Trump spent the week making a bold case about a booming U.S. economy with even better times ahead, as his economic policies kick in. The problem for Trump is that polls show a wide swath of Americans aren’t feeling that optimism yet — and in his initial attempts at addressing the cost of living, he called the affordability issue a Democratic “hoax.”

Hoping to tackle the messaging disconnect, the White House rolled out a $12 billion farmer aid package and sent Trump to Pennsylvania this week to make his case.

Trump has frequently shown himself a strong economic messenger — winning reelection in 2024 by lambasting Joe Biden’s economy. But one year into his presidency, Trump is struggling to convince Americans that the economic pain they see in their cost-of-living expenses isn’t real.