President Donald Trump’s recent swing through Pennsylvania underscored the mounting tension within the Republican Party over how to address the economic anxieties of everyday Americans. With the 2026 midterm elections on the horizon and recent Democratic victories ringing alarm bells, Senate Republicans are pressing Trump to take the affordability crisis seriously—something the president has repeatedly dismissed as a partisan ploy.
On Tuesday, December 9, 2025, Trump took the stage at the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Mount Pocono, a small town nestled in the Pocono Mountains. The venue, with its conference center ballroom, may have lacked the scale of his usual rallies, but the stakes were high. Trump’s message was clear: inflation is no longer a problem, and concerns about affordability are, in his words, a “hoax” manufactured by Democrats to tarnish his economic record. “Prices are coming down very substantially,” he told the crowd, insisting, “inflation is stopped.”
Yet, this message clashed sharply with the lived experiences of many in Monroe County, where Trump’s rally was held. The county, which flipped to Trump in 2024 after supporting Biden in 2020, relies heavily on tourism and affordable housing, thanks to its proximity to New York City. For residents like Lou Heddy, a retired maintenance mechanic, the pinch of rising prices is all too real. “Once the prices get up for food, they don’t ever come back down. That’s just the way I feel. I don’t know how the hell he would do it,” Heddy told reporters, reflecting a skepticism that seems widespread—even among Trump’s own supporters.
Others, like Democratic voter Suzanne Vena, place the blame squarely on Trump’s policies. “That’s what we were originally told,” Vena said of Trump’s pledge to stop inflation. “Did I believe it? That’s another question. I did not.” She cited tariffs as a major driver of her rising bills for food, rent, and electricity.
Inside the Republican Party, frustration is mounting. Senate Republicans, still reeling from a string of Democratic victories—including Eileen Higgins’ win as Miami’s first Democratic mayor in nearly 30 years and Eric Gisler’s upset in a Georgia district Trump carried in 2024—are urging the president to stop downplaying the issue. “You can’t call it a hoax and suggest that people are going to believe it,” Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) cautioned, emphasizing the need for honesty about economic struggles. She noted that Trump, like most presidents, isn’t personally confronting the rising costs of groceries, health care, or gas. “It is important that his team be really honest with him about what people are talking about around the dinner table,” Murkowski added.
Other GOP senators echoed these concerns. A senior Republican senator, speaking anonymously, warned, “I think Republicans need to have a message about caring for people who are struggling because of the high cost of things. I see it at home. … The cost of things is a problem.” Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) was even more direct: “We’re in a hole,” he said, pointing to persistent struggles in working-class communities. He called for quicker progress on trade deals, arguing that “tariffs by themselves are the definition of uncertainty. You don’t know when they may be jacked up, when they may be removed. Businesses need some certainty.”
Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) urged the administration to focus on energy costs, advocating for year-round sales of gasoline with 15 percent blended ethanol. “It all comes down to energy—transportation costs, you name it, that catches the consumer. Let’s focus on energy,” she said.
Meanwhile, Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) raised alarms about Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on Canadian fertilizer, warning it would harm Maine farmers who rely on Canadian imports. “Having a new tariff on Canadian fertilizer would be very harmful to farmers in Maine who get much of their fertilizer from Canada,” Collins said, acknowledging that Republicans must do more to address affordability.
Health care costs are another sore spot. Republican lawmakers have voiced disappointment over Trump’s lack of leadership on rising health insurance premiums and the expiration of enhanced subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) said, “presidential guidance would be very helpful” as the party grapples with how to respond.
Despite the administration’s unveiling of a $12 billion aid package for farmers this week—a move farm advocates welcomed—commodity-crop growers are still facing projected losses between $35 billion and $44 billion, according to Reuters. The aid, while significant, simply doesn’t bridge the gap for many in agriculture.
Polling paints a bleak picture for Trump and the GOP on economic issues. According to a RealClearPolitics average from early December, Trump’s approval rating on the economy stands at just 40.7 percent, with a disapproval rating of 55.8 percent. A Politico poll published December 10, 2025, found 55 percent of Americans blame the Trump administration for high grocery prices, and nearly half say groceries, utilities, health care, and transportation are difficult to afford. An Associated Press-NORC survey from November put approval of Trump’s economic handling at only 33 percent.
At the Mount Pocono rally, Trump tried to shift the focus, displaying a chart comparing price increases under Biden to those under his administration. “I have no higher priority than making America affordable again,” he declared, even as he criticized Democrats for, in his view, manufacturing the crisis. Trump also defended his tariffs as a boon for domestic industries like steel, urging Americans to buy fewer imported goods. “You don’t need 37 dolls for your daughter,” he quipped. “Two or three is nice.”
But for voters like Nick Riley, 38, the rhetoric rings hollow. Riley, a former Trump voter, has been forced to cut back on luxuries and is finding it hard to make ends meet. “We’re all broke. It doesn’t matter whether you support Republicans or support Democrats,” he said. “We’re all broke, and we’re all feeling it.”
Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan, whose district hosted the rally and is a prime Democratic target for 2026, acknowledged the challenge. Addressing the crowd before Trump, Bresnahan said the administration was working to lower costs, but voters “aren’t asking for partisan arguments—they’re asking for results.”
Looking ahead, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles told the conservative talk show “The Mom View” that Trump would be hitting the campaign trail more frequently in 2026 to motivate low-propensity voters. “We’re actually going to turn that on its head,” Wiles said, “and put him on the ballot because so many of those low-propensity voters are Trump voters.”
With inflation stubbornly high and political winds shifting, the president’s challenge is clear: convince Americans that he can deliver relief, or risk watching more counties—and perhaps the House—flip blue in next year’s elections.
