What did Donald Trump do today?

He demanded Americans ignore reality and applaud his "A+++++" economy.

In an interview with Politico released today, Trump gave himself a grade of "A plus plus plus plus plus" for his handling of the economy. Confronted with testimony from a supporter of his who complained that "Groceries, utility, insurance, and the basic cost of running small business keep rising faster than wages" and that Trump wasn't doing enough to solve this problem, he responded by once again insisting that "prices are all coming down" and that gasoline prices in particular had hit $1.99/gal in "three states."

In reality, of course, prices are up and rising uncomfortably fast for consumer goods, groceries, energy, and gasoline—which was well above $1.99 in every state at at about $3 nationwide.

The most recent figures on inflation are from September. More current figures are aren't available because Trump shut down the federal agency that tracks them in order to avoid having to sign a health care bill—which itself is causing massive spikes in premiums for Americans who get their insurance through the Affordable Care Act. 

But even without hard data, Americans are generally under no illusions about what they are spending on groceries, rent, heating bills, and other necessities. He has a 36% approval rating on the economy in the gold standard Gallup tracking poll. That may be why he has spent much of his time lately insisting that the very concept of "affordability" is a "con job," although what exactly this means isn't clear.

At a rally in Pennsylvania tonight, Trump also returned to another of his economic themes: that Americans can fight tariff-induced inflation by simply making do with less.

The one thing you need, you need steel. You know, you can give up certain products. Uh, you could give up pencils. Because under the China policy [sic], you know every child can get 37 pencils. They only need 1 or 2, you know. They don't need that many. But, uh, you always need, you always need steel. You don't need 37 dolls for your daughter. 2 or 3 is nice. You don't need 37 dolls. So, uh, we're doing things right. 

Pencils, which cost about fifteen cents each, are one of the few things that a typical American family could afford 37 of.

Of course, not every American family needs to hoard pencils to get by in Trump's economy. By a conservative estimate, Trump's net worth has increased by $3 billion since returning to office. That doesn't include the money that his adult children, who are able to more openly profit from his presidency, have made. Adding that in yields a net worth of more than $10 billion dollars, and even that doesn't include assets designed to be hidden from public scrutiny like cryptocurrencies. 

Why does this matter?

• In a democracy, the public tells politicians how good a job they are doing, not the other way around. 

• You cannot solve a problem you're too afraid to admit exists.

• The American public is not nearly as stupid as Donald Trump seems to think they are.