Inflation is surging.
The job market is frozen.
Real hourly wages are falling.
And Trump isn't even trying to fix things.
The president who promised us a new Golden Age is, instead, stealing a billion dollars from taxpayers to build himself a tacky gold-plated ballroom.
The Trump cost-of-living squeeze is hurting 9 in 10 Americans
Working Americans are finding themselves losing more and more ground in a K-shaped economy where the rich get richer and everyone else's credit cards get maxed out on gas, groceries and everyday essentials.
Even before Trump's war-of-choice with Iran began, 9 out of 10 Americans felt they were enduring a "cost-of-living crisis."
Today's inflation report showed how much worse that crisis is getting, with inflation surging to 3.8% even as real average hourly wages fell 0.5%.
In real terms, wages are now down 0.3% annually. And Americans are taking on more debt just to get from one paycheck to the next.
A new report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that Americans currently owe $1.25 trillion on their credit cards, up 5.9% from a year earlier.
Consumers are getting no relief
Gas prices continue to rise — hitting $4.50 on May 12, according to AAA.
When it comes to "groceries," a word Trump seems to have forgotten, double-digit inflation is already rampant in products from coffee to beef to fish to fresh produce.
Grocery shoppers can expect even more pain in the months ahead as the "Trump Food Crisis" worsens.
In a March 2026 YouGov poll, which was fielded before Trump started the war with Iran, 61% of Americans said they expected their finances to worsen or stay the same. Among those who expected their finances to worsen, 66% said they would cut back on eating or drinking out, while 33% said they would have to cut back on groceries.
Trump's broken promises are ruining Americans' lives — and stealing our futures
Even amid surging inflation, American workers are getting hit from every side
- The entry-level job market is the worst it's been in 37 years.
- Millions of Americans are "functionally unemployed."
- AI is coming for even more jobs — with more than 100,000 layoffs in the tech sector alone so far this year.
Meanwhile, the debt Trump promised to eliminate in two terms is now larger then the U.S. economy — and hurtling toward $40 trillion.
Maybe it's good that the increasingly demented Trump is now sleeping through most of his workdays.
At least when he's sleeping he can't do any more damage to the economy.
But that doesn't changed the damage he's already caused — or the damaging trajectory he's put the country on.
Because even if Trump is snoozing, we're all still losing.
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