Murray: “It is everything. It is health care costs—which Trump has sent higher. It is child care—which is out of control. It is goods across the board—which are up due to Trump’s insane trade wars. It is gas—which Trump launched to new heights with his Iran war. Trump just does not get it. He has no idea what Americans are going through.”
***WATCH: Senator Murray’s full speech***
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, spoke on the Senate floor slamming Trump for the many wildly out-of-touch statements he’s made about the economy and working families. In addition to ticking through ten of Trump’s most out-of-touch takes, she discussed how Trump and Republicans’ policies are making gas, groceries, health care, and child care more expensive for working families while pouring trillions into illegal wars.
Senator Murray focused her discussion on Trump quotes below:
- “I love the inflation.”
- “’Groceries,’ it’s a very simple word. ‘Groceries.’ Like almost—you know, who uses the word?”
- “Affordability is a hoax…”
- “I don’t think that a beautiful baby girl needs…to have 30 dolls. I think they can have three dolls or four dolls…”
- “I always say tariffs is the most beautiful word to me in the dictionary.”
- “I found health care sort of like not of tremendous interest…”
- “We can’t take care of day care. We’re a big country. We have 50 states. We have all these other people. We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of day care.”
- “I don’t want to drive housing prices down. I want to drive housing prices up for people that own their homes.”
- “Wars can be fought ‘forever’…”
- Reporter: “I wonder what grade would you give your economy?” Trump: “A plus. A plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus.”
Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered, are below:
“As President Trump himself has admitted: ‘I’m not so careful with what I say.’ And: ‘Americans’ financial situation? I don’t think about anybody.’
“No kidding—we noticed!
“And when it comes to the economy, President Trump’s statements could not be more divorced from reality—let alone the experience of everyday Americans. Yes—in a shock to no one, the billionaire who gets advice from a trillionaire is way out of touch today with everyday people.
“Trump said last year he never even knew the word affordability until recently. He said that ‘tariffs’—the taxes that he raised on working families—is his favorite word. Trump said we can’t afford child care. He said no one cares about affordable housing. He said health care is not of tremendous interest.
“Or—get a load of this—Trump said he loves inflation. And that $4 for a gallon of gas is ‘Okay.’ And then when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money.
“Well, that may be true for his buddies—the billionaires and oil robber barons—but it sure isn’t true for working families!
“Of course, I know it is hard to keep track of all of Trump’s whack-a-doodle claims about the economy—especially with the constant stream of new nonsense spewing out of this President’s brain.
“So today, I want to take a trip down memory lane and discuss what I consider Trump’s craziest quotes about the economy and working families.
[INFLATION]
“It’s no secret Americans are fed up with inflation—at least all Americans except for one.
“President Trump has said: ‘I love it, the numbers were great. You know what I really love? I love the inflation.’
“Do my Republican colleagues agree? Do they love inflation? Because I will say, they have not lifted a finger to help us stop the Trump policies driving inflation through the roof.
“Republicans have not helped rein in Trump’s absurd trade wars. Republicans have not stood up against Trump’s war with Iran. They have not helped reject Trump cuts to programs that lower energy costs. They did not stop the MAGA health care hike that caused insurance premiums to skyrocket.
“I know Trump is out of touch with everyday Americans when he says he loves inflation. I know it because I hear directly from people back in Washington state about this all the time.
“But what about Republicans here in Congress? They may not be as blunt about it as Trump, but their actions—or rather, their inaction to lower prices—speaks pretty darn loudly.
[GROCERY COSTS]
“Now, if you are not a billionaire like Trump, you are probably very familiar with groceries, and the fact that costs have been going up, up, and up.
“If you are Trump, well then: you are saying things like: ‘It’s a very simple word, ‘groceries,’ like, almost, you know, who uses the word?’ That’s a quote. Or: ‘It’s such an old-fashioned term but a beautiful term: groceries… It sort of says a bag with different things in it.’ That is a quote.
“For most of us, the grocery trip is a weekly errand—it’s everyday life. But the way Trump talks about groceries—he may as well be from another planet.
“It’s very clear Trump has no idea what it’s like to clip coupons for discounts on milk and bread. He doesn’t know what it’s like to compare cereal boxes to see what size has the best value, or check the clearance aisle in hopes of finding a deal. And I would bet my bottom dollar he’s never in his life bought the generic brand to save a few bucks. He probably doesn’t even know they exist!
“Now, groceries may seem old-fashioned to Trump, but for everyone else—whether or not we can afford groceries is the difference between being able to put a healthy dinner on the table, scraping by on the cheapest junk, or just going hungry.
