Floor Statements

Mr. President, it has been a hell of a bad week for Donald Trump and his Republicans, maybe the worst week they have ever had. Bogged down by Donald Trump's stunningly corrupt MAGA slush fund, Trump's billion-dollar, taxpayer-funded ballroom, and the recordbreaking gas costs as we approach the Memorial Day weekend, Republicans are having a terrible, terrible week--one that may even rival the week they had when they passed their so-called Big Beautiful Bill, which America hated. And it is only Wednesday. It is only Wednesday. But however bad this week is for Republicans--and, believe me, it is bad--it has been even worse for the American people.

First, on Trump's nearly $2 billion MAGA slush fund--incredible depravity, disgusting selfishness--yesterday, Trump's Department of Justice expanded the settlement he made with himself, granting him and his family immunity from tax audits.

Did you hear that, America? Trump just gave his family a license to commit tax fraud to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, if not more. He is using nearly $2 billion, America, of your taxpayer dollars that he has placed in a slush fund to enrich his MAGA loyalists. Trump doesn't have to pay his taxes, and meanwhile, he is using your tax dollars, America, to line the pockets of his family and his far-right cronies.

The naked corruption, something as low and depraved as we have ever seen, is absolutely egregious. Only in Trump's Washington could a President sue himself, settle with himself, and somehow stick the American people with the bill. Who would have thought that even a man as depraved and low as Donald Trump, as dishonest and as selfish, would do something like this? Trump's slush fund is a heist where the robber owns the bank, runs the police department, and gets to pardon himself on the way out.

Just as egregious as how Trump stole this money is who he plans to give it to: his billionaire cronies, convicted criminals, and the cop beaters who maimed our brave U.S. Capitol Police on January 6. Meanwhile, Trump is making a deal with himself, shaking hands with himself on a corrupt deal as he shakes down the American people.

Republican Senators should make no mistake--Democrats are going to force Republican Senators to vote on this slush fund on the floor in the upcoming reconciliation bill in the next day or two. Republicans will not be able to duck or hide.

Republicans, are you for the slush fund--this evil, corrupt slush fund--or are you against it? Are you going to bow down to Donald Trump when you know how egregious, how despicable, how nasty, how disgusting this slush fund is? Will you bow down to Trump? Will you vote for the slush fund or against it?

Democrats are going to force Republicans to take a stand in the next day.

Now, a second chapter--the next chapter that is part of Trump's terrible, terrible week is the ballroom. Yesterday, Donald Trump defended his billion-dollar, gold-plated, taxpayer-funded ballroom, calling it ``a gift to the United States of America.'' A gift? Let's call Trump's ballroom what it is: a boondoggle, a vanity project, an insult to every American--especially those struggling to make ends meet right now. This ballroom is no gift to the American people; it is a congressional Republican personal gift to Donald J. Trump--right. It is the Republican Senators here in this Chamber giving Donald Trump the personal gift of a billion-dollar ballroom.

Trump said yesterday--again, he just lies--Trump said yesterday that the ballroom is not going to be paid for by the taxpayer. Then why have Americans watched Republicans work around the clock on proposal after proposal to grant $1 billion to build Trump's ballroom, all at the taxpayers' expense? When Trump says it ``is not going to be paid for by the taxpayer,'' it is flagrant, shameless lying. He is very good at that.

Fortunately, Democrats stopped Republicans' first attempt to fund the ballroom through reconciliation, but rest assured the Senate GOP is working to take money out of your paycheck to finance Trump's palace, America.

Republicans are in such disarray as they scramble over the ballroom, now they are slow-walking the whole process. We still don't have a reconciliation bill on our desks.

Regardless of whether the ballroom funding makes it into the reconciliation bill--and Democrats will keep fighting to ensure that it doesn't--Republicans have already showed America their true colors. While Democrats are fighting to lower Americans' costs,

Republicans are fighting like hell to waste billions of dollars on things taxpayers do not want, do not need, and certainly should not be forced to pay for. That is true of the billion-dollar ballroom. That is true of the tens of billions of dollars the Republican bill would give to Trump's masked agents, who have gunned down Americans in the streets. It is true of the whole GOP entire agenda.

Republicans can change the pricetag of the ballroom. They tried to rewrite the text. They even attempted to hide this boondoggle in the bill, but we caught them. Republicans will not be able to distance themselves from this corruption. Democrats will make sure of that. No matter what happens, we will make sure the American people know where Republicans stand. We will make sure Republicans have to go on the record and show what they are really fighting for when we vote this week: Trump's gilded palace--not working families, not lower costs, not for the American people.

