By Michael Katz | Thursday, 21 May 2026 10:01 PM EDT
President Donald Trump suggested Thursday that Democrats are weaponizing affordability concerns to regain control of the House in November and pursue impeachment proceedings against him.
Trump took questions from reporters in the Oval Office while hosting Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, lawmakers, and grocery chain executives to announce a rollback of Biden administration-era refrigerant regulations.
When asked whether Democrats were genuinely focused on affordability—especially after they delivered 40-year high inflation during their previous term—or if they were using it as a means to win midterms and initiate impeachment proceedings, Trump replied: “The second.”
“Look, the Democrats had the highest inflation in the history of our country, 48 years,” he continued. “But the history of our country—they had the highest inflation that we’ve ever had.”
“When I inherited it, I inherited very high prices,” Trump said. “And from Day 1, they said ‘affordability.’”
“‘Affordability’ is a word because they’re good at that. They’re good at words. But I’m good at words, too,” he added.
“But they hit me with affordability. I’d just gotten there. They hit me with eggs. We had a news conference on my third day, and they said, ‘Egg prices are through the roof,’” Trump recalled.
“I said, ‘I just got here; tell me about eggs.’ And we got the prices down—way down, actually lower than it was four years before.”
He noted that beef and energy prices remain his primary concerns regarding inflation. “Beef is coming down,” Trump stated, attributing high beef prices to restrictions imposed by the previous administration on the livestock sector, which take time to resolve.
“But prices are down. But the big thing is, of course, energy. We had the energy way down, but I had to do a journey to Iran,” he said.
Trump then turned to the stock market, highlighting that the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a record close Thursday at 50,285.66 as optimism over a potential U.S.-Iran peace deal grew. The S&P 500 closed at 7,445.72, its second-highest level after hitting 7,501.24 on May 14.
“By the way, the stock market today is at the highest it’s ever been,” Trump remarked. “We’ve had 59 days in a very short period where the stock market hit all-time highs.”
“We have all-time high job numbers; 401(k)s just hit the highest number they’ve ever been,” he continued.
“That means you’re richer than you’ve ever been, and we’re doing really well. But they came up with this word ‘affordability,’” Trump said.
“But it’s them that caused the problem, and they used that word right from the beginning. I was in one day, and I heard somebody on television say ‘affordability,’” he added.
“And I inherited this mess from them, but we’ve got it in great shape. The country is doing well.”
