Trump Faces Growing Backlash Over Iran War, Inflation, and Rising Cost of Living Concerns

Politics is all about coalition building. Whatever you’re doing, you need people to go along with you. And the biggest people really that you need to go along with you are your constituents, the voters. They are the coalition that drives most decisions being made. And that’s true at a local level. It’s true at a county level. It’s true at a state level. It’s true at a national level. And it’s really true with someone like Trump, who had such an unorthodox path to the presidency, sort of a coalition of voters that hadn’t been formed before.

Trump Coalition Faces Strain as Inflation and Cost of Living Pressures Continue Rising

And when you build these unorthodox coalitions, you can’t lose anybody from one of the coalitions. And so everything you do, and this is one of the frustrating things about Trump, is he hasn’t done a very good job of keeping everybody united. Like Trump was so much different than the traditional, hey, all the Republicans voted for me and I won, or, hey, all the Democrats voted for me and I won. The Trump coalition was about different pockets of people, some of them who normally don’t even vote, but certainly a lot of them may not vote Republican coming over to vote for you. And one of the major reasons both times Trump won was people being disillusioned with the economy. Now they were about different things going on in the economy. The things going on in 2016 that led to Trump’s election are different from the things going on in 2026. 2016 was about jobs. It was about American exceptionalism. It was about building and manufacturing and doing things in America, putting American workers ahead of foreign workers. The economy now, the conversation is about the price of everything. The conversation now is about being able to afford food. It’s being able to afford living period, right? Like one of the things that I am super cognizant of now is there’s a very strong likelihood this year I’m going to take a pay cut from what I had last year. As we’ve got this thing off the ground, we put money into it, we’re building it. I’m happy to do it, but I’m cognizant that, hey, the money that I am making this year is not going to be the same I’ve made in the past couple of years. And that’s okay. That’s okay. I’m willing to put money into this thing to grow it the way it needs grown to do this for you guys. But I’ve tried to, you know, save every penny I can at the stores in my personal life. And it’s hard for me to do because I am about the cheapest, most frugal person alive already, like pre 2026. As you guys know, it’s really hard to save money. Guys, it’s really hard. And the price of everything keeps going up. And it’s not just the price of everything, it’s the price of everything and the things you need to survive.

Economic Anxiety Over Food, Gas, and Utility Bills Dominates Voter Concerns

You know, I’ve tried to do things like, hey, how do I cut back on electrical costs? Hey, can I leave the temperature one degree higher? Can I turn these lights off during the day? Make sure everything’s off when I don’t need them. Now, I have a wife who works from home a lot, so I don’t always get my way on that. But I try to do those things and it’s difficult. And so people are feeling the pain, especially middle class people, regular folks. And I know I’m talking to many of you right now. That’s what our show is about. Hard working people who feel like the government is leaving them behind, who feel like the government is working against them, who feel like the government is not doing the things necessary to give them an environment by which they can thrive. Most of you, all of you, I’m sure for the most part, are not looking for a handout from the government. You’re looking for a climate where you can use your God given talents and abilities to thrive, to move forward, to have a better life. All of those things. The government has some control over. You are ultimately in control of your own destiny. But the government has control in which the environment and the playing field you’re operating on.

Trump Comments on Iran and the Economy Spark Criticism From Supporters and Critics Alike