The American people want lower costs. They are giving money to the ballroom. They are giving money to the slush fund. How out of touch are they? How harmful are they to the average working family's interests?

Then, the third part of Trump's terrible, terrible, terrible week is the continuing increase in gas prices. As Americans pack up the car and fire up the grill ahead of Memorial Day, they are getting crushed by the skyrocketing costs of Trump's disastrous war in Iran.

With gas selling for over $4.50 a gallon, up nearly 45 percent--45 percent--since this time last year, many Americans are canceling their Memorial Day plans because they simply can't afford to drive.

Americans can't afford a barbecue when the cost of the beef they put on the grill and the propane they use to fuel it are both going up too.

Republicans ought to take note that among the States that have seen the greatest increase in gas prices since the war are the battleground States of Ohio, Michigan, and Alaska. One report says those are the three highest. They are the battleground States.

What did Donald Trump have to say yesterday about these surging gas prices across the country? He said:

This is peanuts.

Can you believe this guy? Donald Trump thinks the hundreds of extra dollars Americans are shelling out at the gas station each month are peanuts, a pittance.

What does he know? Does he ever fill up his own tank with gas? No.

Trump should tell the American people that he thinks it is a pittance and tell that to America's small businesses, which suffered their biggest decline in 2 years, last month, because of the surge in costs.

Trump should tell that to American farmers, who are struggling to afford fuel for their tractors and agriculture equipment, after facing rising costs from tariffs and now increased costs of fertilizer.

The GOP continues to stand by Donald Trump's handling of this war, but the cracks are starting to form.

Yesterday, Democrats convinced enough Republicans to break ranks and advance our War Powers Resolution to end Trump's war. Our vote on our War Powers Resolution yesterday was an important step toward ending Trump's war, but we won't stop pushing and pushing and pushing until Republicans finally join us in ending this reckless war. Democrats are going to keep the pressure up.

In conclusion, this has been a terrible week--a terrible, terrible week--for Donald Trump and Republicans, and it will get only worse for our Senate Republicans during vote-arama because Democrats are going to force Senate Republicans to vote on amendment after amendment about Trump's ballroom, Trump's slush fund, and the rising costs of Trump's war. They are not going to be able to hide.

The American people are going to see the clear difference between the parties. We are for working people. We are for getting costs down, going after corruption, ending the chaos. And yet they, by backing Donald Trump, make all three worse.

I encourage the American people to watch this debate, though they already know what they will see: Republicans fighting for Trump, Democrats fighting to lower costs.

And, finally, to make matters even worse for this terrible, terrible week for Republicans, I will utter one final word: Texas.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, Donald Trump looks at the Federal Government and sees one thing: a cash register full of Americans' money--and he keeps trying to ring himself up.

Nearly $2 billion for his MAGA slush fund, a billion more for his gilded ballroom, and not one serious plan to lower costs for families forced to pay the bill.

This week, Trump showed us again exactly what his Presidency is about: not helping Americans, not lowering costs, not making life easier for working families; but finding new ways to turn taxpayer dollars into political payouts, personal perks, and vanity projects.

Just look at this nearly $2 billion slush fund. Just look at it. It is enough to make you cringe.

Trump settled with himself in his own lawsuit against his own government to funnel taxpayer money to his political allies, January 6 insurrectionists, and far-right loyalists.

Let me say that again: Donald Trump settled with himself in his own lawsuit--have you ever heard of something like this?--against his own government to take taxpayer dollars to his political allies, stuff it in their pockets, and, for all we know, his pocket.

Trump didn't bother making a deal with the Devil. He just made a deal with himself to set up this MAGA slush fund.

That is not justice. That is not law and order. That is corruption-- corruption in broad daylight--no disguise, no shame, no attempt to hide it.

And this is the through line of the Trump Presidency: If there is taxpayer money on the table, Donald Trump wants a big cut of it.

Trump wants to fill his coffers. That is why he created this MAGA slush fund. That is why he keeps demanding taxpayers bankroll his billion-dollar ballroom, and it is why his family business always seems to be lurking around the business of government.

Americans are working harder than ever just to make ends meet, while Donald Trump schemes to turn their tax dollars into personal payouts and vanity projects.

