ROME, Ga. – In a freewheeling hour-long speech at a northwest Georgia steel plant, President Donald Trump sought to boost his second-term economic agenda ahead of November’s pivotal midterm elections. “We have the most people working in history, and just recently, we crossed two milestones,” he said Thursday. “They thought it was totally impossible when […]
President Donald Trump touts his economic record in a speech in Rome, Georgia. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
ROME, Ga. – In a freewheeling hour-long speech at a northwest Georgia steel plant, President Donald Trump sought to boost his second-term economic agenda ahead of November’s pivotal midterm elections.
“We have the most people working in history, and just recently, we crossed two milestones,” he said Thursday. “They thought it was totally impossible when the S&P hit 7,000 points, and the Dow Jones surged past 50,000.”
Trump’s motorcade brought him to the Coosa Steel Corporation, where hundreds lined up hours in advance for a chance to see the president tout his administration’s record and promote his candidates for governor and the ongoing 14th Congressional District race to replace former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Trump spoke in front of a banner reading “Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!” but dismissed concerns about affordability as Democratic bellyaching.
“We inherited a mess with high prices and high inflation, and we’ve turned it around, and we’ve made it great,” Trump said. “And they don’t mention, like I said before, they don’t mention the word ‘affordability,’ they don’t mention – I haven’t heard the word in two weeks, because they can’t get away with the gig. It’s all a con job with them.”
Nationwide, inflation fell to 2.4% in January, down from 2.7% in December, but consumers continue to pay higher prices on many types of goods than they did before the pandemic, stretching family budgets and driving discontent with politicians.
A Pew Research Center poll published in early February found that most Americans have a low opinion of the economy, with only 28% of respondents rating the economy good or excellent and 72% finding it fair or poor. Only 10% of Democrats and 49% of Republicans shared a positive view of the economy. A majority of respondents – 52% – told pollsters they thought Trump’s policies had made the economy worse.
The economy is a major driver of presidential job approval, which is a big predictor of success for the president’s party in midterm elections, said Emory University political science professor Andra Gillespie.
“President Trump has had an uncanny ability to be able to bend the narrative in the direction that he wants to,” Gillespie said. “And I think the big question of this year is whether or not he is still able to do that. In particular, is he going to be able to persuade voters that the economy is better than how they feel is going to be a big challenge for him.”
Midterms approaching
Trump is hoping to turn those opinion numbers around in the months ahead as the Nov. 3 midterms approach. Democrats are feeling optimistic that economic malaise and discontent with aggressive immigration enforcement will help fuel a blue wave in November, when Georgians are set to vote for offices including the U.S. Senate seat held by Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff and Georgia’s next governor.
Speaking to reporters Thursday morning, Democratic Party of Georgia chairman Charlie Bailey previewed an economic populist message.
“Ever since Donald Trump’s been in office, his policies have hiked prices, the grocery bills, power bills, health care bills, and who’s made money? He’s made money,” Bailey said. “His family’s made money, his buddies and the billionaires and big corporations, they’ve made money. They’re doing real well. If you’re one of those, you’re getting off real well in Donald Trump’s economy.”
Trump invited supporters to join the stage with him, including Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, whose gubernatorial run the president endorsed in August.
Trump’s praise for Jones included a jab at a new entrant in the race, wealthy health care executive Rick Jackson, whose announcement shook up the race earlier this month.
“Burt Jones, you know, all these guys are coming in now, loaded up with some money, who the hell knows how much money he’s got,” Trump said. “But Burt Jones has been here and been with you and been with me right from the beginning. He’s been with me for so long, right from literally the first day.”
Trump also invited Republican Congressman Mike Collins to the stage along with sitting Republican U.S. Reps. Barry Loudermilk and Brian Jack. Collins is one of the Republicans running to face Ossoff in November, along with another Georgia Republican Congressman Buddy Carter and former Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley. Trump has not endorsed a candidate in that race and did not do so Thursday.
Residents of northwest Georgia are already casting votes for their next representative. In Georgia’s 14th Congressional District, which includes Rome, early voting has begun to replace Greene, who retired in January.
Nearly 20 candidates are on the March 10 ballot in the heavily conservative district.
Trump has thrown his endorsement behind Republican Clay Fuller, former district attorney for the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit and a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard, but a slew of other Republicans are seeking the MAGA mantle, like former state Sen. Colton Moore, who is considered a grassroots favorite in the district.
At the rally, Trump reiterated that Fuller has his complete and total endorsement.
Trump’s midterm endorsements largely did not pan out in 2022 for most of his favored Georgia candidates, and how Fuller fares could be a preview of how valuable the Trump seal of approval could be in November.
“This is going to be a test of sort of the strength of a Trump endorsement,” Gillespie said. “In other races that, admittedly, are not special elections, President Trump has usually waited a little bit longer to make an endorsement. He didn’t have that luxury of time in this particular election to watch the polls and be able to sort of get a sense of who was in the lead.”
The results of that election may help reveal which faction of Republicanism represents the future in Georgia, Gillespie said.
“The big question will be, does the MAGA wing of the Georgia Republican party align with the Trump-endorsed candidate? Or does Colton Moore in particular have enough of a base and enough of a following that he might be able to attract a sizable portion of the electorate just on the strength of his own personality?”
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