The man deciding between food and gas will decide the midterms

There is a man parked in a car outside a grocery store doing math. Gas crossed $4.50 a gallon in May. In February, before a war no one in Congress voted for, it was under $3. He can fill the tank or fill the cart. He can’t do both.

I have been that man. Different decade, same arithmetic.  I have sat in that exact lot and chosen the cart over the tank. I know the feeling in your chest when the numbers don’t work, and I know what he is not thinking about. He is not thinking about democracy

In the same month that gas hit $4.50 a gallon, the Treasury secretary stood in the White House briefing room and held up a mockup of a $250 bill with Trump’s face on it. A man who can’t lower the price of your gas wants his face on your money. That is not a king. That is a con. 

Last month, Trump’s approval rating reached the floor of his presidency, and the man in the car can tell you exactly why.

In Trump’s first year, U.S. billionaires added $1.5 trillion to their collective fortunes. The four companies whose CEOs stood behind him at the inauguration took $51 billion in tax breaks and paid a federal tax rate under 5 percent. Inflation hit a three-year high this spring while Trump asked you to be patient.

Your paycheck lost the race with your grocery bill. He called your gas “peanuts.”

So, when the Trump banknote image surfaced, what did the opposition say? House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) reached for the crown, calling him a “wannabe King.”

King, not thief. Wrong charge. The man in the car has........

© The Hill