And where--where--are the Republicans, here in the Senate and elsewhere? Are they going to stand up for the taxpayer, or are they so afraid of Donald Trump that they will let him raid the Treasury in broad daylight?

The American people are watching, and they will remember who fought to lower their costs and who helped Donald Trump line his pockets.

Mr. President, that brings me to the Republicans' reconciliation bill.

While Americans are getting crushed by the cost of rent, groceries, gas, healthcare, and childcare, Senate Republicans have spent their time trying to salvage a plan to force taxpayers to fund Donald Trump's gilded ballroom.

Democrats stopped Republicans' first attempt. Now, Republicans have a choice. Republicans can drop this ballroom boondoggle because Democrats exposed it and the public saw it for exactly what it was, or Republicans can keep this boondoggle in the bill.

Either way, Democrats will make sure they will have a chance to vote on it on the Senate floor. Republicans do not--do not--get to hide from this.

Americans can barely afford to keep a roof over their own heads. They should not be forced to pay for a golden roof over Trump's head.

And, to be very clear, I don't care if the Republicans ask for a billion dollars, a million dollars, or a single dollar. Every penny of taxpayer money for Donald Trump's vanity project is a penny too much, and Senate Democrats will fight to make sure not one penny of Americans' money is used for it.

The ballroom is the perfect symbol of this Republican budget bill: Republicans focused on all the wrong things.

This bill still pours tens of billions of dollars into Trump's masked agents, uncontrolled raids, and unaccountable police forces. The Republican bill still does nothing--nothing--to lower grocery costs, lower rent, lower gas prices, lower healthcare costs.

That is the contrast: Democrats fighting to lower costs, Republicans fighting to launder Trump's corruption through the Federal budget.

So let Republicans rewrite the text. Let them change the number. Let them try to hide the ballroom after they got caught. The truth will not change.

Donald Trump sees Americans' money as his money. He somehow thinks he is entitled to reach into the

average American family's pockets, take the money out of their pockets, and put it in his own. It is incredible.

Republicans are writing the check. Democrats are saying: Hell no.

Mr. President, on Iran, yesterday, Donald Trump once again displayed the vicious cycle he has trapped America in with his disastrous war in Iran. Within hours, he went from threatening to blow Iran into oblivion to saying that a peace deal was imminent. This he does within 6 hours of one another.

Can anyone believe this guy? Whether you are a world leader, an American citizen, or anything in between, can you believe him? He keeps making it up. He doesn't care about the truth. And what is worse is, he thinks you don't care about the truth--that he can lie, lie, lie.

First--first--he threatens to blow Iran into smithereens, and 6 hours later, he says a peace deal is imminent. We know it is bull. Everyone knows it is bull.

But maybe people don't realize the consequences of that bull--how disastrous this war is and how it turns America's attention, or at least Trump's attention and his followers' attention, to this disastrous war, rather than lowering their costs.

We have seen Trump follow the same pattern in Iran again and again. Trump threatens, Trump retreats, then threatens again--rinse and repeat. That is what he does. Trump is practicing ``Groundhog Day'' diplomacy, smashing the clock over and over again like Bill Murray does in the movie. Trump is no closer to ending this war, no closer to bringing down the skyrocketing costs of this war, no closer to getting our troops out of harm's way.

Senate Republicans must not continue to allow Trump to remain stuck in this never-ending loop of threats and failed negotiations. I urge Senate Republicans to support Democrats' War Powers Resolution to withdraw our troops from hostilities with Iran, which we are bringing to the floor for an eighth vote--an eighth vote--later today.

Republicans, instead of perpetuating Trump's reckless cycle, could help break it by supporting our War Powers Act to end the war. That would be doing what the American people need and want.

Mr. President, on a speech I am giving at the Center for American Progress on election protection: Later today, I will speak at the Center for American Progress' IDEAS Conference to detail Democrats' plans to protect our elections from MAGA interference.

Donald Trump is escalating his attacks on our elections because he knows his agenda is unpopular. He knows he is going to lose the elections, and so he wants to throw the election, to cheat. Senate Democrats are not waiting until after the damage is done. I am launching Senate Democrats' election protection task force to prevent, monitor, and challenge any malfeasance from Donald Trump and the far right before, during, and after our elections in November. Our task force is bringing together 11 Senators and some of the sharpest election experts in the country--people like Marc Elias, Eric Holder, Vanita Gupta, Norm Eisen, Skye Perryman, and others--as well as a variety of election protection organizations to safeguard our democracy. I am looking forward to detailing some of our task force's upcoming plans, and I encourage everyone to tune in.

