How's Chump doing? Tony Romm (NEW YORK TIMES) explains:
With less than two months until the midterm elections, President Trump commenced a final push this week to preserve his Republican majority in Congress, arguing that the United States under G.O.P. control had brought prices “way, way down.”
But for many families and businesses, the economy appeared to be on far shakier footing by Friday. Fuel prices soared, mortgage costs climbed and inflation registered uncomfortably high, testing the public’s patience with Mr. Trump’s frequent assurances that the country is on the right track.
The contrast underscored the political and economic stakes for Mr. Trump, who may soon face the wrath of an electorate long spurned by promises in Washington to lower the cost of living. As November draws closer, prices have risen under the president’s leadership, driven largely by an agenda that has included two years of punishing trade brinkmanship and a prolonged war with Iran.
The consequences were evident in the latest gauge of the Consumer Price Index, released on Friday. The report showed that prices rose at an annual pace of 3.4 percent in August, which increased the odds of the Federal Reserve’s raising interest rates next week.
Jacob Crosse (WSWS) weighs in on the convention:
President Donald Trump capped off the Republican Party’s first-ever midterm convention in Dallas, Texas, an orgy of fascist reaction, by calling on those in attendance to pledge themselves to him and “cheat like hell” in the November 3 elections, less than two months away.
Those two days in Dallas didn't do a thing to change reality.
Ordering the crowd inside the less-than-capacity American Airlines Center to raise their right hands, Trump, pausing for the audience to repeat each phrase, spelled out the following pledge:
Please raise your right hand. I pledge to the greatest president in the history of the United States that loves us so much he can’t even breathe, that I will go out with my family, my friends. I’ll do it any way, I don’t care if I’m registered or not, I’m going to try and cheat like hell like they do.
He later told the crowd that anyone who did not vote would “go to hell.”
Trump’s pledge and attack on the elections are not just one-off comments. He and the Republicans are systematically trying to undermine and take control of elections in states across the country. The main line of attack is on mail-in voting. At the same time, Trump’s Department of Homeland Security is targeting voter rolls in so-called “blue states,” seeking to disenfranchise immigrants and citizens who are legally entitled to vote on the basis of the lie that millions of “illegals” are voting.
The hatred and fear they stoked in Dallas couldn't hide the reality of the economy. Alexander Willis (RAW STORY) points out:
Diesel prices have spiked so high in parts of the United States that some gas stations can no longer display the correct cost, sparking a fresh wave of fury at President Donald Trump for having launched his deeply unpopular war against Iran.
As reported by the Independent on Saturday, some gas station displays in California have shown diesel prices sitting at $9.99, the "maximum price that gas stations can show on their digital displays, which typically only display four digits.” The average cost for a gallon of diesel in the United States reached its all-time high on Friday at $6.06, up from $5.85 last week and up from $3.71 the same time last year.
“Yes, you did read that right. Diesel prices just hit $10 in California. Good job, Trumpy!” wrote David Stockman, former GOP lawmaker and senior Reagan cabinet official, in a social media post on X.
The Democratic National Convention notes:
This week, all-too-eager-to-please Republicans and their wealthy donors gathered in Dallas to throw a multi-million-dollar “Trump-a-Palooza,” worshiping Donald Trump’s failed agenda that’s skyrocketing costs, tanking our economy, taking healthcare away from families, and forcing millions of Americans to cut back and go into debt.
Trump promised he would lower costs on Day One, yet Americans are paying more for just about everything. This week, Trump’s war with Iran drove diesel prices to an all-time high while gas prices continue to soar — with Trump admitting costs won’t come down until after the midterms, continuing to defend the war, doubling down on his reckless tariffs, and making promises that he can’t keep.
The contrast couldn’t be clearer: While Republicans throw themselves a party to stroke the ego of an unpopular president, working families are struggling to make ends meet amid the affordability crisis Republicans created.
