But he needs to start speaking to the people and not say ‘oh no, there’s no such thing as affordability.’ Sounds out of touch when he says that.”
A separate Republican strategist laid out the tactical case for adoption. “I think that one of the things Republicans should do right now is to take this whole affordability issue, and as you understand in judo, you always try to take your opponent’s strength, his weight, and you use it against him,” the strategist said. “We’ve got to take that word and flip it against the Democrats.”
Republicans have worked the issue for months. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa gave a floor speech on the GOP’s “affordability agenda” in April, and the Senate Republican campaign arm ran ads in May aimed at “making life more affordable.” A super PAC aligned with Trump’s MAGA Inc. has taken the name Safety and Affordability PAC.
Trump has continued to attack the term. At the party’s midterm convention in September, Trump said Democrats “used the word affordability. Right? It’s fake,” and has repeated the line at rallies as recently as the week of Oct. 8, the Journal reported.
A White House spokeswoman blamed high costs on Democrats and the Biden administration. “For Democrats, ‘affordability’ is just another political hoax they lie about while supporting socialist candidates,” she said. The spokeswoman added that Trump has acted to reduce prescription-drug costs, cut taxes and create jobs.
A Journal poll found that populist policies aimed at lowering the cost of living — including price caps and government-run discounts on drugs — resonate with voters across both parties. The issue ranks among the biggest political headwinds for Trump and Republicans, who promised the president’s second term would produce lower prices after the inflation of the Biden presidency.
The shift in podcast talk tracks a broader turn to consumer prices. Left-leaning creators have pinned high gas prices on Trump for prolonging the war in Iran, the Journal reported, and right-leaning podcasters are responding in kind. Gas hit a Labor Day record last month, raising the political cost for Republicans in November.
Republican members of Congress in vulnerable seats are walking a tightrope between staying aligned with Trump as the war continues and allaying voter concerns over prices. Last month, the Senate narrowly defeated a resolution to curb the war. After that vote, Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota said Republicans in tight races should be free to break with Trump.
“I think they need to be their own person,” Thune said. “And I think that’s the best way to win.”
Podcasters on both sides have focused on the prices voters say they feel directly — eggs, groceries, and now gasoline — making affordability a contested frame rather than a partisan property.