MOUNT POCONO, PA: It was billed as the reboot of a presidency struggling to find its footing. Donald Trump arrived at the Mount Pocono casino on Tuesday night with a clear mission: to reclaim the narrative on the economy and reassure voters that he understood their financial pain. But in the midst of a 90-minute speech designed to energize his base before the midterms, one moment stood out not for the noise it generated, but for the noise it didn’t.
When President Trump attempted to dismiss the nation’s affordability crisis as a “hoax” and a “con job,” the reaction from the MAGA faithful, usually reliable for raucous cheers, was telling. There was no applause. There were no cheers. There was just silence.
The Disconnect
The scene captured the central tension of Trump’s current political reality. While standing beneath a banner promising “Lower prices, bigger paychecks,” the President’s rhetoric frequently drifted into a denial of the very problems his audience faces daily.
“I have no higher priority than making America affordable again,” Trump claimed in a rare moment of scripted discipline. Yet, moments later, he reverted to freewheeling campaign mode, insisting that the economic struggles of ordinary Americans were exaggerated or non-existent, grading his own economy as “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus.”
The silence from the crowd suggested a stark disconnect. With inflation rising, partially fueled by the President’s own aggressive tariff policies, and approval for his economic handling sitting at a dismal 33%, the claim that high prices are a “hoax” appeared to alienate the very people he came to court.
Pivoting to Noise
Perhaps sensing the lack of energy in the room regarding his economic record, Trump quickly pivoted to a more familiar, and darker, playbook: xenophobia and personal attacks. If he couldn’t get the crowd to cheer for his economic theories, he knew he could get them to chant against his perceived enemies.
The silence on inflation was rapidly replaced by chants of “Send her back!” as Trump launched a racist attack on Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, falsely claiming she married her brother and is in the country illegally. He further escalated the rhetoric by reviving his controversial “shithole countries” comments, disparaging immigrants from Somalia and Haiti while pining for migrants from Norway and Sweden.
He also leaned into white nationalist terminology, referencing “remigration” (or the forced mass exit of immigrants) as an economic solution, promising it would lead to “higher income for American citizens.”
The Economic Reality
Behind the rally bluster lies a troubling economic reality that silence cannot hide. Despite Trump’s assertion that “prices are coming down tremendously,” the Consumer Price Index shows average prices have risen 1.7% since January, with overall prices 3% higher than they were a year ago.
While the President attempts to blame the previous administration, his own “liberation day” tariffs have contributed to the rising costs of goods. In a tacit admission of this backfire, the administration has recently quietly reduced tariffs on coffee, beef, and tropical fruit, while announcing a $12 billion bailout for farmers hurt by the resulting trade wars.
The Long Road to Midterms
The rally ended with the familiar sounds of the Village People’s Y.M.C.A. and the President’s signature dance moves, but the underlying anxiety of the evening remained. Trump’s Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles, has reportedly urged him to “start campaigning” to save the upcoming midterms.
However, as Tuesday night demonstrated, the campaign strategy faces a significant hurdle. When the music stops and the racist jeers fade, the President is left with an economic argument that is met with silence. As Democrat Malcolm Kenyatta noted following the visit, “There were a lot of people who did go into this election with a real hope that Donald Trump was going to lower costs. Now he says that affordability is a hoax.”
For a crowd feeling the pinch of inflation, being told their struggles are fake may be the one line they aren’t willing to applaud.