And so Trump said something yesterday, and it came off as really tone deaf, especially given that he was elected to fix the economy. He was elected to get inflation under control. He was elected to get prices under control. And he said something yesterday. He was at an event. He was getting ready to leave. In fact, for China, which he is there now, he was getting ready to leave for China. He was in the Rose Garden, and he got asked about the Iran War’s impact on the US economy and the price of everything. And here’s what he said, quote, I don’t think about American financial situation. I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing. We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. Yikes. Yikes. By the way, The Independent has a big article on this if you want to read it for yourself. Guys, that comes off so bad. It comes off so tone deaf. It comes off so out of touch. One, with where the people he’s supposed to be serving are. And two, it comes off very aloof and out of touch on why he was elected. Look, we have heard in this country before, so and so is just days away from acquiring a nuclear weapon. So and so will do anything to acquire a nuclear weapon. So and so is imminent that they will acquire a nuclear weapon. See the Iraq war. We’ve heard that song and dance before, and we paid a lot for going along with that doomsday scenario and letting our government do stupid stuff because of that imminent threat that never emerged 20 plus years ago. We lost trillions of dollars on that war, on the war on terror. We lost thousands and thousands of service members. Thousands and thousands of service members came back injured mentally, physically. And for you to say, when you were elected to fix the economy, quote, I don’t think about American financial situation. I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing. We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That’s going to piss a lot of people off. And so then it brings us to this article that Bloomberg had on inflation. And it’s really bad, guys. And it’s really bad in areas that are really necessary. Top of the list is power. Consumer prices climbed last month by the most in three years. That’s the price of everything. It climbed by the most in three years. Last month, electricity jumped 6.1%. 6.1% now. I mean, if we simplify this and it’s a complex thing, but if we simplify it, the way math would tell us is if your salary isn’t rising the same as the cost of everything, you’re losing buying power, right. If your salary isn’t rising by whatever the cost of something is, you’ve lost buying power relative to the cost of that thing. So did you get a 6.1% raise last month? If the answer is no nationally across the country, and obviously it’s a little different in every state, but across the country, the average American was not getting a 6.1% salary increase. And so they lost buying power. The overall consumer price index rose 3.8%, the most since May of 2023. Did you get a 3.8% raise last month? Probably not. Maybe some of you did. If you did, congratulations. I’m very happy for you. Be sure to give some of it. Support, support. Hit the support button at RobKendallShow.com. We definitely welcome it. I mean, I think of myself. I think of myself, somebody looking at a decrease in income from one year to the next, coupled with inflation driving everything higher. That’s a huge hit. And by the way, guys, I don’t have any hobbies. This is my hobby. Oh, and I watch golf. That’s it. That’s basically what I do. Sports betting, golf, this. Like, I don’t know how people who do things are making it work. Gasoline prices surged 5.4% last year. Which brings us to this CNN SSRS poll, in which 77% of respondents said Trump policies have driven up the cost of living. Now, guys, let’s work through this logically. Do you think the average person is more inclined to vote for someone that they think has made their cost of living higher? Just logically remove all names. Remove all political parties. If I told you the overwhelming majority of people feel this candidate has made their cost of living more expensive, do you think the average person is going to vote for that guy or girl? No, they’re not. And in response to this, Trump basically, and they’ve done this for a while now, and it is offensive to people when any politician does this, in response to this, Trump and the Trump people are basically trying to say, if you question anything I’m doing with Iran, you want Iran to have a nuclear weapon. His response to this, here’s what was the quote, anybody that wants him to have a nuclear weapon is a stupid person. So you’re insulting people who are like, hey, man, I’m kind of concerned about food and gas and electricity. I kind of like to be able to still live a middle class life and, you know, maybe take a vacation. I kind of like to, you know, live a middle class life, pay for my necessities, and, you know, maybe once a week I go out with my buddies and play golf or whatever. Like, I don’t think the average American is asking for some level of excess or grandiose. And for Trump to say anybody that wants him to have a nuclear weapon is a stupid person, as though if you question anything, you want them to have a nuclear weapon. Trump and his administration have not laid out anything that gives us definitive answers on why he went in. Now, what was the reason it had to happen now? What have you prevented by this pain that we are feeling in our economy? Like if there was some video of the Ayatollah with a nuclear warhead pointed at the United States, and in like some James Bond movie, his finger was moving down very slowly towards go and the Trump invasion stopped it. Okay. I haven’t seen any of that. Have you guys? I mean, if you have, let me know in the YouTube chat. If I’m missing something, tell me. This certainly seems to many people like a war of choice. As in we chose to go in at this moment. There was not an imminent nuclear threat to the United States, and it certainly seems a war of choice related to appeasing Israel and the pro-Israel lobby.

Questions Grow About Iran Strategy, Energy Prices, and Influence of Pro-Israel Lobbying

Now, look, I can say that because, well, I’m not running for public office and AIPAC is not going to spend any money against me. But we have politicians that are petrified of the pro-Israeli lobby, and many of them, most of them now are housed in the Republican Party. And look, it doesn’t make me an anti-Semite to say I think we should put America before Israel. It doesn’t make me an ist or a phobe or anything else to say, hey, we’ve got our problems and you’ve got yours. And I’m all for doing basic things to protect Israel. I don’t have a problem with things like the Iron Dome. I don’t have issues with something like that, but I do have an issue when we invade a foreign country without any clear plan to win, which we don’t. I mean, we’ve been on this pause now for over a month. We had no plan going in there. Just like in Iraq, which is hilarious because Trump for years was brutal to George W. Bush on Iraq. Now, essentially, we don’t have any ground troops in there, unlike Iraq. We’re not trying to nation build, but we are completely stuck. We’re at a total impasse, and Iran keeps calling our bluff. We don’t follow through on whatever phrase Trump’s using, wipe them off the map, blow them back to the Stone Age, whatever the deal is. The strait is essentially still shut down. Gas remains at near record levels. I mean, we’ve eliminated all those excessive gas taxes in Indiana, and gas is still at or just barely under $4 a gallon. The Iran thing has been a disaster. If we’re being remotely objective about this, the crazy people are still in charge. The Strait of Hormuz, which was open, is now closed. Things that were flowing freely now are not. And the response from the president is, if you go, hey, I’d like to know why we’re doing this.