[AFFORDABILITY]
“Now, if you were wondering why President Trump doesn’t seem to care at all about rising prices—well, it may just be that a billionaire like Trump literally doesn’t understand the idea of struggling to pay for something. The word ‘affordability’ is practically a new concept for him. He doesn’t believe in it! He thinks it was made up!
“In his own words: ‘First time I heard it, was a word, you know, made up by the Democrats: affordability.’
“He said, ‘Affordability is a Democrat scam.’
“‘They made up a phony word that they used. They said, ‘affordability.’
“And he said, ‘Look, affordability is a hoax.’
“A scam, a hoax, a phony, made up word—that is what Trump thinks affordability is.
“But for families across the country, affordability is a very real problem—one that they are having to deal with every day, and one that is being made worse by this President’s own policies.
[FAMILIES STRETCHING BUDGETS]
“In case anybody thinks Trump doesn’t have any solutions on affordability, don’t forget this little pearl of wisdom from Trump: ‘I don’t think that a beautiful baby girl needs to have 30 dolls. I think they can have three dolls or four dolls… They don’t need to have 250 pencils. They can have five.’
“Seriously? I talk to moms and dads all the time who are struggling to get by. Families are already stretching their budgets and pinching their pennies. People are not struggling because they are blowing their savings on dolls. The problem is not their pencil budget. Good lord!
“It is everything. It is health care costs—which Trump has sent higher. It is child care—which is out of control. It is goods across the board—which are up due to Trump’s insane trade wars. It is gas—which Trump launched to new heights with his Iran war.
“Trump just does not get it. He has no idea what Americans are going through.
[TARIFFS]
“Trump has already told us that he views ‘groceries’ as an old-fashioned word. He has already said he thinks the word ‘affordability’ is made up. But what has he said about ‘tariffs?’ You almost have to hear it to believe it.
“Trump has said: ‘I always say tariffs is the most beautiful word to me in the dictionary.’
“Now, as a reminder—since Republicans keep trying to put their heads in the sand on this—tariffs are taxes. A Republican president is saying his favorite thing is a tax increase!
“Reagan must be spinning in his grave.
“And not only are tariffs taxes—they are taxes that hurt working families especially hard. We have seen that time after time.
“Trump’s tariffs have rocketed grocery prices through the roof. Trump’s tariffs have made baby items—strollers, car seats, toys more expensive. Trump’s tariffs have put a strain on back-to-school shopping. They’ve squeezed our local coffee shops.
“And Trump’s favorite word is crushing small businesses too! I’ve talked to local restaurants, and sporting goods stores, and farmers, and a lot more, they are all facing serious hardship because of Trump’s tariffs. They are losing customers for produce that they ship abroad. They are having to raise prices in their stores. They are having to pay employees less, let people go, or even just shut their doors entirely.
“All because Trump chose to pursue some of the biggest tax hikes in American history, while Republicans cheered him on.
[HEALTH CARE]
“Let’s not forget, Trump is also totally out of touch on health care. As Trump put it: ‘I’ve found health care sort of like…not of tremendous interest.”
“That explains why he has done absolutely nothing to lower health care costs. And worse than that—Trump and Republicans passed the largest cuts to health care in our nation’s history, and then stood by and cheered as patients faced some of the largest health care price hikes in history.
“In their Big Ugly Bill, Republicans gutted Medicaid, with changes that are—right now—kicking families off their health care coverage.
“And while Trump and Republicans are plenty interested in tax cuts for billionaires, while they will bend over backwards to help keep the private jets fueled—they didn’t lift a finger to save families from exploding [health] insurance premiums.
“They stood by as tax credits for working families expired, and people saw their monthly premiums double, triple, or even worse. We know millions of people lost their coverage because of Trump and Republicans.
“And don’t forget—Trump put tariffs on pharmaceuticals, of all things!
“Now maybe a billionaire like Trump doesn’t find health care interesting because Trump has never had to. He’s never had to ration his prescription and hope it would be okay, he’s never had to delay a needed check-up until the next paycheck. He’s never debated whether to go get urgent care or not because he was worried about the bill, or wondered how on earth he could afford a lifesaving cancer treatment.
“But that is the reality millions of patients face every day, and they deserve leaders in Washington who are interested in the challenges they face, and focused on solutions so that everyone can get the care they need without worrying about the cost.
[CHILD CARE]
“Now, M. President, I of course have to talk about child care. I got into politics fighting for child care, and it’s something I push hard on every day.
