A majority of voters have said Donald Trump is using his office for personal gain, as the president promised that “America is thriving.”
In typical fashion, Trump boasted about what he called the “hottest country anywhere in the world” under his leadership at the White House Congressional Picnic Tuesday night, which included a food tent and Ferris wheel on the South Lawn.
“America is thriving, America is winning, and America is respected, perhaps like it has never been respected before,” he told members of Congress as their constituents deal with soaring gas prices and high grocery bills.
As Americans struggle with the cost of living, 59 percent believe Trump is using the presidency for personal gain, according to a new The Economist/YouGov poll. Just 30 percent said the president was not using his office for his own benefit.
Trump’s political rival, California Governor Gavin Newsom, wrote on X Tuesday night, “Donald Trump isn’t serving the American people — he’s serving himself. And he thinks you’re dumb enough to fall for it.”
The Independent has reached out to the White House for comment.
Trump has been scrutinized over how much he and his family benefit from his job as president.
In the first 14 months of his second term, the Trump Store sold at least 622 new products, costing a total of nearly $43,000, the nonprofit organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington reported last month.
The Trump Store is the official retail website of the Trump Organization, which is currently run by the president’s two eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
“This is an unprecedented level of monetization of the presidency, even by the standards of Trump’s own first term,” watchdog group claimed.
But the White House has denied claims that Trump has personally gained from his time in office.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt previously told The Independent, “The claims that this President has profited from his time in office are absolutely absurd — in comparison to what he could have made if he didn’t have to deal with the fake news and corrupt political opponents, the President has lost hundreds of millions of dollars to serve this country.”
During the congressional picnic Tuesday, Trump bragged about the stock market reaching an “all time high.”
“Jobless claims recently hit the lowest level,” he said, “the best numbers since 1969.”
He claimed that $18 trillion is being invested in the U.S., deviating from the $10.6 trillion in U.S. and foreign investments noted on the White House website. The Independent could not verify the investment figures.
While it’s true that the stock market has been breaking records and the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits has plummeted, the price of everyday necessities keeps rising.
“We had inflation was at 1.6 percent for the last three months, just prior to the war, and now you’re going to see numbers like that again,” Trump said.
But as CNN’s Daniel Dale pointed out, that’s simply not true. The annual inflation rate has been above 2 percent since last November.
In April, the annual inflation rate rose to 3.8 percent, the highest level since 2023.
Energy costs were up 3.8 percent and food prices rose 0.5 percent from March, according to the Consumer Price Index, which the government uses to track the cost of goods and services over time.
Trump’s war in Iran, which started at the end of February, caused gas prices to skyrocket. The national average cost of a gallon of gas is more than $4.50 as of Tuesday, according to the auto club AAA.
The president promised that the war would end “very quickly,” a claim he’s made for months, and then oil prices will “plummet.”
