Friday, August 21, 2026

Let’s get Trump on the campaign trail … to help Democrats

 

Let’s get Trump on the campaign trail … to help Democrats

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/8/20/800087044/news/trump-affordability-campaign-trail-midterms-democrats/ 

Let’s get Trump on the campaign trail … to help Democrats

by kos
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Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump smiles at a campaign rally at Gastonia Municipal Airport, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, in Gastonia, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Donald Trump, shown in November 2024.AP

There possibly can’t be anything more terrifying to a Republican candidate facing brutal electoral headwinds this November than the prospect of President Donald Trump hitting the campaign trail on their behalf.

Just these past few weeks, he’s delivered winning gems like this:

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Trump: For you to pay a TINY little bit more for your gasoline, you're doing it so that a very evil country cannot have a nuclear weapon. Remember that when you’re paying $4. I’ll never apologize. pic.twitter.com/SRdBzE3g4h— Acyn (@Acyn) August 14, 2026

“For you to pay a tiny little bit more for your gasoline, just remember you’re doing that a very evil country … we don’t want to have them have a nuclear weapon,” he said. “Remember that when you have to pay a little bit more, you’re at $4—it’s okay. I mean, it’s—I’m not, I’m not, I’ll never apologize. I did the right thing.”

During the campaign, Trump promised gas below $2 per gallon. Now he won’t apologize for $4, and “it’s okay.” 

Of course, it’s okay for him. He doesn’t have to worry about paying for gas.

Consider also his bizarre insistence that Democrats somehow invented the word “affordability” after he took office.

On July 26, at a rally in Marietta, Georgia, he whined:

“First day, first press conference, nice, friendly press con. You know they treat me so nicely. ‘What are you going to do about the prices?’ And they used the word, first time I heard it, it was a word made up by the Democrats, affordability. They said affordability. I said, ‘I’ve been here one day. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.’ And we’re taking care of it. We’re taking good care of it.”

He cried about it again on Aug. 5.

The price of regular unleaded gasoline is displayed in Irving, Texas, Monday, May 11, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
The price of regular unleaded gasoline is displayed in Irving, Texas, on May 11.AP

“Our costs are coming way down,” he claimed. “You know, they talk about affordability. I took over the country. The prices were through the roof. In my first day, the press said, ‘What are you going to do about affordability?’ It was a word they devised—affordability. They never used that word before.”

There’s just one problem: “Affordability” was a mainstay of Trump’s own 2024 campaign.

“Starting on Day 1, we will end inflation and make America affordable again,” he said in Montana in August 2024. 

See that word? “Affordable.” 

Here he was again in Pennsylvania, on Aug. 17, 2024: 

“Starting the day I take the oath of office, I will rapidly drive prices down, and we will make America affordable again. We’re going to make it affordable again.”

Not just one “affordable,” but two!

Of course, Trump had heard the word. Democrats didn’t invent it. The press didn’t invent it. And Democrats certainly weren’t eager to make affordability the defining issue of the 2024 election when they were the ones taking the blame for inflation.

Trump made that promise himself—over and over and over again. Americans heard him loud and clear, and too many of them voted for him believing he would deliver on it. Now he wants everyone to forget.

So yes, please, Donnie: Hit the campaign trail. Have your stupid September “convention.” Force Republican candidates to share a stage with a president sporting dismal job approval ratings. Make them sit there while Trump mocks the very idea of “affordability” after campaigning on it relentlessly. Let him tell Americans struggling with their bills that $4 gas is “okay.” And let him do it while defending a war the public hates and that he insists they should be happy to pay more to support.

Republicans have to spend the next three months trying to convince voters that everything is going great. Meanwhile, Trump apparently wants to spend those same three months reminding them that it isn’t.

The more he keeps this up, the more November could look like this:

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NEW: Republicans unexpectedly lose Pennsylvania State House 12th District Special Election, located in Butler County, PA where Trump’s assassination attempt occurred and which Trump won by 19 pts.— Dominic Michael Tripi (@DMichaelTripi) August 19, 2026

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  1. Comment by UKPrince46.

    Can't trust the American people... not just those 77 million that voted trump in a 2nd time! (calls into question their overall judgement & faulty perception of truths), but the 41% (2024) of voting age who do not vote. Add 1-1/2 to 2% that always votes 3rd party and you have a majority of ignorant (to stupid) voting age people in the 21st century. Reasons: Most MSM owed/controlled by republicans/conservatives & focus on bottom line profits; dumbing down of a) Americans civic education b) teaching real American history and c) education in general (underfunding, poor teacher pay, etc.).

    It does not bode well for Americans in dealing with fascism, corruption in government and business, world diplomacy AND climate change. It certainly does not help us in dealing with the power-that-be and AI, data centers, robotics, etc., or Elon Musk!!!

  2. Comment by NotSure.

    I bet a bunch of people wish they could pay only $4 for gas.

  3. Comment by A Citizen.

    "Made up word" is a popular right-wing fallacy in recent years. For one, all words are made up. Secondly, it's not some new word, it first appeared in print in 1910. There's only one human alive today who was born before 1910. And even if it was made up recently, it's an easy word to understand. It's a way of deflecting by denying the word even exists. Trump even claimed that "groceries" was exotic concept. How in the world did people see him as a man of the people?

