Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Trump’s Fake Populism And Inaction On The Affordability Crisis

Washington, D.C. - Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) today spoke on the Senate floor slamming Donald Trump for campaigning on populist ideals and gaslighting the American people on affordability instead of taking any real action to address the skyrocketing costs of groceries, housing, and health care. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Yesterday in Michigan, Donald Trump once again tried to gaslight the American people about the affordability crisis.

In another rambling speech—meant to prove he cares about the struggles of ordinary Americans—he mocked the word “affordability” once again, he called it a “fake.”

Maybe to Donald Trump affordability is a fake because he’s a billionaire. He doesn't have to go out and buy the groceries, buy a new car, sign up for a health care proposal that doesn't meet your family's needs. Donald Trump doesn't need to do those things. He doesn't have to worry. But tell that to a teacher, to a truck driver, to a bartender, to a nurse—tell that to anyone who actually has to work for a living. Affordability isn’t a fake, it’s a very real nightmare. And I'm sure last night probably tens of millions of families gathered to decide which bills they could afford to pay, and which bills they couldn’t, for necessities they need.

Like many presidents before him, Donald Trump is falling into a classic trap: when times are tough, he ignores reality and tries to convince people that everything is actually going great. This has never worked, and it’s not going to work now.

A year ago, Donald Trump stormed into office on the promise to lower costs. To fight for ordinary Americans. To unrig a rigged system. He ran, in other words, as a populist who promised to drain the swamp and end inflation.

But Donald Trump is not a populist—he is a posturer. He throws out these populist ideas to try and persuade people he is on their side, but he never does anything to get them done. He never lifts a finger or a phone. And the American people see that he talks a good game but never does anything to accomplish what he wants to do when it comes to lowering their costs—and the situation of the American people only gets worse.

To Donald Trump: you’re posturing, you're throwing out these ideas that the people like and then doing nothing to make them happen. Ain’t gonna work, Donald Trump. Your posturing ain’t gonna work. When it comes to costs, when it comes to populism, you have to solve the problem.

What is Donald Trump doing now? He is throwing spaghetti at the wall, he throws a slew of half-baked proposals that are thin on substance, throws those out in a desperate attempt to show Americans that he cares about rising costs.

In the last week, he’s talked recently about housing, credit cards, trade, and done nothing on any of them. And costs keep rising.

The American people don’t want a bunch of words that have nothing of substance behind them. They don’t want pandering. They don’t want posturing. They want Donald Trump to take action.

And this is precisely Donald Trump’s Achilles heel when it comes to costs and so much else—he talks about a lot of things that may sound nice but never follows through and never delivers on any his promises. Whether its costs or Epstein or ending forever wars the pattern is the same.

Donald Trump talks about credit cards one day, food prices the next, housing the day after, but never actually follows through by getting his Republican colleagues in the Congress to act.

So, here’s the reality for Donald Trump: it’s not enough for you, Donald Trump, to just talk about a bunch of ideas to lower costs— you need to get your Republican colleagues to actually pass legislation, much of which we Democrats have supported for a long time.

Otherwise, what Trump’s doing is not populism, it’s posturing.

Actions speak louder than words—if Donald Trump is to get serious about costs, he needs to put in the work to get Republicans to pass legislation that actually will lower costs for America.

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