- In Florida: WFLA: Tampa drivers call gas prices ‘outrageous’ as President Trump addresses rising costs
- In Iowa: KCCI: Record high diesel prices squeeze Iowa farmers’ budgets ahead of harvest season
- In Iowa: Des Moines Register: Record beef prices force Iowa shoppers, grocers alike to get creative
- In North Carolina: WLOS: Rising diesel costs put pressure on western North Carolina businesses
- In Ohio: Ohio Capital Journal: Ohio farmers need help after tariffs, foreign competition bring big struggles
- In Virginia: WAVY: Shoppers cut back as food costs continue to rise
- Nationwide: Axios: Inflation stays hot in August as Iran war drives energy costs higher
- Nationwide: Fox Business: Iran war costs US households $860 more in higher energy prices, economist says
- Nationwide: HuffPost: Added Fuel Costs Of Trump’s War In Iran Hit Estimated $100 Billion For U.S. Families
- Nationwide: The Grio: Black students are sacrificing basic needs to afford college at a time when costs are climbing
- Nationwide: Associated Press: Diesel prices are hitting record highs at a bad time for many US farmers
- Nationwide: CNN: Americans are still struggling with high gas prices. The pain will likely continue this fall
With just over 50 days left until the election, Republicans are taking a clear look at their reality: A fracturing voter base and approval ratings in the gutter, and now they are scrambling to distance themselves from Trump’s failing agenda as much as possible. Some vulnerable Republicans even hid from the convention altogether, choosing to cut their losses rather than be seen on Trump’s sinking ship. However, voters see right through their antics, and they’re not falling for it. Make no mistake: Americans are fed up, and no amount of spin will bury the fact that families are far worse off than they were when Trump retook office.
- In Maine: New York Times: While Trump Goes Big in Dallas, Collins Goes Small in Maine to Save Her Seat
- In Michigan: WKAR: Republican midterm convention in Texas ‘never a consideration’ for Barrett
- In Nebraska: Nebraska Examiner: Most Nebraska GOP officeholders, candidates skip midterm convention
- Nationwide: HuffPost: Some Vulnerable Republicans Are Ducking Out Of Trump’s Midterm Convention
- Nationwide: Politico: Republicans aren’t exactly flocking to Trump’s midterm convention
While Trump and Republicans put on their dog-and-pony show, Democrats were on the ground rallying voters and making sure they knew exactly how to use their voice to put a stop to Republicans’ chaos and corruption at the ballot box this November. In Dallas and beyond, Democrats remained laser-focused on the work that wins elections — from registering new voters and making phone calls, to knocking on doors and organizing community events. Democrats are entering the homestretch of the campaign cycle with the wind at their backs, offering a positive vision that working families can get behind.
- In Texas: Houston Chronicle: In 2024, Republicans promised to ‘make America affordable again.’ Well… it’s 2026. | Opinion
- In Texas: Politico Playbook: How Dems are countering Trump’s convention
- In Texas: Spectrum News: Democrats’ counterprogramming to GOP midterm convention in Dallas
- In Texas: WFAA: ‘Alternative vision’: Dallas Democrats use Republican convention as backdrop to rally voters
- In Texas: FOX 4: Democrats plan grocery drive, march, and rally to counter GOP convention in Dallas
- In Texas: Spectrum News: Pritzker joins Texas Democrats in rebuttal of Dallas Republican convention
- In Texas: Dallas Morning News: ‘Stand against tyranny.’ Democrats counter Trump’s Dallas convention with warnings on economy, war, corruption
- In Texas: The Bulwark: Dems to Trump: Please, Sir, the Stage Is Yours
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Chump has lied repeatedly about prices. And FOX "NEWS" has joined him in lying. Allison Fisher (MEDIA MATTERS) reports:
Since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s war with Iran, Fox News has attempted to downplay, dismiss, and deflect from the resulting pain at the pump, including by repeatedly claiming that elevated prices would be temporary.
Fox figures have suggested high energy prices are a necessary “sacrifice” and “a small price to pay” to keep Iran from developing nuclear capabilities; they’ve repeatedly pointed to “Biden high” gas prices stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to argue that it’s not as bad as it’s been in the past; they’ve turned their focus onto California’s fuel costs in order to blame Democrats and climate policies; and they’ve claimed repeatedly that soaring prices were temporary and would come back to Earth as soon as some constantly shifting goal was achieved.
Of this latter claim, Media Matters found that Fox hosts and guests repeated it at least 188 times from the beginning of the war through August, with the claim peaking in May when gas prices topped over $4.50 per gallon.
Excluded from the study were the multitude of times Fox figures directly quoted or attributed the claim about gas prices’ temporariness to Trump or other officials from his administration. Taken all together, the network presented a clear narrative that a return to pre-war gas prices was imminent, even as the timeframe for when viewers could expect that return moved ever further away and as experts repeatedly cautioned about the long-term impact of the conflict on energy prices.
Chump lied to the faces of the few who bothered to attend his self-celebration and the few who bothered to watch it. It's over now -- possibly over like Chump. We can all return to his efforts to further destroy the US economy. That's at the heart of his war with Canada. Paul Wiseman (FORTUNE) reports:
No country on Earth buys as much from the United States as its northern neighbor. For American farmers, Canada is second only to Mexico as an export market.
A North American trade pact — negotiated by President Donald Trump during his first term — means that most American products enter Canada duty-free. Rankings of the world’s most open economies usually put Canada near the top.
