US politics live: most Americans blame Trump for high prices, poll shows

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My colleague, David Smith, notes that Trump’s speech on Tuesday was the latest instance of the president repeating a racist rant against congresswoman Ilhan Omar and countries he’s previously denigrated.

“Ilhan Omar, whatever the hell her name is. With her little turban. I love her. She comes in, does nothing but bitch. She’s always complaining,” Trump said. “We ought to get her the hell out! She married her brother … Therefore she’s here illegally.”

As David notes, Omar fled civil war as a young child, came to the US as a refugee and became a US citizen in 2000. There is no evidence to support the claim that she married her brother, which she has long described as “absolutely false and ridiculous”.

Later, Trump appeared to confirm a story from his first term – previously denied – that he referred to Haiti and African nations as “shithole countries”.

“We had a meeting and I said, ‘Why is it we only take people from shithole countries, right?’,” Trump said, recalling a meeting with senators. “‘Why can’t we have some people from Norway, Sweden, just a few. Let us have a few. From Denmark … send us some nice people. Do you mind? But we always take people from Somalia, places that are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime. The only thing they’re good at is going after ships.”

Read more of David’s recap of Trump’s speech below.

Majority of Americans blame Trump administration for high prices, poll shows

Welcome to US politics live. I’m Shrai Popat and I’ll be bringing you the latest from Washington and beyond.

We start today with a new poll from Politico that shows two particularly important statistics. Almost half of Americans find their monthly bills (from groceries, to healthcare, to utilities) difficult to afford. While 55% of Americans blame the Trump administration for high prices at the grocery store.

This data comes after Donald Trump held the first rally-style event in a tour to tout his self-proclaimed success in bringing down the cost of living since he returned to office.

In a winding, 90-minute speech in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, the president called affordability a “hoax” (a stance he’s repeated in recent weeks) and bashed Democrats and his predecessor, Joe Biden, for high prices. “We’re bringing them down,” he insisted on Tuesday evening.

Trump also claimed he was “crushing” inflation, and “inflation is stopped”. While inflation declined from an annual rate of 3% in January to 2.9% in August, it has remained ahead of the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.

Politico’s poll also had more telling numbers about specific instances where Americans are having to forego vital services. 27 % of respondents said they have skipped a medical check-up because of costs within the last two years, and 23 % said they have skipped a prescription dose for the same reason.