To his admirers and supporters, President Trump is something of a political Superman, not only for what they see as his miraculous feats but also for his seeming imperviousness to injury, even those wounds caused by his own words and deeds. He survives or even prospers from things that would kill any mere mortal politician.
But even the Superman on television during my childhood had one vulnerability: the fictitious mineral known as Kryptonite, which would rob him of his powers. Trump’s Kryptonite is a familiar political foe by now: inflation.
More than the border or the chaos of the Afghanistan pullout, it was the spike in inflation in 2021 and 2022 after the American Rescue Act funds hit bank accounts that cost Democrats the presidency. Demand surged, supply-chain problems worsened, and of course the Fed responded by hiking interest rates, which made everything from car loans to home-equity lines more expensive. It all added up to a cumulative 20 percent surge in the cost of living.
The misplaced expectation among Trump’s supporters that he will bring down prices (a virtual
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The Cook Political Report is an independent, non-partisan newsletter that analyzes elections and campaigns for the US House of Representatives, US Senate, Governors and President as well as American political trends.
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