President Donald Trump is flagging in polls, suggesting that he and the Republican Party are in peril for the upcoming midterm elections. Yet according to a recent report, Trump’s plan for dealing with his poor approval rating is not to provide economic relief to ordinary Americans suffering from high prices and a weak job market, but to give even more benefits to the wealthy.
“President Donald Trump is looking for new policy pledges he can present to voters ahead of the midterm election, according to a top economic aide and a former administration official, including potentially calling on Congress to cut capital gains taxes and create an exemption for certain home sales,” reported Bloomberg’s Josh Wingrove on Tuesday. “National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said Tuesday in an interview with Fox Business host Larry Kudlow that Trump wants to offer voters more incentives to back Republicans in November’s election.”
Even as Trump proposes an economic program that would mainly benefit the rich, he continues to pursue his war against Iran and his tariffs, both of which are causing prices to rise for ordinary Americans. Indeed, while speaking to a group of supporters in Las Vegas earlier this month, the president admitted that he was going to raise gas prices through his war in Iran, and took a casual approach to the subject.
“When oil goes down, and it’s going to go down very rapidly and is already happening, we may have to send it up again, we may have to — you know what happens when we send it up,” Trump said. “But we don’t have to. But when that oil and gasoline go down, everything else follows. But we have done a great job at reducing prices and we have done an unbelievable job in making our country really, really respected and successful again.”
President Donald Trump and the Republican Party face a difficult political environment ahead of the November midterms, driven by voter frustration over inflation, high living costs, and foreign policy. Recent national polls show Trump’s approval ratings dropping below 40 percent, with Democrats leading on key economic metrics.
To reverse these numbers, administration officials like National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett have floated supply-side proposals, including capital gains tax cuts, aimed at rallying conservative voters. However, critics argue these measures favor the wealthy while ongoing conflicts and tariffs continue to squeeze ordinary household budgets.