KALISPELL, Mont. — With the U.S. inflation rate shown to have climbed 3.7% over the past year, President Donald Trump told a rally in Montana on Wednesday, “We have very little inflation.”
Trump touted a booming economy as he campaigned for Republican candidates in the final leg of a Western election campaign, three weeks before the midterm elections.
Poverty has decreased and incomes have increased, he told the crowd. More than $22 trillion is flowing into the country and with this record level of investment, “they’re building factories all over Montana, and they’re building factories everywhere…”
“Everybody, we’re all having a good time,” he said.
Yet the economic resurgence he described is not the reality many people say they are experiencing.
In interviews before Trump appeared on stage, some of the supporters who came to see him said they felt squeezed by the costs of groceries, housing and fuel.
Moneen Ahlquist, an 84-year-old housewife who lives in Missoula, said she is careful to combine errands into one trip so she can keep her car in the garage and save on gas.
“We shop at grocery stores where we can fill up on gas and get a few cents off,” she said.
Megan Gurhlke, 44, who works on a dairy farm, said three of her family’s four members work full time and yet, “We can’t afford to buy things because the prices are too low.”
“I represent the majority of our country,” she said. “We are barely making ends meet, but we are trying hard. »
If there’s any encouraging news for Trump in the face of such sentiments, it’s that his supporters don’t believe he’s at fault. Some echoed Trump’s assertion that former President Joe Biden is responsible for the high prices. Others said they were willing to be patient and wait for Trump’s policies to take full effect and make life more affordable.
“Right now, they (the prices) are getting worse,” said Gary Hanson, 67, a hardware store owner in Kalispell. “It will take a long time to straighten everything out and that’s what Trump is planning.”
While waiting in line to see the president, Jennifer Piperakis, 53, mentioned that filling her truck with diesel fuel cost her $200.
“Gas prices are outrageous,” she said. Still, she said, “I love President Trump. I love what he’s doing for veterans. It’s not about himself. He wants to try to help. My husband is a veteran. Biden hasn’t done anything for him.”
Elections often depend on the economy. Polls suggest that voter dissatisfaction with the economy could cost Republicans their slim majority in Congress.
Trump’s message during his campaign across the country is that people are not suffering; they prosper. In his speech Wednesday, he cited stock market gains that are boosting retirement savings. He acknowledged high fuel costs, but predicted they would decrease once the war in Iran ended.
Defending the tariffs he imposes on foreign countries, he said they have produced considerable wealth.
“We are richer now,” he said. “We’re making more money there than ever before – and we have more jobs than ever before. Don’t forget that.”
As for inflation, he said: “We don’t have inflation.”
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