Brit Hume: Inflation ‘just killing’ Trump administration

Political analyst Brit Hume on Wednesday evening said rising inflation and higher costs of living are hurting the Trump administration ahead of the midterms, as the Republican Party fights to maintain control in Congress.

“This business with prices is just killing the administration,” Hume said on Fox News’s “Special Report with Bret Baier.”

He referenced a Fox News poll released earlier that day, in which 63 percent of surveyed voters — including 26 percent of Republicans — said the administration has made the economy worse.

“That is not a number that the president can be very content with,” Hume said.

Additionally, 64 percent of voters in the survey said President Trump’s tariff agenda has hurt the U.S. economy. Fifty-five percent of respondents said they trusted Democrats to do a better job than Republicans in handling inflation.

Trump received an overall job approval rating of 39 percent in the same poll, with 24 percent supporting his moves to address affordability.

The president’s economic record has also taken a hit amid the ongoing U.S. military operations against Iran, which have spiked global energy rates , and his administration’s tariff fight with Canada.

On Monday, Trump attempted to calm concerns about the rising price of oil, saying these costs “will drop precipitously” after the conflict is over.

U.S. gas prices surged to a record high on Labor Day, hitting an average of $4.15 per gallon, according to AAA. Several days before, diesel also climbed to its highest cost at a U.S. national average of $5.85 per gallon.

The economy has remained a top issue among voters in the polling leading up to the midterm elections.

Fifty-one percent of voters surveyed in the Fox News poll said they would back the Democratic candidate in the House race in their district, while 44 percent said they would support the GOP candidate.

Hume said the rising costs under the Trump administration are “plaguing” the GOP.

“The president was elected in hope, I believe, that inflation could be brought under control, and to some extent on many products it has,” he said. “But when it comes to gasoline, a reflection of the Iran war, and groceries, which continue to go up, the problem is worse.”