Mr. President, well, earlier today, Trump said he was just an hour away from launching another wave of attacks on Iran before he changed his mind.

Trump says: ``We may have to give Iran another big hit''--that ``we're all set to start'' bombing at a moment's notice.

This President is like a toddler playing with a loaded gun. If there was ever a time to support our War Powers Resolution to withdraw troops from hostilities with Iran, it is now.

We have long since passed the War Powers Act's 60-day threshold to end hostilities that many of our colleagues cited as the time their position on this war would finally change. Every second we wait to end this war is another second Donald Trump puts our servicemembers at risk.

If Republicans truly believe that this war is going well, that Trump is some strategic genius, then why are they hiding behind shifting deadlines and fake notifications of the ``end of hostilities''? Why do Republicans pretend Trump's war ended after 60 days, when it clearly has continued, with U.S. and Iranian forces exchanging fire in the Strait of Hormuz?

And the lack of planning in this whole war is just appalling. It is obvious even to a layman that the greatest vulnerability we faced, if we challenged Iran, was the Strait of Hormuz. And yet, despite the fact that many said, ``Secure the strait before you do anything else,'' Trump ignored it.

And look at what is happening now: Gasoline is $4.50 and going up.

How can anyone believe this President has a strategy, has a plan, knows what he is doing?

Senate Republicans are silent on Trump's war because they know it is a massive blunder, but they are foolish to think that silence will spare them. The American people's outrage over skyrocketing costs is right at their doorstep.

Americans took note all seven times this Republican majority passed up the opportunity to support our War Powers Resolution to end this disaster, and they will take note of those Republicans who pass up the eighth time--the eighth opportunity--to stop this war, which will occur shortly when we vote.

I thank Senator Kaine for his leadership on today's resolution.

Every week this war continues and Republicans continue to sit in silence, Democrats will force a vote on the War Powers Resolution and make Republicans go on record with their support for this war.

Let me be clear: Reasserting Congress' authority on matters of war and peace isn't a partisan issue. It never should have been one. It is a constitutional issue. It has been what this country has stood for, for centuries.

This vote is about fulfilling our most basic responsibility as Members of the Senate.

I urge my colleagues to vote yes.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, first, let me thank my good friend Senator Padilla from California for his good work on this issue and so many other issues of civil rights and of keeping our democracy secure and safe, of voting rights. He is an amazing asset not just to this Senate but to California and to the country, and I thank him for his continued, ever-present leadership on these vital issues, which I know he feels so deeply about.

Now, in America, voters choose their leaders; leaders don't choose their voters. But MAGA has launched a coordinated campaign to handpick the electorate in 2026. That effort spans all three branches of government.

Donald Trump has virtually made election denialism a prerequisite for serving in his administration. You have to lie about the election--lie to yourselves, lie to other people--to get a job in any sensitive area in this administration. Trump and his band of MAGA loyalists have jumped at every opportunity to intimidate election officials, to attack vote-by-mail, to seize voter data, and to undermine our elections in any way they can.

In Congress, Trump's MAGA majorities keep pushing the SAVE Act, which we know would disenfranchise tens--tens--of millions of voters.

With the SAVE Act, Republicans would purge millions of American citizens from the voter rolls through a screening algorithm designed by none other than the trio--the evil trio--of

Trump, Vought, Musk, and their DOGE squad.

And as I have been saying for months--I started saying this months ago--it is Jim Crow 2.0. And when I started saying it, now when I say it, the MAGA right goes crazy. They get angry. They get apoplectic. Do you know why? They know it is true.

They know it is Jim Crow 2.0, and they know they are doing everything they can to steal our election, rather than compete in our election.

The radical rightwing majority on the Supreme Court has aided Trump's assault on our democracy every step of the way. The Callais decision was the MAGA Court's latest move to resurrect Jim Crow South, upending half a century of precedent and progress when it gutted the Voting Rights Act for which Martin Luther King, Jr. and so many others marched, bled, and ultimately gave their lives.

The decision issues a deliberate blow to democracy, stripping voters of protections while handing MAGA politicians free rein to rig maps that drown out their voices, especially those of historically disenfranchised communities. Callais did not come out of nowhere. Oh, no. For years, beginning with Chief Justice Roberts in the awful and evil Shelby County decision, the Republican-appointed majority, led by Roberts, chipped away at the Voting Rights Act in decision after decision.

