The rising cost of living is squeezing Americans, with polls finding that roughly three-quarters say prices are higher than they were a year ago and that nearly half blame President Donald Trump for that spike.
But House Speaker Mike Johnson dismissed those concerns on Thursday when asked whether he thought Republicans were doing enough to address the affordability crisis in the U.S.
“Relax,” Johnson told NBC News reporter Melanie Zanona. “We are exactly on the trajectory of where we’ve always planned to be. Steady at the wheel, everybody. It’s gonna be fine. Our best days are ahead of us.”
Johnson insisted that Americans will start to receive relief from the affordability crisis next year, when the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” provisions take effect.
However, the people most impacted by rising costs are likely to be harmed by the OBBB, which makes massive cuts to Medicaid and food stamps—programs that the poorest Americans rely on.
What’s more, telling Americans—millions of whom are resorting to using “buy now, pay later” plans to afford their grocery bills—to “relax” is not a satisfactory solution to their current problems.
Indeed, Trump and his party won the 2024 election largely because they promised to tackle affordability on Day 1 of the new administration.
“Starting on Day 1, we will end inflation and make America affordable again,” Trump said during a 2024 campaign rally in Montana. “This election is about saving our economy.”
“Starting the day I take the oath of office, I will rapidly drive prices down and we will make America affordable again. We’re going to make it affordable again,” Trump said again last August, during a rally in Pennsylvania.
Yet Trump has not done that.
Instead, he implemented tariffs that are raising prices and are now starting to hammer the labor market. This year, layoff announcements have reached their highest level since 2020, according to a new report released Thursday by the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
With polls showing the affordability crisis hurting his approval rating and Republicans’ chances at holding their congressional majorities next November, an angry Trump is now calling the affordability crisis a “fake narrative” and a “con job by the Democrats.”
But even Republicans are aware that that message won’t be sufficient for them to hold their House majority in the 2026 midterm elections.
“The best friend the Democrats have right now is the Republicans’ messaging, because we do a terrible job of messaging,” Republican Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee told CNN. “We got a real problem, and we better wake up.”
Suffice it to say, telling Americans to “relax” is likely not what Burchett was thinking when he said his party needs to fix their messaging on affordability.
