White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has a message for fellow Republicans: brag about President Donald Trump and toe the party line.
During a Tuesday appearance on Fox & Friends, Leavitt expressed her belief that Republicans need to do more to sing Trump’s praises.
“As President Trump has been screaming from the rooftops, Republicans need to remain tough and smart, and they need to be more vocal about telling the accomplishments of this administration,” she told the hosts.
Her comments come after Trump’s approval rating enjoyed a slight bump from its historic low last month. Concerns over the cost of living and the increased cost of everyday items contributed to his drop to a 38 percent approval rating last month. But a recent Reuters/Ipsos survey, released on Tuesday, found that the rating had increased this month to 41 percent. That increase has been partially attributed to improved satisfaction with the cost of living.
Leavitt continued to insist that Americans’ cost-of-living concerns were the result of a “hoax” by Democrats meant to make Trump look bad.
“Again, inflation has slowed because of President Trump’s economic policies,” she said. “We see wages for the first time in five years are increasing by about $1,000 per the average American worker.”
Despite her claims, the GDP has slowed significantly and is projected to fall from its 2.8 percent growth last year to approximately 1.6 percent this year. That drop has been attributed to Trump’s ongoing trade war via tariffs, according to the Daily Beast.
Payroll growth has dipped to historic lows, with 32,000 private sector jobs being lost in November, according to CNN. The unemployment rate has risen to approximately 4.3 percent.
Inflation is still high, putting economic strain on middle- and low-income families.
Despite his approval bump, a recent Politico poll found that 46 percent of Americans firmly blame Trump for the affordability crisis. The poll also found that 37 percent of those who voted for Trump said they cannot remember a time in their lives when the state of the country has been worse off than it is currently.
Trump and his administration have been persistent in explaining away cost-of-living issues as a hoax by Democrats and the media, but even former Trump stalwart Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has called out the president, accusing him of “gaslighting” the public.
“So gaslighting the people and trying to tell them prices have come down is not helping,” she told Sean Spicer on his podcast in November. “It’s actually infuriating people, because people know what they’re paying at the grocery store, they know what they’re paying for their kids’ clothes and school supplies, they know what they’re paying for their electricity bills.”
The issue will no doubt play a hand in next year’s midterm elections. A poll in November conducted by NBC found that Democrats are currently ahead of Republicans for control of the House and the Senate by eight points. That constitutes the largest pre-midterm lead for either party in more than half a decade.
