Biden alums watch as Trump trips over same inflation problem that doomed them

The parallels were amplified this week as political and economic discourse on X and other social media platforms bubbled up around a viral post about a college student complaining about $20 burritos. Some conservatives were quick to downplay the cost concerns or give examples of how burritos can be made much cheaper at home.

But for Biden alumni who know all too well how downplaying affordability concerns can backfire, the moment took on a different light.

“Fellow Biden Admin alumni — it’s time to drink,” quipped Brendan Duke, who served as a senior policy adviser at the White House National Economic Council under Biden.

Michael Negron, who was a special assistant to the president for economic policy in the Biden White House, told the Washington Examiner that the situation Trump’s team finds itself in this election cycle is “very similar” to the situation they faced ahead of the 2024 elections.

He argued, though, that the Trump team is pursuing policies that make the problem worse. He said tariffs and the war with Iran, which has pushed energy prices up, have exacerbated inflation.

“A point I would make of distinction is that the policies they’re pursuing are inflationary,” Negron said when comparing the Biden and Trump messaging challenges.

The Biden administration, for a time, worked to emphasize positive points in the economy, such as that it was adding jobs at a rapid clip and that the economy was expanding following the pandemic-induced slump. At one point, the team tried to make “Bidenomics” a selling point, although that backfired as voters felt their concerns about the highest inflation in decades were being minimized.

Negron drew comparisons to what happened then and what is happening now with the Trump team. Gross domestic product has been positive in Trump’s second term, and businesses have generally added jobs, with the administration working to highlight those bright spots in the economy. However, inflation and affordability are still overshadowing all of that in the eyes of the electorate.

“And so it’s a situation where they’re confronted with a similar set of circumstances,” Negron said.

In an interview with Laura Ingraham on Fox News this week, Vice President JD Vance was asked about what the Republican Party needs to do better when it comes to the cost of living and high energy costs.

“I think what it shows is that the past 40 years of bipartisan economic policy have failed,” Vance responded.

Trump’s economic approval ratings have fallen considerably since entering his second term, which he won in large part by messaging against the high inflation under Biden and promising to fix the affordability crisis.

Andrew Bates, a former White House spokesman under Biden, told the Washington Examiner that running on driving down inflation and that outcome not coming to fruition is hurting the president and Republicans up and down the ballot.

“I think that the main attitude is Trump owns his situation in a unique way, because he promised people explicitly that he would make prices go down as soon as he got into the White House,” Bates said. “Whereas with Biden, inflation went up around the world, and that, of course, became our biggest political problem.”

And while Vance blamed 40 years of failed bipartisan economic policy, voters tend to blame the person in charge, according to Peter Loge, director of George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs.

“They elected him because the voters thought the president shared their anger,” Loge told the Washington Examiner. “You’re telling me everything’s fine. It’s obviously not. You’re out of touch. I’m gonna vote for the next guy.”

A March Harvard CAPS/Harris poll found that a majority of those surveyed said the economy is worse now than it was under Biden.

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Bates also said messaging on inflation heading into the midterm elections might be more challenging for Republicans because of the president.

“He has always been his own top spokesperson, and there have been countless moments going back to his first campaign when some of his aides have tried to pursue a different message than his whims, and that never goes well,” Bates said.