Indeed, Roberts began railing against the Voting Rights Act since the early eighties. Now Roberts says his job is to call balls and strikes-- bull. For someone who famously said that his job is ``to call balls and strikes, and not to pitch or bat,'' John Roberts sure is swinging for the fences to help Donald Trump subvert our elections. Democrats are not going to wait until the damage is done. Oh, no. That is why Senate Democrats launched our Election Protection Task Force, the most expansive election protection effort our caucus has ever undertaken.

We are going to bring together lawyers and observers, rapid-response teams, cyber security experts, State and local officials, and the most renowned election experts in the country to protect our democracy before, during, and after this election. We are going to fight like hell to make sure our elections belong to the voters--not to Donald Trump.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, let me first talk about this DOJ slush fund.

As working families shorten their grocery lists, as they struggle to make ends meet, Donald Trump has added a nearly $2 billion slush fund for his MAGA allies and January 6 insurrectionists to his wish list of pet projects he wants to fund with taxpayer dollars.

Of all the corrupt things Donald Trump has done, this MAGA slush fund at the Department of Justice is one of the most depraved. Trump is shaking hands with himself in order to fund his insurrectionist army to the tune of billions of dollars. Trump is shaking hands with himself, making his own deal with himself, in order to fund his insurrectionist army to the tune of billions of dollars. He is signing a contract with himself to use these funds for illicit purposes.

Can you believe it, America? How low can we go with this President?

Trump pardoned violent insurrectionists who assaulted your Capitol to overturn your votes, and now he wants to give them your hard-earned tax dollars as a reward. Can you believe that? He is taking money out of your paycheck, America, and putting it into the pockets of his cronies, criminals, and cop beaters.

This settlement with the IRS is a farce. Trump sued his own government. He is the President, and he sued the government. He asked for $10 billion--the gall of this man. And then Trump's own Justice Department, with his own appointed attorneys general, settled with Trump. Trump settled with Trump, and now Trump gets a nearly $2 billion slush fund as part of that settlement.

What is he going to do with it? He is going to reward his own allies, loyalists, and insurrectionists. How crooked can it be? How perverted? How slanted? How far away from American ideals?

No President--none--should be able to use the Department of Justice as a personal rewards program for the people who helped him attack our democracy.

Again, America, he sued America for $10 billion, and then he settled with himself and said: OK, I will settle for $2 billion, and then I can use that to aid my cronies.

America, are you listening? What is this guy doing? We have never seen anything like this. Even in the worst and most corrupt administrations we have had, we have never seen anything like this. It is self-dealing. It is corruption. It is abuse of power. And it is happening in broad daylight.

Where are our Republican colleagues when something so abysmal, so low, so degrading to what America is all about--where are they? Shrugging their shoulders: Whatever Donald Trump wants, let him do, even though we know what a bad human being he is.

Mr. President, on costs, reconciliation, and the ballroom, the list goes on and on. As costs continue to skyrocket, Americans know exactly who is making their lives harder: Donald Trump.

The new New York Times/Siena poll this morning found that just 37 percent of Americans approve of Trump. Only 37 percent of Americans approve of Trump. It was low in January. It is now 4 points even lower. And only 28 percent--28 percent of Americans--only a little more than one in four Americans approves of Trump's handling of the cost of living.

Trump's supposed high floor of approval is crumbling beneath his feet, unable to bear the weight of his complete disregard for the higher costs he is forcing on Americans every time they go to the grocery store, gas pump, or doctor's office. As Donald Trump

keeps reminding us, he doesn't think about Americans' financial situation. He doesn't think about anyone but himself. Look at that:

I don't think about Americans' financial situation. I don't

think about anyone.

That is Trump. He is totally on his own, helping himself, dipping into the pockets of the taxpayers and putting the money in his pockets and in his friends' pockets.

What a sad day for America it is that this man goes unchecked by almost everybody in his own party.

And when inflation is at its highest cost in years, costs are growing faster than wages, and the price of everything--from gas to groceries, to healthcare--is through the roof, Donald Trump demands that Americans shell out a billion dollars for his golden ballroom and tens of billions of dollars more for his masked secret police force. At the very moment Americans are asking, ``How do I make ends meet?'' Donald Trump is asking: How do I get taxpayers to fund my vanity project?

