Tamara Keith

He says that he inherited a mess.

In other words, don't blame me, blame the former guy.

And he says things are already cheaper.

In particular, he talks a lot about gas prices.

According to Gas Buddy, prices are down about eight cents on average a gallon from a year ago.

But that's not really enough savings to make up for higher grocery prices and utility bills and the health care costs.

Good morning.

The banners on the stage said, lower prices, bigger paychecks, and that was the message in essence.

Trump insists prices are coming down and brought up on the stage a handful of people who stand to benefit from the tax cuts he signed into law earlier this year.

There were no new policies and not a lot of new material, but if you go to see the village people, you'd be disappointed not to hear YMCA.

So Trump spent much of this 90-minute speech going through the greatest hits, talking about how members of his cabinet are straight out of central casting, denigrating Somali immigrants, weaving all over the place, joking about how it would be boring if he stuck to the teleprompter, and occasionally making it back to the economy.

Yeah, and as our friends at Marketplace always say, the stock market is not the economy.

A recent Fox News poll found three quarters of voters view the economy negatively, and two to one, they blame Trump for the current economy rather than former President Biden.

The economy used to be Trump's strength, but at the moment it's a major weakness and Democrats are certainly making the most of it.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro posted on social media that Trump spent his speech, quote, telling Pennsylvanians not to believe what they can see with their own two eyes, the skyrocketing cost of living and rising prices at the grocery store.

He's not really.

Take this from an interview he did this week with Politico's Dasha Burns.

I wonder what grade you would give.

You know, Trump typically has strong instincts for appealing to his base, but he does risk looking out of touch here.

Last night, yet again, he mocked the preoccupation with affordability.