Fox News host Laura Ingraham asked President Donald Trump this week if the affordability issue was a factor in races in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York City. “More than anything else, it’s a con job by the Democrats,” Trump said, before going on to harangue the media and instruct the GOP to tell voters prices are down.

Now, I stand behind few in my contempt for legacy media, but it’s far more likely that the average voter feels like prices are high because they’ve actually been in a supermarket during the past year. Yet, Trump officials have apparently landed on a strategy of gaslighting consumers. This was tried not very long ago. The Joe Biden administration constantly waved away “transitory” inflation. No issue did more damage to the administration.