At a rally in Arizona, former president Donald Trump railed at Joe Biden for how he handled the inflationary wave that has been crushing American homes, warning the crowd that the actual rate of inflation is far higher than the reported 9.1 percent.
At a rally on Friday in Prescott Valley, where he was campaigning for former TV host Kari Lake’s candidacy for governor of Arizona in the forthcoming GOP primary, Trump made the statements.
In his speech, Trump bragged about his own economic track record, which included high job growth and low inflation.
“Biden created the worst inflation in 47 years”
At a rally, Trump boasted that “we had the greatest economy in history with no inflation” during his administration, adding that “Biden created the worst inflation in 47 years.”
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation gauge was at 2.8 percent in annual terms in February 2017, the first full month of Trump’s presidency. While the CPI gauge fluctuated over his term, it peaked at 2.9 percent in July 2018 and checked in at 1.4 percent in January 2021, his final month in office.
Under Biden, inflation has been rising rapidly, reaching a record-breaking 9.1% annual rate in June 2022.
On July 24, Gina Raimondo, the secretary of commerce, stated on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” that inflation in the United States had “probably” peaked. However, she also acknowledged that circumstances “beyond of our control,” such as a new conflict or epidemic, might force price increases to go up again.
“Biden’s war on American energy”
Trump singled out what he called “Biden’s war on American energy,” even though he did not go into detail about the Biden policies that he believes have caused inflation to spike.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, one of the major causes of inflation has been the rise in energy prices, which makes up about half of the headline inflation rate.
Since taking office, Biden has signed a number of executive orders that are directed at the oil industry, including revoked the Keystone XL pipeline permit, halted the issuance of new leases for oil and gas drilling on federal lands and waters, and stopped some government agencies from providing subsidies for fossil fuels.
Since Biden’s election, the price of gasoline has roughly doubled. The president has given several reasons for this, including a lack of refining capacity, worldwide supply shortages due to a fast post-pandemic rebound in demand, the conflict in Ukraine, and corporate greed.
Biden has urged refiners in the United States to increase production, ordered the release of crude stockpiles from the national strategic reserve, and urged OPEC to increase oil production in an effort to cut gasoline costs.