President Donald Trump, who never does anything wrong, shocked the nation this past week by admitting he has done something wrong.
With midterm elections fast approaching and polling on the economy not looking good for Republicans, Trump told reporters on Oct. 1: “There’s never been a job done like we've done, but we haven't gotten the word out. So I say we've done a bad public relations job.”
A day earlier, the president said: “We have the best economy anywhere in the world. There's no economy like this economy. And the only thing we don't have is good public relations. We don't seem to be able to get the word across.”
So the one thing President Trump has done wrong, in his opinion, is this: He has failed to effectively tell us how great everything
is.
Why do we refuse to listen to Trump when he says everything is great?
The high mortgage rates you are reckoning with, and the wages that aren’t keeping up with inflation, are all the result of bad PR.
Well, I certainly hope the president doesn’t put all this on himself. I think the real problem is WE have failed to notice how great everything is, probably because we can’t afford gas to drive around and see all the greatness, or maybe because we passed out at the grocery store when we saw a box of Frosted Mini-Wheats cost $9.19.
Shame on us for not better observing this ongoing Golden Age.
'We're the hottest country in the world'
“We have inflation totally in control and we've done a great job,” Trump said Oct. 1.
Inflation is at 3.4%, and it was at 3.0% when Trump took office in January 2025, which means it’s down as long as we patriotically stand on our heads.
The president continued: “We have the most successful period of time for a president in terms of building our country in the history of our country. There’s never been a time like this. We were a dead country just two years ago and now we’re the hottest country in the world.”
Why are we refusing to feel the heat of our hot country, people? President Trump is very busy doing ballroom stuff and making our country not dead, so the least we can do is acknowledge the hotness of it all.
So I guess the GOP's midterm slogan is basically, 'Everything's fine'
It was at a Hispanic Heritage Month event at the White House on Sept. 30 when Trump seemed to launch this new midterm-election slogan: Everything is amazing, we just have to say it louder!
He said “the country's doing better than it has ever done,” and again fell on his sword: “I’ve done a very bad job of explaining how good the country is doing."
Rudely, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released a weak jobs report Oct. 2, prompting a Fox Business host to say: “The numbers do not look good. I'm looking at 29,000 jobs were added. That is well below expectations for 90,000, and our unemployment rate jumps up to 4.2%. ... A significant slowdown.”
C'mon, Fox Business host, stop “looking” at things that are bad and start “listening” to President Trump telling us things have never been better.
Stop looking at high prices and start listening to Donald Trump
If we Americans LOOK at the numbers when it comes to jobs or unemployment or gas and food prices, they might not look good. If we allow ourselves to see our bank accounts, or our credit card bills, or the price tag on a package of ground beef, it can seem bad.
So between now and the midterms, it’s important that we close our eyes and just … listen.
Listen to President Trump when he tells us prices are “coming down rapidly.” Listen to him say, “We have the best economy we’ve ever had.”
DO NOT listen when someone cites an Oct. 1 AP-NORC poll that found 65% of Americans blame Trump for the high cost of living. Cover your ears for that part.
Just listen to your president. Hear him tell of all the prosperity and affordability. He will say it more often now. He will say it louder.
Because the only problem we have in America these days is that Donald Trump hasn’t been bragging enough.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump says economy is great. We should definitely trust him | Opinion
