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In newly unearthed audio, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Mike Rogers (Michigan) appears to dismiss one of the top issues motivating voters in this year’s midterm races: affordability.
In a radio interview from January, Rogers blasted Democrats for highlighting the fact that Americans are facing higher consumer prices on myriad goods and services.
“They [Democrats] say, ‘Trump caused high prices’ — people go nuts, they lose their mind. I do believe there is this Trump derangement,” Rogers, a millionaire, said in the interview, minimizing legitimate concerns about rising costs.
“[Democrats] have the gall to come out and say, ‘Guess what? We are the only ones that care about how expensive your life is,’” Rogers added.
In separate leaked audio featuring Rogers, the GOP candidate derides worries over higher costs for specific grocery items.
“Oh my gosh, coffee went up,” Rogers says on tape, mocking those concerns. “You know, horror!”
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Rogers recently dismissed reporters who asked whether he should “provide an explanation” for those comments, belittling the query as “a couple of DNC talking points.”
Voters across the U.S. are, in fact, concerned about inflation, as prices are significantly higher on many staple items due in large part to President Donald Trump’s tariffs against other countries. Trump’s decision to launch a war on Iran has also resulted in rising fuel costs, which have increased costs of other goods, as diesel is needed to transport items for shipment across the U.S.
The Trump administration likely bears all of the responsibility for rising prices. According to a report from the New York Federal Reserve that was published last week, costs for many goods were actually decreasing before the president implemented an array of tariffs in his first year back in the White House. Because of that policy decision, prices are now increasing.
On a per capita basis, Michigan has been hit the hardest by price increases, with one estimate showing the total per-person household increase in costs being around $5,600 in the state.
Meanwhile, the latest polls show that Michigan voters are more supportive of the state’s Democratic Senate candidate, Abdul El-Sayed. In an aggregate of polling data from FiftyPlusOne, El-Sayed garners 48.2 percent of the vote while Rogers receives only 44.8 percent.
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