President Donald Trump told a supportive crowd at a Hispanic Heritage Month event in the White House on Wednesday that he has “done a very bad job” of explaining how well the country is performing economically. He emphasized that, despite his own admission, the United States is “doing better than it has ever done,” and urged his supporters to turn out in force for the upcoming midterm elections.
Campaign blitz begins
Trump announced a 32‑day nationwide campaign tour that will take him to Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama and Ohio as he backs Republican candidates for the November 3 elections. The tour is intended to counteract what he described as a lack of messaging about his administration’s economic stewardship.
Economic backdrop
Recent public opinion polls show a decline in the President’s approval rating on economic management, a trend that the administration attributes to high gasoline prices and external factors such as the ongoing Iran conflict. The Conference Board reported that U.S. consumer confidence fell to a near 12½‑year low in September, with households expecting a deterioration in business and labor‑market conditions over the next six months.
Despite the dip in confidence, other economic indicators remain positive. Job growth accelerated in August after a summer slowdown, and home prices continued to rise even as mortgage rates increased, providing some relief to homeowners.
Trump’s response
Addressing the poll numbers, the President said, “We’re not getting the word out. I’m going out because nobody’s selling it. We’re doing an extremely poor job of promotion, and an extremely great job of running the country. But we’ll get the word out. It should not be hard.” He highlighted the historical pattern in which the party holding the White House often loses congressional seats in the first midterm election after a presidential victory, and called on supporters to help reverse that pattern.
Political stakes
The Republican Party is investing millions of dollars in races that were once considered safe but are now viewed as competitive, as voters express fatigue with the economic fallout from the Iran conflict and rising energy costs. Trump’s tour is designed to energize the base, especially in key swing states, and to reinforce the message that his administration’s policies have kept the country on a strong fiscal footing.
Looking ahead
As the campaign trail unfolds, the President’s team will focus on highlighting achievements such as low unemployment, robust job creation, and a resilient housing market, while countering narratives that attribute economic challenges to his tariff policies or foreign‑policy decisions. The upcoming weeks will test the effectiveness of the President’s outreach as voters weigh economic concerns against the broader political agenda heading into November.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