    I'm not sure what fallacy it is. Invincible ignorance, in that it refused to acknowledge that a well-understood word even exists?

  4. Comment by jhecht.

    You know what would help Democrats? Non-stop ads on every type of media reminding voters that while they're having trouble making ends meet, Trump and family are making billions on insider trading, no bid contracts, and corruption. We're less than 3 months from the mid terms. What are they waiting for?

    • Reply by redsprite.

      Ads don't have the reach they once did, and they're expensive. Dems are better off using social media to maximum effect.

    • Reply by jhecht.

      Kamala Harris got destroyed by ads about trans prisoners and asking if she'd do anything different than Biden. Ads are effective when done right.

    • Reply by crispycreme.

      The only messaging I'm getting from Dems on any of my feeds (email, text, ads on YouTube, etc), are ones asking for fucking money. THAT'S IT. I guess the AI algorithms of world figure I'm only good as an ATM machine. At least, I hope so. Because if that's all the Dems are sending out, then they really really suck at this.

  5. Comment by Betty Lou.

    Trump loves nothing more than being in front of a crowd where they clap like performing seals after every nonsensical load of lying B.S. he spews. They appear not to care that he's the one causing their pain at the pump, in grocery stores, unaffordable housing etc etc as they stand in front and behind him laughing and clapping away looking like the fools they are. Unbelievable.

  6. Comment by Awful Falafel Waffles ROFL.

    You seriously can't see the difference between "affordable" and "affordability?"

    /s

  7. Comment by fargap.

    I'll offer my usual dreary whine about Trump being, hands down, our best campaign weapon.

  8. Comment by bigwhoop.

    PLEASE Lyin' Orange Donny, PLEASE hold a convention! And as many rallies as you want, it's a great way to remind people what a lying incompetent imbecile you turned out to be!

    Helpful talking points:

    - Your #1 priority, the golden ballroom! People love it when you talk about the ballroom!

    - Your Qatari bribery plane, fly around in that, talk it up! People love hearing about your bribery plane and its golden interior decor! It lets them know how classy you are!

    - Talk about how many billions you and your family have raked in during the past two years and how much better off they'd be if they were you, they want nothing more than to be you, they're so envious! But they aren't, they're losers!

    - Talk about commies! Forget food, gas and affordability (a made up word!) people's #1 concern right now is commies! It's the 1950's all over again!

    I could go on, but you get the idea, once you start you'll be on a roll and it will produce plenty of viral sound bites! Content is king!

    Note you'll need to stay awake for these events though, it could be tough.

  9. Comment by AlienBarbers.

    This kind of material can be used against all the complicit Republican incumbents, whether Trump comes to their neighborhood or not.

    And Democrats shouldn't forget that their local GOP incumbents helped Trump achieve a mind-blowing $40,000,000,000; sorry, I meant $40,000,000,000,000 deficit, in a time when we aren't in a big recession.

    If this is <<your local Republican's>> idea of good times, what will bad times be like???

    People should be informed that if that debt were split between the 54.4 million American citizen families in the U.S., defined asw 2+ people living together, it would cost $735,000 per family. (Plus interest). Or to split it between all people in the country according to the latest census estimate, it would be $117,000 each. Tell your kids to start saving up. If the local Republican is on tape claiming to be a deficit fighter, let them explain what they've done about that... or all that monuments Trump is blowing billions on.

  10. Comment by blueoregon.

    So, let's give Saudi Arabia nuclear weapons instead? Honestly, I wish we had a rigorous media in this country who would call out this crap.

    • Reply by sfmikey1.

      blueoregon, does anyone realize how many countries could become nuclear powers rather quickly? Like Japan, Canada, Brazil, any EU country, South Africa, the list goes on. And some strange agents are already nuclear powers; look at Pakistan and India with daggers-drawn. We're in Wally World.

    • Reply by Carnelian Orb.

      It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world

    • Reply by Pittwoman.

      How many nukes does Israel have?

    • Reply by sfmikey1.

      Israel can turn the Middle East into a sheet of radioactive glass. North Korea has nukes, too. Many countries have a nuclear arsenal.

  11. Comment by sfmikey1.

    I know this has been mentioned a lot, but it bears repeating, especially by Democrats during the campaign season....

    During his first term, Trump assured Chris Wallace on TV that he had a perfect health plan to replace Obamacare. In two weeks' time. So? It's gotta be perfect now, right?

    The only conclusion I can draw is: 1) Trump was lying, or 2) he's holding out on us.

    (Of course, he was lying to Chris Wallace. With his accordion hands, Trump lied to everybody on national television. He never had a replacement for the Affordable Care Act, although he wanted to repeal it. All Trump ever does is lie!)

    • Reply by ColoTim.

      And tear down anything that works without anything to replace it.

    • Reply by sfmikey1.

