October 15, 2026
You know, I’ve been watching Donald Trump travel around the country these past few weeks, telling everybody how wonderful the economy is.
How prices are coming down.
How Americans are finally getting some relief.
How everything is just fantastic.
Well, I’ve got a question.
What fucking country is he talking about?
Because it sure doesn’t sound like the country I’m living in.
Yesterday, the government released its latest inflation report.
And guess what?
Inflation is going UP.
Not down.
UP.
Consumer prices are rising at 3.7% annually.
Gasoline is averaging $4.33 a gallon.
Airfares have increased more than 22% over the past year.
And here’s the real kicker.
Since Donald Trump returned to the White House, the average American worker has experienced essentially ZERO growth in inflation-adjusted hourly wages.
Zero.
Think about that for a minute.
You’re working just as hard.
Maybe harder.
You’re showing up every day, doing your job, trying to support your family.
And you’re not getting ahead.
You’re running on a treadmill.
And somebody in Washington keeps turning up the speed.
Meanwhile, the president is standing at a podium telling you how wonderful everything is.
And when people complain about affordability?
He says it’s a public relations problem.
A PUBLIC RELATIONS PROBLEM?
Are you kidding me?
You think somebody standing in the grocery store trying to decide whether they can afford hamburger meat is having a public relations problem?
You think a young couple trying to buy their first house is suffering from bad messaging?
You think a senior citizen trying to decide between paying the electric bill and buying groceries needs a better advertising campaign?
No!
They need some goddamn relief!
And here’s what really gets me.
We’ve been through this before.
Remember 2024?
Joe Biden was president.
Inflation had been eating Americans alive.
And the Democrats kept telling everybody how strong the economy was.
Unemployment was low.
The stock market was doing great.
The economy was growing.
And a lot of those statistics were true.
But they missed something fundamental.
People weren’t feeling it.
They were paying more for groceries.
More for rent.
More for insurance.
More for practically everything.
And they were angry.
So what happened?
They voted for change.
They elected Donald Trump.
And Trump promised he was going to fix it.
He was going to bring prices down.
He was going to make America affordable again.
Well, here we are, almost two years later.
And we’re having the exact same conversation.
Only now the Republicans are the ones telling us everything is wonderful.
And the Democrats are the ones pointing out how expensive everything has become.
Isn’t that interesting?
The parties change places.
The talking points change.
The people standing behind the podium change.
But the American people keep getting screwed.
And that brings me to something I’ve been talking about for months.
Accountability.
Real accountability.
Not Republican accountability.
Not Democratic accountability.
AMERICAN accountability.
Because here’s the thing.
I don’t particularly care which political party is responsible for a problem.
I care about who’s going to solve it.
And I care about whether they’re telling us the truth.
Now, let’s talk about this war with Iran.
Because according to the latest economic report, a significant portion of this inflation is being driven by energy prices.
Gasoline.
Heating oil.
Transportation.
And when energy prices rise, guess what happens?
Everything gets more expensive.
Because almost everything we consume has to be manufactured, packaged, transported, refrigerated, or delivered.
Energy is built into the cost of practically everything.
And we’re now approaching eight months of a war that the president originally suggested would be over in weeks.
Eight months!
And American families are paying for it every time they fill up their cars.
But that’s not the only issue.
We’ve also got tariffs.
And I want everybody to understand something about tariffs.
When the United States imposes a tariff on an imported product, the American importer pays that tariff.
Not China.
Not Mexico.
Not some mysterious foreign government.
The American business importing the product pays it.
And businesses frequently pass some or all of those additional costs along to consumers.
That’s how tariffs can make things more expensive.
Now, tariffs can serve legitimate strategic purposes.
They can protect certain industries.
They can be used as negotiating tools.
But don’t tell Americans they’re free.
They’re not.
And then we’ve got artificial intelligence.
AI is transforming the economy right before our eyes.
It’s creating enormous opportunities.
But it’s also driving demand for technology, energy, infrastructure, and equipment.
And those pressures can affect prices, too.
So we’ve got a complicated economic situation.
A war.
Tariffs.
Technological disruption.
Housing costs.
Insurance costs.
Healthcare costs.
And what are our political leaders doing?
They’re arguing about whose fault it is.
WHO GIVES A DAMN WHOSE FAULT IT IS IF NOBODY’S FIXING IT?
Now, don’t misunderstand me.
Understanding the causes matters.
We absolutely need to know which policies are working and which ones are making things worse.
But we can’t stop at assigning blame.
We need solutions.
And those solutions need to be measured by something very simple.
Are ordinary Americans better off?
Can they afford a decent place to live?
Can they afford healthcare?
Can they raise a family?
Can they save for retirement?
Can they enjoy their lives without constantly worrying about money?
Because isn’t that what an economy is supposed to do?
Serve the people?
Somewhere along the way, I think we’ve forgotten that.
We’ve started treating the economy like it’s a scoreboard.
The stock market goes up.
GDP goes up.
Corporate profits go up.
And everybody in Washington starts congratulating themselves.
But what about the people?
What about the person making $18 an hour?
What about the teacher?
The nurse?
The construction worker?
The young person who’s working two jobs and still can’t afford an apartment?
When do they get to participate in this wonderful economy?
That’s the question I want answered.
And that’s one of the reasons I started the Truth Party.
Because I’m tired of the political theater.
I’m tired of the finger-pointing.
I’m tired of politicians treating American citizens like we’re too stupid to understand what’s happening.
We’re not stupid.
We know what gasoline costs.
We know what groceries cost.
We know what our rent costs.
And we know when our paychecks aren’t keeping up.
We don’t need somebody standing behind a podium telling us what to believe.
We need leadership that listens.
Leadership that tells the truth.
And leadership that accepts responsibility.
Now, we’ve got an election coming up in November.
And I’m not going to tell you to vote Republican.
I’m not going to tell you to vote Democrat.
I’m going to tell you something much more important.
PAY ATTENTION.
Look at the promises.
Look at the results.
Ask questions.
Demand answers.
And then vote for the people you believe will actually do the work.
Because democracy isn’t a spectator sport.
And citizenship isn’t something you practice once every four years.
It’s something you practice every single day.
And if enough of us start demanding accountability instead of accepting political theater, we can change this country.
I genuinely believe that.
I’m 69 years old.
I’ve watched a lot of presidents come and go.
I’ve watched Republicans run Washington.
I’ve watched Democrats run Washington.
And I’ve heard more economic promises than I can possibly remember.
But here’s one thing I’ve learned.
You can spin a speech.
You can spin a poll.
You can spin an election campaign.
But you cannot spin the price of groceries.
Because when somebody gets to the checkout counter, there’s only one number that matters.
The number on the register.
And no amount of political bullshit is going to change it.
I’m John Eagleton.
This is the Truth Party.
And we’re just getting started.