President Donald Trump on Wednesday offered House Republicans a window into what’s on his mind just days before they return from an August break, painting an overly rosy picture of the economy and taking a new interest in federal beef regulations.
Speaking to conservative commentator Glenn Beck, Trump repeated his message on still-high prices of just about everything, which multiple polls show is the most-pressing issue for most voters. The president contended prices of consumer items are down across the board, a claim undercut by the latest data released by his own administration.
He also continued to blame former President Joe Biden, who has been out of office for 583 days and counting.
“I inherited high prices, and then from the first day they started using the word affordability. … It was a new word. Nobody ever heard the word. It was a new word that they devised because they’re quite good at that. They’re not good at running a country,” Trump said. “And we’ve really got them (prices) down.”
But July data released by his own Bureau of Labor Statistics showed prices up last month. “The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers increased 0.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in July after falling 0.4 percent in June,” according to a BLS summary released Aug. 12. “Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 3.4 percent before seasonal adjustment.”
