Christopher Orr

"I might be wrong," Trump told me. "The country's never done better. People feel good. The gasoline's a little high, but it's coming down. You know, gasoline is lower than it was with Biden and Obama, and I got rid of the nuclear threat." Trump's critics will scoff at his "never done better" claim, and at least some of his supporters might wince. Indeed, one could make the alternative argument that Trump was elected to do one big thing -- bring down inflation -- and inflation on a yearly basis was 3.0 percent when Trump took office in January 2025, and it is 3.7 percent today. That's nowhere near where it was -- 9.1 percent -- in the worst of the Joe Biden years, but Trump promised it would go down, and it hasn't. On the other hand, there is the bill of particulars Trump offered voters in Sioux City and every other place he has held rallies. Look at the stock market, he told the crowd in Iowa, and look at your 401k. They're both up. Then: "Income for hardworking Americans has soared to the highest level ever recorded." That's true. And then: "The poverty rate has just reached its best level in American history." That's true, too, referring to the period in which the rate has been recorded. Then Trump cited other improvements, in manufacturing and exports, some of which were overstated but did indeed reflect progress under Trump. In addition, for Iowa specifically, on September 30 Trump announced the planned construction of a huge new steel plant in the state, which outgoing Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds called "transformational." Say what you want, but that's not nothing. At his rallies, Trump presents a compelling case for solid economic accomplishments -- to go along with the higher energy and food prices that have made inflation so stubborn in the months after Trump started the war in Iran. He promises, of course, that gas prices will plunge as soon as the war ends, which he thinks will be after the midterms. That will be great if it happens, although until then prices will remain a real problem. Still, the good indicators in the economy are real. So are Trump's tax cuts. Onstage in Sioux City, he polled the crowd on their opinion of his moves to eliminate taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security. Reflecting the area's economic and demographic makeup, no tax on tips was somewhat popular; no tax on overtime was more popular; and no tax on Social Security was really, really popular. And that is just the economy, without considering the signature achievement of Trump's second term, which is re-securing the U.S.-Mexico border and stopping cold the massive influx of illegal border crossers of the Biden years. washingtonexaminer.com/daily…