Donald Trump's loquacity misses out on rise in living costs for Americans

Amid a deluge of jokes, insults, social media rage and warnings of imminent military action that have spilled from US President Donald Trump in an especially loquacious few days, there have been two startling omissions, reports CNN.

He's announced few plans to ease deep insecurity inflicted on millions of Americans by the punishing cost of daily life or the scary spike in premiums for Affordable Care Act policies. Instead, he's using a master brand maker's familiar tactic - fashioning a new reality in which such problems don't exist.

"Look, affordability is a hoax that was started by Democrats, who caused the problems of pricing," Trump fumed at the start of Tuesday's interminable Cabinet meeting. "They're like scam artists. You know … I call them con men and women. They come out, they say 'affordability."

Trump has a point that inflation raced to its highest levels in 40 years under President Joe Biden. And some Democrats seemed to have belatedly discovered the word "affordability" and view it as a magic wand to revive their party.

But being blamed for rising costs is a curse of incumbency. Trump should know. His vows to cut prices helped him win back the White House last year. And now he's in the hot seat. Calling the whole thing a hoax won't help him or hard-hit citizens.

Trump is taking a major risk in choosing denial about the cost-of-living crisis currently dominating politics, especially since recent elections show it can be a winner for Democrats and threatens GOP control of Congress next year.

Not for the first time have Trump's affordability rants left JD Vance in a tough spot. As a potential Trump successor, the vice president can't just ignore voters' top issue. Sitting across the Cabinet table from Trump he implicitly accepted not everything was perfect, while echoing his boss's line that it was Biden's fault.