The Affordability Delusion

There are in politics moments when a leader reveals not merely his policies, but the limits of his own comprehension. We have reached such a moment when Mr. Trump — his instincts dulled, his circle of truth-tellers long since exiled — begins to treat affordability as though it were a partisan conspiracy.

Here we have an administration that has engineered the most inflationary tableau imaginable: crippling tariffs that raise costs on every imported necessity; an immigration crackdown that terrorizes and depletes the very workforce that keeps the economy functioning; and the myriad multiplier effects that follow from both. One does not need an economics degree or even a calculator to understand why dollars are not stretching quite as far.

Yet, rather than adjust course or acknowledge reality, the presidential PR apparatus has chosen to wage rhetorical war on the concept of affordability itself. Prices, we are instructed, are not rising — only our ingratitude is. The turkey was cheaper this year, gas is practically free, and the economy is apparently performing acts of fiscal levitation right before our untrained eyes. To notice otherwise is to join the conspiracy.

It is a strategy so detached from reality that even his most ardent admirers will feel the cognitive dissonance. For they, unlike he, cannot demand tribute from corporations or mint souvenir coins to soothe their finances. They feel the grocery bill. They know the rent. Reality is not so easily bullied.

There is a tragic show-business parallel here. It brings to mind those final Elvis performances — sequins glistening, voice fading, the audience unsure whether to applaud or wince. Decline can be masked for a time, but only for a time.

In the end, even the most loyal fans can tell when the music has stopped.