President Donald Trump has made a string of pre-midterm promises aimed at easing cost-of-living pressures, but the one initiative his administration has actually completed is the removal of more than 750,000 enrollees from Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance marketplaces, a Guardian analysis says.
Writing for the Guardian, Eduardo Porter describes a "manic quality" to Trump's dash ahead of November's midterm elections, as the president tries to convince Americans that he can make the pressures his policies have imposed on their livelihoods go away.
The president offered to lower barriers against beef imports to curb surging meat prices, only to consider backtracking under pressure from the cattle lobby. He offered to stop diesel exports, only to find oil companies were not interested. He weakened fuel efficiency standards, claiming this would trim the price of a new car, while not mentioning it would also raise spending on gas.
In early October the administration began mailing $500 checks to nearly a million people, touting the president's healthcare "wins," and Trump has promised every adult American a $5,000 check if Republicans maintain control of Congress.
Against that backdrop, Porter writes, it is "somewhat counterintuitive" that the administration, through Vice-President JD Vance, chose to broadcast the one initiative it did bring to fruition: ejecting more than 750,000 enrollees from the ACA marketplaces on the grounds that they are not entitled to federal subsidies.
Trump could argue the cuts fit the administration's promise to restore fiscal discipline, Porter says, but that commitment, under which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pledged to trim the budget deficit to 3% of US gross domestic product, "was never more than a rhetorical feint."