As JD Vance and Donald Trump try to gaslight Ohioans about the economy, working families suffer

Years before JD Vance became a cynical shapeshifter willing to say anything for personal ambition and power, he told me working class people in Ohio “have felt invisible for a very long time” because “the political elites don’t recognize or don’t even care about the problems in their lives.”

Nobody sees them, said Vance. But a former reality TV star convinced them that he did. The pretense made Donald Trump the president of the United States in 2016 and again in 2024 — despite normally disqualifying baggage of two impeachments, a felony conviction, a jury verdict of liability for sexual abuse and defamation and, of course, attempted overthrow of a free and fair election.

Vance, who shape-shifted from Never Trumper to Die-hard Trumper and rode his born-again sycophancy into the office of vice president, kept his boss’s charade.

But the farce isn’t landing in Ohio like it used to and Trump’s approval rating is under water here because the economic pain of his voters is real.

In a state Trump won handily three times, 56% percent of Ohioans say he’s made their financial situation worse over the past year.

Indiscriminate tariffs slapped on longtime U.S. trading partners jacked up prices across the board for consumers. Trump’s import taxes are passed onto you in added costs for everything from clothing to cars.

In the first year of Trump’s second term, his tariffs cost the average U.S. household an estimated $1,745. Those same tariff-related price hikes are on track to cost families more than $2,500 on average this year. 

Compounding price pressures from broad tariffs is Trump’s impulsive war with Iran.

The attacked Iranians closed the Strait of Hormuz. Global energy markets constricted. Gas prices in the U.S. climbed to their highest level since July 2022. The national average of more than $4.50 per gallon strained already stretched budgets and with the vital shipping artery in the Persian Gulf still shuttered, economists warned Americans they have not seen the worst of inflated prices at the pump or grocery store.

New data released last week showed inflation jumped to 3.8% in April, the highest it’s been since May 2023.

The invisible Americans who once felt seen by Trump take a few items off the belt at the checkout line. Fill up only half the tank. Hold off on big purchases. Stop eating out. Those that earn the least suffer the most.

Inflation is the decision financially-strapped families make in the middle of the store. The jet-setting Mar-a-Lago bunch, for whom money is no object, cannot relate.

The unequal burden of Trump’s economic policies — driven by price-inflating tariffs and whimsical military conflict in the Middle East is borne by lower and middle-income families — not the wealthy.

Those at the lower rungs of the 99% barely afford the basics which take up most of the paycheck. There is no category to cut when everything goes up at once. There is no flexibility to save when you’re paying more for rent, food, utilities, and gasoline on flat pay.

Weekly wages in Ohio have not risen to meet the cost of living that ballooned under the billionaire head of state whose net worth has nearly tripled in his historically corrupt regime.

In a state Trump swept by over 11% two years ago, people face severe financial distress with some of the highest gas prices in the country, skyrocketing diesel and fertilizer prices, and tough trade-offs in especially car-dependent rural areas between daily commuting needs and household necessities.

They are the ones absorbing the most economic damage from the unforced errors of the clown Ohio returned to the White House by the widest presidential margin of victory since Ronald Reagan. 

Like millions across the country, Ohioans are racking up huge credit card debt to cover what their wages won’t. They’re begging for a life raft (temporary suspension of the federal and state gas?) to get through the turbulence of Trump’s “Golden Age.”

But their leader who promised “to bring prices down” at his inauguration, apparently doesn’t care if they go under because of him.

“I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody,” Trump said last week. “I think about one thing: You cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”

Never mind that he repeatedly bragged about obliterating Iran’s nuclear facilities a year ago. But the serial liar finally told the truth about you. He’s “OK” with higher gas prices if it helps the U.S. achieve its on-the-fly goals in Iran.

Shapeshifter Vance defended Trump’s callous remarks about Americans’ worsening finances with spin that denied his boss said what he did. On video. That went viral.

Other Ohio Republicans on Capitol Hill were equally flippant with the truth. U.S. Sen. Jon Husted suggested constituents buried under oppressive bills and sticker shock prices (while Trump fiddles) should just “earn more, keep more of what you earn, and drive down prices.”

U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan was similarly blasé about soaring fuel prices that eat up half a week’s income in his state: “That’s life, that’s the world we live in.”

U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno dismissed Trump’s costly war as “a momentary blip” and claimed, “as quickly as gas prices went up, they’ll come back down.”

The political elite do not give a damn about your maxed out credit card, Ohio. Not their problem. But at least the Nero building monuments to himself sees you, right?