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    "original_url": "https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/10\/02\/opinion\/trump-biden-economic-message.html?emc=edit_nn_20261002&nl=the-morning&segment_id=227407",
    "parsed_content": "AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTOpinionSupported bySKIP ADVERTISEMENTGuest EssayThis Mistake Doomed Biden. Trump Is Falling Into the Same Trap.Oct. 2, 2026Credit...Paul SahreListen \u00b7 6:00 min Share full articleBy Karine Jean-PierreMs. Jean-Pierre was the White House press secretary from 2022 to 2025.See more of our coverage in your search results.Encuentra m\u00e1s de nuestra cobertura en los resultados de b\u00fasqueda. Add The New York Times on GoogleAgrega The New York Times en Google When I served in President Joe Biden\u2019s White House, we had good economic news to report: robust job creation, rising wages, low unemployment and a manufacturing jobs revival. Yes, inflation spiked early in his term, but by the time he left office, it had come down considerably.Mr. Biden wanted his team to highlight his domestic agenda. His policies were working, and he wanted the country to understand what he was doing and why. But the polling was clear: Our economic message didn\u2019t land.Senior White House advisers, myself included, would meet for hours, day after day, trying to get a handle on the mismatch between the strength of the data and the flagging public confidence. There were differences of opinion and long discussions about the best way to move forward. We pored over the numbers, worked through different messaging options and kept looking for a way to break through.But Americans weren\u2019t feeling it. Too many people were struggling with the prices of groceries, rent, child care and gas. Their lived experience did not match the encouraging economic news, and that disconnect shaped the entire public conversation.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTWe believed that if we laid out the evidence clearly enough, people would see what we saw. They didn\u2019t, and we didn\u2019t adjust to meet them where they were.Sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter Get expert analysis of the news and a guide to the big ideas shaping the world every weekday morning. Get it sent to your inbox.Some of Mr. Biden\u2019s advisers worried that too much emphasis on the very real challenges people were facing would undermine the case we were making. Others argued that failing to acknowledge those challenges upfront made us sound out of touch. Every day that we failed to reach consensus, the public mood hardened.The truth is, we had a stale message and outdated models for delivering it. It cost Mr. Biden and, eventually, Vice President Kamala Harris dearly. President Trump is now making a mistake even more damaging.The economic indicator that hurt Mr. Biden the most, inflation, is higher today than it was when Mr. Trump returned to office. The bond market has been roiled. The Federal Reserve just raised interest rates. Mr. Trump\u2019s trade wars and his war with Iran are hurting the overall economic picture. All of which helps explain his sinking poll numbers.Mr. Biden repeatedly talked of growing the economy \u201cfrom the middle out and the bottom up,\u201d but that mantra ultimately didn\u2019t resonate. Mr. Trump\u2019s refrain that we\u2019re the \u201chottest country anywhere in the world\u201d is a no-sale, both because the facts really aren\u2019t on his side and because he\u2019s barely acknowledging Americans\u2019 legitimate economic worries. By and large, people aren\u2019t buying his assertions that \u201caffordability\u201d is a \u201cfake word\u201d or his insistence that higher gas prices are \u201ca very inexpensive price to pay\u201d for his war aims.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTWhen leaders neglect lived experience, the message collapses.Why? To start, facts and figures alone no longer carry the weight they once did. There was a time when people would absorb accurate information presented clearly through official channels, like the White House press briefing. They might disagree on what it meant, they might challenge certain points, but it wasn\u2019t automatically treated as spin.Today, anyone can be a content creator, producing videos, podcasts and memes with subjective, sometimes bogus interpretations of the news. Many Americans now get their news only from outlets that confirm their political leanings. Social media algorithms clearly favor outrage and certainty, not accuracy.In that environment, official charts and summaries rarely break through. While I was the press secretary, the Biden White House often operated as if we still had a media ecosystem built for accuracy and process, rather than one built for immediacy and vibes.A TikTok about high prices, filmed with a phone in a grocery store aisle or in front of a gas pump, could garner more attention than anything I said at the daily White House briefings or any interview given by a cabinet secretary on the Sunday morning talk shows. And once a narrative rooted in daily life takes hold, it is almost impossible to dislodge.We learned that lesson with the economy and again with the debate around Mr. Biden\u2019s age. Looking back, we misread the public mood, thinking the age conversation would fade. At best, my responses from the podium about Mr. Biden\u2019s age failed to put out the fire; at worst, they fueled it.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTThe Trump White House should realize that over the next two years, there will be only more, not less, scrutiny when the president appears to drift off during meetings, is cagey about the results of his medical exams or goes on one of his erratic, late-night social media screeds. His communications team should know by now that the prices at the pump and the self-checkout line are undefeated.When people don\u2019t believe what their government says, institutions lose legitimacy. Conspiracy theories flourish. Urgently needed legislation stalls. Elections are lost.Part of the challenge is that Americans no longer share a single information space: Media fragmentation has created separate realities. And when a government cannot establish shared facts, democratic decision-making becomes harder.In some ways, Mr. Trump\u2019s style \u2014 direct, emotional, repetitive and unmediated \u2014 fits the incentives of the current environment. But it has limits. A decade ago, his bluster, so unlike traditional politicians, grabbed ears and eyeballs. Now even many of his fans can see that he\u2019s frequently just seeking attention. Look at just about any poll and you get the sense that voters increasingly don\u2019t trust him.That tension, the ability to dominate the conversation while struggling to earn trust, defines this moment.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTOnce people believe their government is not speaking to their reality, it becomes incredibly difficult to earn that trust back. I felt that tension every day in the White House briefing room. I see it happening again now.Karine Jean-Pierre is the author of \u201cIndependent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines.\u201dThe Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We\u2019d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here\u2019s our email: letters@nytimes.com.Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky, WhatsApp and Threads.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT",
    "published_at": "2026-10-02T09:03:03+00:00",
    "author_name": "Karine Jean-Pierre",
    "site_name": "The New York Times",
    "section": "Opinion",
    "publisher": "The New York Times Company",
    "ai_headline": "This Mistake Doomed Biden. Trump Is Falling Into the Same Trap.",
    "ai_simplified_title": "Karine Jean-Pierre Criticizes Biden and Trump Economic Messaging",
    "ai_excerpt": "A former White House press secretary argues that both Biden and Trump failed to connect their economic messages with the public's lived experiences. She highlights the disconnect between official data and public sentiment, leading to political consequences.",
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        "US Politics",
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        "Public Perception",
        "Inflation",
        "Media Fragmentation"
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