With time running out in the midterm election cycle and the early voting window opening across much of the country, Donald Trump tries almost daily to assure Americans that he’s succeeding on voters’ top issue. “Prices are coming down,” the president boasted earlier this week.

The rhetoric was wrong but familiar. In fact, the Republican has spent the last several weeks insisting, without evidence, that consumer prices are not falling gradually, they’re “coming down very fast.”

Unfortunately for the White House, reality continues to intervene.

According to the last inflation report before the midterms, the consumer price index showed consumer prices climbing 0.6% in September, which is the largest increase in five months. The same Bureau of Labor Statistics report showed prices up 3.7% over the last year — which is slightly worse than projections headed into the release of the new data.

Prices, in other words, are most certainly not “coming down.”

Making matters worse, the same report found that for the sixth month in a row, inflation has climbed faster than wages, squeezing consumers already struggling with an affordability crisis.

In addition to the obvious economic relevance of the new figures, which come on the heels of deeply discouraging data on U.S. job creation, the latest numbers are a political disaster for the White House.

As recently as last week, JD Vance declared at a press conference, “We’ve made a lot of progress. Inflation is way lower today than it was when we took office.”

Whether the vice president is aware of this or not, the consumer price index was 3% when Joe Biden’s presidency came to an end in January 2025. The CPI has now climbed to 3.7%, which isn’t lower.

In case this weren’t quite enough, the latest figures will also increase pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates again, which is also the opposite of what Trump wants to see.

If recent history is any guide, the president will continue to peddle false talking points — as recently as Tuesday night, Trump tried to convince an Alaska audience that he’s made great strides on affordability — but as the new CPI data shows, reality is stubborn.

This post updates our related earlier coverage.

UPDATE (October 14, 2026, 9:54 a.m. ET): As a consequence of rising inflation, Social Security recipients will get a 3.6% cost-of-living boost in 2027, reflecting an average increase of $75 per month.

The post Consumer prices climb once again, undermining Trump’s midterms message on inflation appeared first on MS NOW.

Author: Source Author

From MS Now.