American politics has turned inside out. Republicans, the party of lower taxes, growth, and smaller government, are on the defensive about grocery bills and gas pumps.
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Democrats—the party that spent trillions and watched prices explode—now pose as “guardians of affordability.”
It is a remarkable reversal. It is not the only one.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll found 47% of registered voters say the cost of living is the single most important factor in their midterm vote. An Economist/YouGov survey gave Democrats a narrow edge on handling the economy, 41% to 37%.
That should stun anyone who remembers the last five years.
Democrats seized the word “affordability.” Rhetoric is not a receipt. The party that green-lit enormous federal spending cannot ask voters to forget how fast the price level climbed.
One bill did not cause every increase. Post-pandemic inflation had several parents: wrecked supply chains, pent-up demand, easy money, and expansive fiscal policy. But prices did not spike in a vacuum. They rose rapidly on the Biden-Harris watch. Voters are entitled to remember that and to look at the bill arriving now.
The Consumer Price Index was still up 3.4% in the 12 months ending in August. Energy jumped 16.3%. Gasoline soared 27.4%. Food rose 2.7%. Shelter rose 3%.
Republicans inherited that elevated price level. They did not inherit a pass. Current decisions on tariffs, spending, energy, and foreign policy can still raise or lower household costs. Causes pile up over years. Voters choose on one day.
The coalitions flipped too.
Democrats still draw union households and lower-income voters. Yet voters without college degrees now lean Republican, while college graduates have become a Democratic base.
A 2026 Pew survey found 67% of Republicans said “working class” described them very or extremely well, versus 55% of Democrats. Among blue-collar workers, the split was 82% to 72%.
The old country-club party now houses more people who call themselves working class. The party of organized labor increasingly lives on campus and in the professional class.
Trade flipped with them. For decades, Republicans preached open markets. Under Trump, they became the party of tariffs, industrial policy, and economic nationalism. Democrats suddenly discovered consumer prices—even as their own administrations kept tariffs and handed out industrial subsidies.
This is not a costume change. The same American can want lower taxes, a tariff that protects a factory, Social Security left alone, and a government willing to smack corporate power. The old packages no longer fit.
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Even the remedies have switched jerseys. President Trump has floated a $5,000 “dividend” for every adult if Republicans hold Congress, a payout north of $1 trillion! That is the kind of check Democrats used to run on and Republicans used to call inflationary.
When the party of tax cuts starts sounding like Bernie Sanders, the midterms are not merely competitive. They are inside out.
Affordability cuts through the mess because it is personal. Families do not live inside GDP reports. They live at the supermarket, the pharmacy, the insurance office, the utility meter, and the closing table. History can explain a high bill. It cannot pay it.
Democrats cannot spend like sailors and then spray the word “affordability” over the wreckage.
Administrations of both parties let China play by different rules, and Trump’s tariffs collect a bill that went unpaid for years. That still does not give Republicans a pass in November. They have weeks, not years. Stop arguing with the receipt. The family that just filled a tank does not need another lecture about 2022, and it does not need another trillion-dollar check that bids up the next one. It needs the party in power to treat the current bill as an emergency.
Energy first. Open what America still controls: production, pipelines, and permits, and stop stacking extra cost onto the weekly grocery cart while the strategic fight with China continues. Republicans must lower gas prices as if the party’s life depends on it—because it does!
Housing and power next. Permitting reform is sitting in Congress. Sign what actually cuts the price of a kilowatt-hour.
Talk like adults. Voters can hold two thoughts: Biden-Harris spending lit the fuse, and the party holding the White House now owns this month’s statement. Deny the second thought, and November will punish the first.
The GOP does not have to win a seminar. It has to make the next receipt smaller, and it has to start before voters close the curtain.
So, despite all the Republican warts and reversals, remember in November: entrusting the current borderline-communist Democratic Party to “fix” affordability makes about as much sense as hiring foxes to work the night shift patching the chicken coop.
Image created using AI.
Jerry McGlothlin is founder and CEO of Special Guests Publicity, a national media-booking agency. His work has appeared in USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, and Newsmax.
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