It looks like President Donald Trump is going back on campaign promises – surprising no one familiar with his track record of grift in the process. He said at a private lunch on Wednesday, April 1, that Medicaid, Medicare and day care were too costly for the United States to foot the bill.

“We’re a big country,” Trump said. “We have 50 states. We have all these other people. We’re fighting wars. It’s not possible for us to take care of day care, Medicaid, Medicare, all these things.”

While running for reelection in 2024, he had said that his administration would help alleviate the costs of childcare and fund Medicaid and Medicare. Instead, Republicans have done the opposite by slashing Medicaid funding in the congressional budget. They have no plan to make childcare more affordable for their constituents.

No, Republicans would rather incinerate billions of dollars by going into a war that no one wants instead of doing things that would benefit Americans. For all their talk of “America first,” it sure seems like they’d rather focus their attention on an overseas conflict that wasn’t even approved by Congress.

Trump's lying is nothing new. There are whole teams of journalists dedicated to monitoring what he says and evaluating its truthfulness. Still, it’s unfortunate that so many people believed these lies and voted for him because they thought he would solve our economic crisis and make life more affordable for his constituents.

Luckily, the Democrats can reverse his mess in the November elections – and they should be advertising that very clearly.

Trump's unpopular war isn't making life more affordable

The war in Iran has damaged Trump’s credibility with voters, who wanted to see the president focus his energy on domestic issues. An NBC News poll found that the majority of Americans disagreed with Trump’s actions in the country, although he still received support from Republicans and those aligned with the Make America Great Again movement.

Meanwhile, a CNN poll shows that Trump has a dismal 31% approval rating when it comes to the economy, and a 35% approval rating overall. The majority of Americans in the poll say that the cost of gas is causing financial hardship in their homes and that Trump has worsened economic conditions in the country.

It’s definitely something that’s going to hurt Republicans in the midterm elections, as Trump supporters are less enthusiastic about voting because of it.

For Trump to then go out and say the government doesn’t have the finances to cover things that should be basic rights for people in this country is unreal. He is the person with the power to make things better for people in this country, yet he continually makes things worse.

The government should be prioritizing the people it governs, not a war that is costing the country $1 billion a day, by some estimates.

Trump 2.0 is a complete failure. Will Democrats ride that to win in the midterms?

This isn’t the only campaign promise Trump has gone back on. He still hasn’t ended the war in Ukraine as he promised. The government still isn’t covering in vitro fertilization treatments. We’re nowhere near paying off the national debt, energy costs are not down and nothing is affordable.

The only things he has been able to accomplish is making life worse for immigrants and LGBTQ+ people. He’s great at throwing marginalized groups under the bus, but it hasn’t exactly made life better for everyone.

Democrats need to capitalize on Trump’s many missteps in the midterms. They need to make it clear that, while Trump may have made promises he couldn’t keep, they are willing and able to heal the country. Democratic candidates should focus on the ways they plan to lower the costs of childcare and make sure the country’s retirees are taken care of.

Trump’s failure to live up to his lofty promises is an opportunity for the Democrats to create a blue wave come November. With affordability this low and Trump's tone-deafness this high, midterms will be theirs to lose.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Sara Pequeño on Bluesky: @sarapequeno.bsky.social

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