President Trump is bristling at concerns about affordability and high prices under his administration, taking a dismissive tone toward an issue that could define next year’s midterm elections.

Trump has rapidly shifted his messaging on the cost of living since last week, when the issue helped propel Democrats to electoral victories in Virginia, New Jersey and New York City. He initially argued Republicans needed to talk more about the issue and highlight their accomplishments, before pivoting to calling complaints about high prices a “con” perpetuated by Democrats.

White House officials have echoed the president’s argument that the economy is strong while dismissing questions about whether he needs to do more to address affordability. At the same time, the administration has taken some steps to try to combat high prices, an indication they are aware it will be a key issue in 2026.

Asked by Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Monday if affordability was a “voter perception issue” or if more needed to be done to address costs, Trump replied that it was a “con job by the Democrats.”

He later cast doubt on the idea that many Americans are anxious about the economy.

“I don’t know that they are saying that,” Trump said. “I think polls are fake. We have the greatest economy we’ve ever had.”

A Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos survey conducted in late October found a majority of Americans said they are spending more on groceries and utility bills than a year ago. An Associated Press exit poll conducted after the Nov. 4 elections found 49 percent of Virginia voters said the economy was their top issue, while 56 percent of New York City voters said cost of living was the city’s top issue. 

The most recent available data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed prices were up 3 percent in September compared with a year earlier, an increase that is down sharply from a peak of 9 percent inflation in June 2022. But the data also showed the costs of certain goods remained high. The cost of energy was up 2.8 percent compared with the same time last year, while the cost of electricity was up 5.1 percent and the price of food was up 3.1 percent.

Trump has repeatedly touted specific areas where prices have fallen since he took office, particularly the costs of eggs and gasoline. And he has repeatedly noted the price of a Thanksgiving meal package from Walmart is down 25 percent from a year ago, though the package includes fewer items.

“We did a great job on groceries and affordability. The only problem is the fake news,” Trump said during a meeting with the Hungarian prime minister last Friday.

During that same meeting, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt scolded reporters who she said “refuse to cover” Trump’s efforts to address affordability. She cited the massive tax and spending bill, which extended the 2017 tax cuts that were set to expire, as well as efforts to slash regulations to boost the economy.

“Affordability is what the American people elected this president to do, and he is doing it,” Leavitt said.

White House communications director Steven Cheung on Tuesday shared a chart from Bloomberg News that showed the mentions of an “economic slowdown” on earnings calls and shareholders’ calls were at their lowest point since 2007.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that the Trump administration “inherited an affordability crisis” and argued the lengthy government shutdown hurt the economy.

One strategist noted to The Hill that Trump’s repeated insistence that the economy has never been stronger and that cost-of-living concerns are a political creation makes it harder for other White House officials to acknowledge the issue, since they would be seen as out of step with the president.

Still, the administration has taken some actions in recent days to show it is focused on bringing prices down for consumers.

Trump last Friday directed the Justice Department to investigate the meatpacking industry, which he accused of “driving up the price of Beef through Illicit Collusion, Price Fixing, and Price Manipulation.” Beef prices are up roughly 15 percent over the past year. The move carried echoes of the Biden administration, which previously took aim at major meat companies over high prices.

The White House is also weighing a proposal for a 50-year mortgage, which advocates have argued would lower the cost of monthly mortgage payments for potential homebuyers.

Trump allies have argued that the benefits of the tax cut and spending bill he signed in July have yet to fully kick in, and that increased investments from foreign countries will help boost the economy further in the months and years to come.

There are some parallels to the Biden administration, where officials spent years making the case that the economy was trending in the right direction after the COVID-19 pandemic and that its policies were working, even as voters were adamant they were getting crushed by inflation.

Jesse Lee, who worked on the National Economic Council during the Biden administration, argued there are some key differences. He pointed to Trump’s use of tariffs and his administration’s rollback of funding for clean energy projects as examples of how the White House has undermined attempts to lower the cost of energy and other goods.

“There’s no great message when people are in economic crisis,” Lee said. “There’s nothing you can say that will make them feel better, but there are things you can say that will make them feel worse, and saying affordability is a made-up con job is about the worst thing you can say.”

The cost of living is expected to remain a top issue for voters heading into next November’s midterms, and national elections are often defined by the economic outlook.

But Trump administration officials have remained optimistic that, given enough time to implement their agenda, the public will start to feel the benefits.

“We have slowed the price increases down, and they’re going to continue to slow down, and that real working-class wages will go up and that will address the affordability issue,” Bessent said.

“Let’s keep the economy open, let our policies kick in, and let’s see if … costs come down, real wages go up, and then we can have an election next November,” he added.