      Trump also tears down and destroys anything before anybody has a chance to stop him. Look at the Bonwit Teller building in New York, which Trump deliberately lied about preserving parts of it in order to build his Trump Tower. Or, the East Wing of the White House, which he said he wouldn't touch while building his beautiful ballroom. Well, he flattened the East Wing, and then the project became a "national security emergency."

      Trump is a rapist.

    • Reply by ColoTim.

      And the John F. Kennedy Center, which he defaced with his name, then wouldn't remove his name from, and is scheming on how to keep his name up and maybe add to. The Rose Garden is another example. His construction of the ballroom is another example where he's rushing against court orders to try and get enough built so he can say he has too much built to be able to stop. His helipad now is in the process of being rebuilt. The Reflecting Pool was hastily done - pretty much anything he's done with his no-bid contracts have been done in too much haste and have been done so poorly they have had to be done over again. His war against Iran was done without proper planning, but that was also done badly in part because he and Hegseth had fired the top brass who could properly plan the war and those who were left were ignored in what little run-up to the war existed.

      Trump's foreign policy has been mostly to fawn over Putin and other dictators and to destroy America's alliances that have been built carefully since World War II. He has shown no planning or interest in anything other than pissing off allies, a desire to acquire some foreign territory, a willingness to bully anyone who stands in his way, a willingness to listen to bad advice from Putin, Netanyahu, Xi, Kim, Bonesaws and anyone else who will make him feel good, pay him money and then get useful things back from him for their bribes and flattery.

      This has gone on far longer than I intended as a comment. It's just that Trump has so many examples of giving no thought to anyone or anything that won't give him immediate gratification in some way, be it pleasure, revenge, money, flattery, sycophancy or some other carnal desire. Trump enjoys hurting others. The pain he inflicts on others is another pleasure he gains from those he surrounds himself with. What a sick man he is. And what a sick country we are for having put and kept him in power over us.

    • Reply by sfmikey1.

      America is in the wilderness. First off, Fatso's gotta go. Then, maybe, the healing can begin its race with climate catastrophe.

  12. Comment by cgCALI.

    “I’ll never apologize” (no matter what) is what keeps his dwindling support base hanging on.

  13. Comment by Robpos.

    > “Our costs are coming way down,” he claimed.<

    No, shitehead, your (personal) revenues are going way up.

    Same effect, not the same thing…

  14. Comment by ThePansyBastard.

    I kept looking at the faces behind him as he spoke. Priceless.

  15. Comment by Jim McHenry.

    He is the Pandora's Box for the GOP that keeps on giving to Democrats. He needs to hold regular campaign rallies where he can tell people about the booming economy, he doesn't care about the cost of things and it is fake news plus no new stupid wars, great healthcare for a fraction of the cost and DOGE checks for everyone., He can also regale his assembled cult members with stories of his magnificent Bawlroom (with Fuhrer bunker underneath) and the fabulous stone it is made of (and they will cheer on cue because they are rock stupid), showerheads and toilets he is making great again and no more "transgender for everyone" and they won't have to worry anymore about their kids going to school one day and coming home another gender, how the Iran is totally defeated and begging for a deal, and so many more of his greatest shits, oops, I meant hits.

    • Reply by Dartagnan.

      Good encapsulation, Jim McHenry !

    • Reply by Jim McHenry.

      :-)

  16. Comment by jagbag.

    "Of course, it’s okay for him. He doesn’t have to worry about paying for gas."

    PAY for it??? The ass-wipe's never even personally pumped ONE GALLON of gas in his entire, disgusting life!!! It's ALL as alien to him as the far side of Pluto! AND . . . I seriously doubt that Jabba-the-Butt has ever seen the inside of a grocery store either.

    • Reply by Robpos.

      You’ve forgotten.

      He thought ‘groceries’ was a new concept, not so long ago…

  17. Comment by libera nos.

    The other thing that you want to get Trump talking about, especially in deep red territory, is his complete and total support and respect for the troops. Maybe he could bring Hegseth along.

  18. Comment by spn09.

    Reading this diary, I am wondering about how most Trump voters don't think about Trump. Rather, he is a brand. A brand of lies. For diehard Trump voters who vote based on a recognizable brand, the compression of information is, for example,

    Trump. Business. Economy. Money good, or

    Trump. "Peach colored". Immigration. "Not-peach-colored" bad, or

    Trump. Man. Dominant Jerkface. Man good.

    Apologies on peach-colored, sort of. I can't stand saying "white" with a straight face.

    • Reply by BobRR.

      My oldest and best friend is in the Trump cult. I think he voted because of business/economy and man/dominant. He married my late wife's sister, and they were in Mexico when we met and married them. So white/immigration is not why he votes for Trump.

  19. Comment by Judge Moonbox.

    There still are some Trumpies out there who, if Biden parted the waters on national TV, would find a way to say that Trump should get the credit.

  20. Comment by Paoli Graveyard.

    The mid-terms are obviously a referendum on the orange rapist. And he is wildly unpopular. So, yeah, donald, go out there and tell everyone to shut up because we're in the Golden Age.

    • Reply by stevemb.

      Yeah, Donald, go out there and tell your people how $4/gas is no big deal, that we need to build more data centers, that we need to start a few more wars, etc...

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