Two Trump economies: Why taking a ‘victory lap’ backfires in the grocery aisle

Published August 28, 2026 7:00am ET



President Donald Trump has spent much of the summer highlighting the success of the American economy. Rising markets. Low unemployment. Billions of dollars in new investment. New factories and expanding domestic production.

By many conventional measures, he has a case to make. Yet many Americans hear those achievements and ask a different question: If the economy is doing so well, why doesn’t it feel that way?

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