And as I mentioned, Senate Republicans, unfortunately, are going right along with him. Instead of changing course in the face of Americans' outcry, Donald Trump and Senate Republicans are doubling down on their ballroom.

In the reconciliation Byrd bath, over the weekend, Democrats successfully derailed Republicans' ballroom proposal, but now Republicans are scrambling to reinsert a new ballroom provision into their bill. Now, Republicans are scrambling over what comes next: whether they try to shove the ballroom back in, hide it somewhere else, or quietly retreat because Democrats exposed it. But either way, the point is clear: Republicans were ready to spend taxpayer dollars on Trump's vanity project, while doing nothing--nothing--serious to lower costs for families.

Do you hear that, America? Republicans will not work this hard to lower your costs, lower your rent, lower your grocery bill, but they worked overtime to protect Trump's priorities, including this ballroom. That tells you everything you need to know. Ballroom Republicans have made their choice: Trump's ego over your electric bill, Trump's palace over your paycheck, Trump's priorities over your family's needs.

And if Republicans are now running away from their own ballroom provision, good, they should. Democrats called the ballroom out, fought it, and made clear we would not let Republicans quietly stick taxpayers with the bill for Donald Trump's vanity project.

But, make no mistake, this reconciliation bill is still rotten to the core. Whether the ballroom stays, goes, or gets buried somewhere else, Republicans are still pushing a bill that does nothing meaningful to lower costs for families, while pouring tens of billions into Trump's extreme agenda. Democrats are going to fight this with everything we have: in the Byrd bath, on the floor, in vote-arama--amendment after amendment, vote after vote. We are going to force Republicans to answer a simple question: Who are you here to fight for--American families or Donald Trump's priorities?

Democrats fight for families. Republicans fight for Trump.

Mr. President, on Iran, over the weekend, Donald Trump told Iran:

[T]he Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST,

or there won't be anything left of them.

How can Donald Trump say the clock is ticking when he told the Senate the clock had paused when his war recently passed the War Powers Act 60-day threshold to either end hostilities or get congressional authorization?

Over the weekend, a drone strike caused a fire on the edge of a massive nuclear powerplant in the UAE, further proof that the fighting is anything but finished.

Senate Republicans need to stop playing dumb and realize that this war didn't end at the 60-day mark and will not end until Republicans show some backbone and support Democrats' War Powers Resolution to end the fighting.

This week, Democrats will force an eighth vote on our War Powers Resolution to withdraw our troops from hostilities with Iran. I urge Republicans to support our War Powers Resolution, end the war, and get the troops out of harm's way--or else Republicans will learn that the clock is ticking not only on this war but on their own political future.

I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet), the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin), the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman), and the Senator from Michigan (Mr. Peters) are necessarily absent.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, well, every day, Americans see headlines about rising prices.

Just this week, The Economist said: ``America faces another grocery- price shock.''

CNN: ``America is in for yet another long spell of price pain.''

PBS News: ``Iran war hits home as gasoline prices fuel significant U.S. inflation jump.''

Trump will surely try to brush aside these reports of higher costs as ``fake news,'' but Americans don't need to see the headlines to know we are in an affordability crisis. Americans feel the crushing weight of higher costs caused by Trump's disastrous war and failed economic policies every time they walk through the grocery aisle and step up to the gas pump.

What Americans do not see is any sympathy, any support, or any plan from Trump and congressional Republicans to lower costs. In fact, they see the opposite.

The other day, Trump said:

I don't think about Americans' financial situation. I don't

think about [anyone].

Trump's clueless comments make my blood boil. ``I don't think about [anyone]?'' They make Americans' blood boil. Americans can't understand how a President can be so cold, so callous, and so proud of it.

Donald Trump doesn't think about how every time Americans go to the pump, they are paying over $4.50 for a gallon of gasoline--up more than $1.50 since Trump started this war.

Donald Trump doesn't think about how a family's weekly trip to the grocery store got even more expensive, with food prices going up in April more than in any month in the past 4 years.

Trump certainly doesn't think about how wholesale inflation just hit 6 percent--the highest it has been in nearly 4 years.

Donald Trump doesn't think about you, America.

Trump is really wrong when he says he doesn't think about anyone. He thinks about himself and only himself, as his past comments have shown.

Donald Trump thinks about how badly he wants the American people to bankroll his $1 billion ballroom. If ``ballroom Republicans'' won't think about the economic suffering of the American people, then they had better start thinking long and hard about their own political futures.