Editor's note: Este artículo está traducido al español.

President Donald Trump insists his words were misunderstood. House Speaker Mike Johnson says critics took them out of context. But even under the most charitable interpretation, Trump’s declaration that “I love the inflation” reveals a troubling disconnect between the president and the Americans struggling to pay their bills.

After facing significant backlash to the statement, Trump now argues that he was not celebrating rising prices themselves. Rather, he claims he was praising inflation numbers that were lower than some analysts expected despite the economic fallout from the ongoing conflict with Iran. Johnson and other Republican allies have eagerly echoed that explanation and are effectively asking Americans to applaud the president and Congress because conditions are not as bad as they could have been. Instead of measuring success by whether costs are coming down, Trump and the GOP want credit for creating what they see as only a minor crisis, rather than a major one.

That is not leadership. It is self-congratulation being used to conceal a blatant rewriting of history that ignores Trump’s own words and actions.

For months, Trump has repeatedly suggested that the war with Iran — a war he unilaterally started without an exit plan or an understanding of the potential impact on the global economy — was just days from ending. As such, he repeatedly stated that short-term domestic financial strain was not a major consideration in his decision-making. Now, as the war drags into its 15th week, and with inflation continuing to climb and voters growing increasingly frustrated, the administration has shifted its message. Americans are told that Trump’s management of the conflict deserves praise because inflation and gas prices supposedly remain below worst-case projections.

But ordinary Americans do not live in hypothetical scenarios.

They know that the price of gas is going up. According to AAA, the price of mid-grade fuel in the United States is $1.50 more per gallon today than when former President Joe Biden left office — a revealing comparison given the already disastrous inflation of the Biden era. They know that prices for groceries, rent, mortgages, insurance premiums and utility bills have all increased under Trump as well.

Trump campaigned on lowering costs. He promised relief for working families. Yet now, rather than acknowledging the economic pain many Americans feel, he appears focused on arguing that things would have been even worse without his stewardship.

He’s demanding that families struggling to afford groceries be grateful because prices only increased by 30% instead of 100%. He’s demanding that commuters watching fuel costs devour a larger share of every paycheck celebrate because someone in Washington believes the situation could have been much worse.

All that, despite the fact that it was Trump who started the war with Iran, dismantled most of the programs that would have made us less sensitive to changes in oil prices, and implemented a tariff regime that effectively acted as the largest tax on U.S. consumers in our nation’s history.

The arrogance of Trump’s argument is breathtaking. It’s his “Let them eat cake” moment.

The president enjoys taxpayer-funded transportation, taxpayer-funded security and taxpayer-funded housing. And he further enjoys bestowing taxpayer-funded projects to his friends and family, including his own business. Beyond politics, rising prices don’t affect him, but for millions of Americans, they represent genuine financial distress.

Unfortunately, Trump is not alone in advancing this tone-deaf narrative.

Across the Republican Party, elected officials and candidates continue to defend virtually every statement, decision and policy that emerges from the White House. Vice President JD Vance, Speaker Johnson and countless congressional Republicans have spent months assuring voters that Trump’s economic agenda is working despite mounting evidence that affordability remains a central concern for American households.

In Nevada, David Flippo, the Republican nominee seeking to replace Rep. Mark Amodei, recently praised Trump as the leader who is making America “safe again, wealthy again and most importantly great again.” Such declarations have become routine within today’s Republican Party, where loyalty to Trump is more important than honest assessments of economic conditions.

Voters should recognize a larger truth. Inflation is not simply the result of one speech, one policy, one military decision or even one man. It is a consequence of political leadership that refuses to question Trump, challenge his assumptions or hold him accountable when his policies fail to deliver the results he promised. It is the consequence of a GOP that controls both chambers of Congress and all three branches of the government yet refuses to acknowledge that their policies are not working for the American people.

Americans do not need politicians congratulating themselves because economic conditions are bad instead of catastrophic. They need leaders focused relentlessly on lowering costs, improving affordability and helping families find financial stability.