You Can’t Gaslight the American People Into Thinking the Economy Is Strong

And you can’t rig a map big enough to outrun reality.

Every time I do an interview or podcast, someone inevitably asks: What mistakes did Democrats make in 2024 that cost us the election?

And it’s always a little ironic—because while I could talk about that all day (and often do), what I’m watching now is the Republican Party making the exact same mistake.

It’s the mistake of thinking you can spin people out of their own lived experience. That you can gaslight the country into believing the economy is strong… when it’s clearly, tangibly not.

I called this out on Fox News a couple weeks ago. The host and guest laughed—thought it was a gotcha that I pointed out how expensive everything still is under Trump. But a few days later? Fox released a poll showing Trump with a -30% rating on inflation.

Why? Because people aren’t stupid. Prices are still high and they’re getting more expensive, not less—largely because of Trump’s own tariffs. Americans aren’t buying the spin. They’re living the struggle.

And now, Trump has fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics—not because the numbers were wrong, but because they didn’t flatter him. He wants a “single source of truth,” and that source is him. His “truth” is whatever serves his ego. Even when it’s a lie.

This is more than authoritarian fluff. It’s economic gaslighting. Just like claiming there have been “zero border crossings” in the last three months. It’s not even a good lie. It’s just lazy.

Same guy who spent a year ranting about a fake landslide win. Yes, he won the popular vote—but it wasn’t Obama ‘08. It wasn’t Reagan ‘84. It wasn’t close.

You can get away with gaslighting people on stuff they don’t track. But you can’t tell them they’ve “beaten inflation” while their rent’s going up, their groceries cost more, and their credit card balance is rising. And it's not just working-class families feeling the squeeze. A recent report from VantageScore found that even people making $150,000 a year are falling behind on their bills.

And yet, the GOP and their media echo chamber keep pushing this fantasy that Trump fixed the economy. Two weeks ago, he said it from the White House lawn. It’s nonsense—and it’s not going to work.

And that brings me to Texas.

Because when gaslighting stops working, Republicans reach for their favorite tool: rigging the rules.

This week, Texas Republicans introduced a radically gerrymandered congressional map designed to hand them five more House seats in 2026. It’s not subtle. It’s not legal (yet). But it is strategic.

Why? Because Donald Trump asked for it.

And today’s GOP doesn’t resist Trump—they obey him.

Let’s be clear: this map isn’t about governing or fairness. It’s about fear. Fear of a changing electorate. Fear of suburban voters, young people, and Black and brown Texans. Fear of competition. And above all—fear of losing.

So instead of trying to win votes, they’re trying to erase them. They’re cracking and packing districts, slicing up communities of color, and drawing lines so surgically partisan it would make a corrupt Tammany Hall boss blush.

This isn’t confidence. It’s cowardice.

Just like Trump tries to fire statisticians when the numbers don’t fit the narrative, Texas Republicans are trying to redraw reality to protect themselves from accountability. Because they know they’re losing—and instead of improving, they’re cheating.

And if that weren’t authoritarian enough? When Democratic legislators fled the state to block the vote, Republicans didn’t stop to reflect on what they were doing to our democracy. They threatened legal action. Floated arrests. Anything to force a vote on a map that serves Trump—not Texans.

That’s not democracy. That’s hostage politics.

And while Republicans used to preach federalism and local control, this map is being dictated straight from Mar-a-Lago. It’s a national redistricting scheme orchestrated by a man who couldn’t name a Texas county if his life depended on it.

This isn’t conservatism. It’s autocracy with a Southern accent.

And it’s not just Texas. Republicans are trying this in Missouri, Georgia, Florida—anywhere they can. Because they know the only way they hold power is by rigging the system.

When you can’t win the argument, you redraw the map.

But here’s the thing: none of it will save them.

You can’t gerrymander your way out of a grocery bill. You can’t redraw a map big enough to make people forget that their paycheck disappears by the 15th of the month. You can’t convince a teacher in Houston or a single mom in El Paso that things are fine when their rent keeps climbing and their kids can’t get proper meals at school.

You can’t tell the American people you care—while kicking 20 million off health care and cutting food assistance for 18 million kids thanks to the Republican budget, just to give billionaires another tax cut.

That’s not leadership. That’s theft.

Let’s be clear: Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security and other government programs aren’t a handout. We all pay into it. We work our whole lives, contribute to our economy, pay our taxes—and the government pays us back. That’s the deal. But Republicans are breaking it. And they're digging their own political graves.

The GOP isn’t governing. They’re not planning. They’re not solving.

They’re lying, cheating, and redrawing the board.

But reality has a way of crashing through. And when it does, no Trump speech, no Fox News segment, no rigged district will be enough to cover it up.

This November, people won’t vote based on GDP or manipulated maps. They’ll vote based on whether they can afford a home, care for their families, and live with dignity.

And when that happens, Republicans aren’t going to get pummeled.

They’re going to get smacked with reality.

Not from their donors. Not from their consultants. But from the voters they’ve spent years trying to silence.

This is where Republicans are making the same mistake Democrats did: thinking outdated economic stats will convince people the economy is great.

Sure, GDP is back at 3%. That’s nice on paper. It was strong under Biden, too—quarter after quarter. But that doesn’t reflect the lived reality of most Americans: stagnant wages, rising costs, and 80% of the country falling further behind.

When I was on Fox, they wanted to talk GDP. I wanted to talk about real life. Because Americans don’t experience the economy in data points. They experience it in questions like:

• Can I buy a house?

• Can I raise a family?

• Can I retire with dignity?

• Can I afford college for my kids?

• Can I take a vacation and be a normal human being?

Right now, for a lot of people, the answer is no. That was true under Biden. It’s true under Trump. And last week’s Navigator poll made it crystal clear: most Americans say their lives are worse than they were six months ago.

This isn’t just a temporary dip. Tariffs are wrecking the economy. Trump has no plan to fix prices, bring back jobs, or do... anything. Except enrich himself and his inner circle.

The Democrats—flawed as we are—do have an economic vision. Slow? Yes. Imperfect? Absolutely. But it’s real and it is focused on improving YOUR life. And we have to get better at explaining why it’s better and then helping people feel that impact in their day-to-day lives.

Republicans don’t have that. What they have is a media machine built to gaslight, so they can enrich the uber-wealthy. But that machine can’t change the price of beef. It can’t lower your rent. And it sure as hell can’t convince you that things are good when they’re not.

That’s why they’re rigging maps in Texas, Missouri, Georgia. But it won’t be enough.

Because the American people still believe in the idea of a fair shot. A real democracy. A government that works for them—not just for the wealthy.

And when they show up this November, Republicans won’t just lose.

They’ll crash face-first into reality.