President Donald Trump heads to Las Vegas on Thursday to convince working-class Americans who supported him in 2024 that the Trump economy is making them richer. That may be a tough case to make as gas prices cut into their salaries and tax refunds.
When Trump accepted a delivery of McDonald’s cheeseburgers this week at the White House, he wondered how it would look for the cameras. “This doesn't look staged, does it?” Trump asked.
With the Iran war imposing increasing costs on Americans, the president is searching for ways to shift attention to popular policies, including his tax rebates for tipped workers like the “DoorDash Grandma” Sharon Simmons who dropped off the burgers.
Several of Trump’s aides tell me and my colleagues they are eager to turn Americans’ focus back to the good parts of the U.S. economy. The economy is growing, unemployment is low and some service workers are getting bigger refunds this year because of Trump’s rebates.
But the economic outlook is shaky. The Iran war is raising energy prices and the administration’s internal timetables for getting gas prices – nearly a dollar higher per gallon than a year ago – back down are slipping later into the year. It could take weeks for global oil producers to restart production after hostilities cease – if they cease.
Trump takes his case to voters this week, with an event focused on tipped workers in Las Vegas on Thursday and an appearance in Arizona on Friday.
In some ways, Simmons, the 58-year-old delivery worker Trump welcomed to the White House this week, is an avatar of the post-pandemic U.S. economy. Struck by the hardship of a husband’s cancer diagnosis, she’s pulling shifts in the “gig economy” to make ends meet, according to her account.
Those jobs offer extra cash and flexibility, but not the consistent paycheck or wrap-around health and retirement benefits of full-time work. And the cost of higher gas prices as she makes deliveries may come out of her tax refund.
Time is short for the White House to convince voters that the pros of the Trump economy outweigh the cons. Republicans’ battle for control of Congress is underway, and voters are set to deliver their verdict in November.
Some of Trump's political advisers have a rosy outlook, predicting the president will soon clinch a deal with Iran to reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz and that the corresponding economic anxiety will cool before the midterms.
But five Republican strategists told my colleagues they fear the White House has lost control of the affordability debate. The Cook Political Report, a political forecaster, revised their projections for four Senate races in Democrats’ favor this week.
Before she left the White House, Trump tipped Simmons $100 for her delivery. She said his policies saved her thousands of dollars in taxes. Come November, voters will judge whether those savings still matter as everyday costs rise.
Trump’s feud with Pope Leo and the Vatican has attracted a lot of attention. But his split with another Italian power center may be more telling. The president publicly broke with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni over what he considers insufficient help to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. “I thought she had courage,” he told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. “I was wrong.”
April 16: Trump economic event in Las Vegas
April 16: Election to fill seat vacated by New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11)
April 17: Trump speaks at Turning Point USA event in Phoenix
April 25: White House Correspondents' Association annual dinner
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