“So I was floored when I heard Trump say: ‘The United States can’t take care of day care. That has to be up to a state. We can’t take care of day care. It’s not possible for us to take care of day care, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things.’
“Talk about out of touch—this is exactly backwards. We have a child care crisis in this country. It is holding our country back!
“A billionaire like Trump may not understand—but working parents are the backbone of our economy. And if mom and dad can’t find child care, then mom and dad can’t go to work.
“That is a big problem—for parents who are trying to make ends meet, and small businesses who are trying to find workers.
“Trump says we can’t afford child care? The truth is—we cannot afford to ignore child care.
[HOUSING]
“One of the most outrageous things Trump has said about the economy was something he actually said behind closed doors. According to Punchbowl News, earlier this year, Trump told Republican leaders: ‘No one gives a ‘BLEEP’ about housing.’
“How ridiculous. We have an enormous housing shortage in this country—especially when it comes to affordable housing.
“The rising costs from Trump’s tariffs and the Iran war have made it harder for people to make rent. And because Trump has done so much damage to the economy—federal interest rates are on the rise, meaning mortgage rates are going higher and higher, and millions of families are watching as Trump pulls the rug out from under them—putting their dream of owning a home farther and farther out of reach.
“But Trump doesn’t care. And worse than that—Trump sees high housing costs as a good thing. He literally said: ‘I don’t wanna drive housing prices down, I wanna drive housing prices up.’
“Spoken like a true slum-lord.
[TRUMP’S WAR]
“And let’s not forget that while Trump doesn’t know words like ‘affordability’ and ‘groceries,’ while he loves ‘inflation’ and ‘tariffs,’ and while he doesn’t care about health care, or housing, and doesn’t think we need money for child care, there is one issue Trump is ready to throw trillions of dollars at—war.
“He started a pointless war with Iran—with no plan, and no concern for how it would explode gas prices. Even now, he is saying $4 gas is okay.
“He doubled down recently, saying: ‘You have a higher gas—it’s a very inexpensive price to pay for what we’ve done. Remember that. It’s a little more. Frankly, even if it was a lot more.’
“Meanwhile, he has put forward a completely war-bloated budget calling for $1.5 trillion for war spending. That’s trillion, with T—we are talking twelve zeroes here.
“And I know what you’re thinking—it’s the same thing most Americans are thinking—we cannot afford another ‘forever’ war. We have investments right here we need to be making—child care, health care, energy, roads, housing, and more.
“But Trump—who once promised ‘no more forever wars’—has actually done a complete one-eighty. Not only did he launch a new war—he wrote online about his belief that ‘wars can be fought forever and very successfully.’
“So to recap: Trump thinks wars can be fought forever, but we can’t afford child care at all. He wants to spend trillions on bombs and weapons, but doesn’t care about housing and health care.
“It simply does not get more wrong or out of touch than that.
[TRUMP OUT-OF-TOUCH WITH AMERICANS]
“There are so many insane things Trump has said about the economy. But a lot of it comes down to one basic fact: he is in complete denial. Maybe it’s because he has let AI videos melt his brain. Maybe it is because he is hopelessly an out-of-touch billionaire. Maybe it’s just because he is exactly what he has always been—a liar.
“They say the first step is admitting you have a problem. When it comes to the economy, Trump cannot even do that.
“Despite the painful inflation, despite the sluggish job growth, despite the red flashing lights—like rising bond rates, and slowing GDP growth, and plummeting consumer confidence—despite all of that: when Trump was asked to give himself a grade on the economy, he gave himself an: ‘A plus… A plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus.’ That was a quote.
“A Plus? That’s more like: BS.
“Maybe the high prices and chaos are working great for corrupt billionaires like Trump. After all, he has made more stock trades as President than all of congress combined, he’s raking in billions through crypto scams, and his family is cashing in through highly conflicted foreign business deals.
“However, Trump’s rigged economy is not working for working families.
“But here’s the thing—we live in a democracy. And at the end of the day, Trump’s final grade on the economy won’t come from himself. The American people—the ones who are paying the prices of Trump’s tariffs, the ones who are paying the price of his war with Iran, the moms and dads who are struggling to find child care, the patients struggling to afford health care, the families struggling to pay rent—they are the ones who will pass final judgement later on this year on Trump’s economy.
“I have no doubt that in the meantime Trump will continue making out of touch statements and bizarre AI videos.
“But here’s a reminder to all of my colleagues who are afraid to stand up to this President: even if Trump has lost touch with reality, he is still going to have to face all of that this fall.”
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