But when Trump looks at Canada, he says, he sees a predator out to cheat the United States and strangle its industries.
America has been “ripped off for 50 years by Canada,” the president declared Saturday when asked if he was considering pulling out of the three-way agreement he signed with the leaders of Canada and Mexico in late 2018.
Relations between the U.S. and Canada have deteriorated since their latest trade talks collapsed Aug. 21. Trump has goaded Canada’s leaders with personal attacks and portrayed the longtime U.S. ally as weak. After alienating the Canadian public last year by repeatedly floating the idea of making Canada the 51st state, he signed an executive order last month directing the federal government to change Lake Ontario’s name to “Lake America.”
Each side blamed the other for the failed negotiations. Trump slapped 50% tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian products three weeks ago to protest what he described as discrimination against U.S. auto, dairy and alcoholic beverage exports.
When Canada’s government retaliated Tuesday with tariffs of its own, the president moved to ban imports of the dairy byproduct whey, most alcoholic beverages and motorcycles and mopeds from Canada, though he said several products, including toilet paper, bedsheets and fishing rods, would be removed as tariff targets.
For decades, the US and Canada have been good neighbors. No problems. Then Chump is in the White House and we are are bitter enemies. Because of Chump. His talk of annexing Canada, his tariffs targeting Canada, his insults, his hatred. He isn't fit to be president. He lacks the leadership qualities, he lacks the ability to communicate, he's just dementia riddled trash.
Not content to cause disorder in Canada, he decided to to harm Ireland as well. From today's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED (NPR):
ELISSA NADWORNY, HOST:
President Trump arrived in Dublin early this morning for the start of a two-day visit, mixing a bit of diplomacy into a golf vacation. The trip comes off the heels of a glitzy Republican National Convention...
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We love you all. Go out and vote. Go out and vote.
NADWORNY: ...Where a display of Trump's star power was meant to boost GOP candidates in November's midterms, largely ignoring political realities outside the event. While Trump watches golf, global diplomatic efforts are surging ahead. Leaders from China and India are strengthening ties at a summit in New Delhi, where Iran is shoring up its leverage ahead of a meeting Monday with Oman to open the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. will be notably absent from Monday's talks.
(SOUNDBITE OF UNIDENTIFIED IRISH DEFENCE FORCES BAND'S PERFORMANCE OF JOHN STAFFORD SMITH AND FRANCIS SCOTT KEY'S "THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER")
NADWORNY: President Trump did meet today with Ireland's leadership, and he caused quite a stir when he suggested Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K., should be united. NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez joins us from Doonbeg, where Trump is now attending the Irish Open. Hey, Franco.
FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, BYLINE: Hey, Elissa.
NADWORNY: So President Trump really waded into some sensitive political waters when he not only said that Ireland should be united but that it's going to happen eventually. Can you explain?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah, I mean, he really did set off a bit of a political crisis here when he said that. I mean, actually, here is a little more of what he had to say.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: I'd love to see it unified. I think it would be a great - yeah - a great feather in everybody's cap if that happened. It's going to happen eventually.
ORDOÑEZ: You know, but this idea would be a terrifying one for Northern Ireland, and that was quickly apparent because we heard almost immediately from Northern Ireland leaders really rejecting this idea. Now, Trump boasted that the taoiseach was the guy actually who could solve this issue, and that remark itself made the taoiseach, Martin, you know, seem to be very uncomfortable, and Martin quickly sought to change the subject.
Let's wind down with this from Senator Alex Padilla's office:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) released the following statement after Secretary of the Smithsonian Lonnie G. Bunch III announced his decision to depart from the Smithsonian Institution:
“Secretary Bunch has been instrumental in telling and preserving the story of our nation and our culture, putting truth and accuracy over politics. Since 2019, he has protected the Smithsonian’s long-standing mission of telling the full story of America, and not shying away from the challenges and injustices many have faced throughout our history. I have had the honor of working with Secretary Bunch to ensure the voices of all Americans are represented and uplifted in our museums. I commend him for his longstanding service to our country and I wish him the best in his retirement.
“In the face of Donald Trump’s attacks on the Smithsonian, Secretary Bunch spoke truth to power and reasserted his commitment to defend and uphold American history and values. While I respect his decision to depart, the job now falls to the Board of Regents and Congress to ensure the success of his work will remain for generations to come.
“While Trump continues to try to re-write history, I will continue to fight to defend the Smithsonian’s independence from Trump’s pressure campaign and political agenda. And I fully expect the Regents and my colleagues in Congress to do the same.”
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The following sites updated:
