EDITORIAL: White House needs to emphasize a pro-growth agenda

Democrats see an opportunity to hammer Republicans and the White House on “affordability,” counting on voters to forget that inflation soared to 9 percent in 2022 — the highest in four decades — under President Joe Biden and a Democratic Congress.

President Donald Trump took the bait, of course. On Tuesday, he called the issue “a Democrat scam” while at the same time taking credit for stopping “inflation in its tracks.” He’s correct that the inflation rate — about 3 percent in September — is a significant upgrade over the massive price hikes Americans endured thanks to the spending binge enacted by the very same Democrats who now seek to exploit the issue for political gain.

“They say it,” the president said, “and then they go into the next subject and everyone thinks, ‘Oh, they had lower prices.’ No, they had the worst inflation in the history of our country.”

But Republicans should tread with caution. Democrats paid a price for downplaying the pain of working Americans whose budgets were devastated by Mr. Biden’s policies. Inflation is still slightly higher than the Fed target of 2 percent, and surveys show that consumer confidence has declined over the past seven months. Republicans need to take the issue seriously.

That said, the White House received good news on that front this week when the Energy Information Administration issued its latest forecast on oil and gasoline prices. The EIA projects that the price of Brent crude oil will drop to $55 a barrel next year, a 20 percent decline from current prices and far below the $81 per barrel during Mr. Biden’s last year in office.

In addition, the group sees national gasoline prices falling to $3 a gallon in 2026, down from $3.30 a gallon in 2024. In fact the decline has already begun. AAA pegged the national average at $2.998 as of this week, with Nevada at $3.72, down 19 cents from a month ago. That’s still the fifth-highest price among states, but it’s far better than the $5 a gallon Nevadans paid in 2022 during Mr. Biden’s tenure.

Many factors go into gasoline prices, yet it doesn’t hurt that U.S. production of crude oil hit an all-time high in November. This is a marked improvement from the Biden years, when the president threatened to put traditional energy producers out of business until reversing course out of political necessity in the face of soaring prices at the pump.

Despite Democratic disingenuousness surrounding the “affordability” issue, Mr. Trump and the GOP would be wise heading into the crucial midterm elections to emphasize a growth-oriented economic agenda designed to address the concerns of those struggling to make ends meet.