“I’m going to say it,” the president declared after revealing that his advisors had urged him to remain silent. Donald Trump’s efforts to shore up support for Republicans failed spectacularly after he admitted he “doesn’t give a damn” about Americans’ affordability crisis. The president, 80, came under fire after boasting that the United States was benefiting from high oil prices, against the advice of his own advisers, during a campaign stop in Georgia on Saturday. “We’re making hundreds and hundreds of billions, trillions of dollars, but my people said, ‘Please don’t mention that, sir,’ because people are paying a little bit more,” Trump told the crowd. TRUMP on HIGH GAS PRICES: We’re making money like never before. They will say: President Trump brags about all the money he makes while people suffer at the pump. I don’t give a damn. We’re making a damn fortune. pic.twitter.com/KZ2pYsTPyR — Acyn (@Acyn) October 25, 2026 “But what we have done for this country is we are making money like this country has never made before.” Trump acknowledged that “the headlines” would probably say “Trump is talking about all the money they’re making while people suffer at the pump,” but admitted “I don’t give a damn.” Get the best of the beast Sign up for The Swamp Newsletter “I’m going to say it,” he admitted, “we’re making a damn fortune.” Trump’s comments come as high gas prices and inflation have plunged American consumer sentiment to record lows, something critics were quick to note. “Congratulations to Big Oil on a very successful presidency with record profits,” California Governor Gavin Newsom responded to Trump’s comments in an X post. “Give [POTUS] You have to give him credit for being honest with the American people,” former Obama adviser David Axelrod wrote in an X post. “HE is making money like never before. And he doesn’t give a damn about high gas prices. (Not a great final message, though.) “He’s making money like never before,” Axelrod said of Trump. Pete Souza / The White House New Yorker staff writer Susan Glasser compared the comment to Trump’s entire second term. “This is like the epigraph to the entire Trump 2.0 presidency,” he wrote. Trump’s controversial comments come at a time when many Americans view the president as out of touch with the cost of living crisis. As he anticipated, Trump’s comments were criticized as out of touch. In September, data showed inflation rose more than anticipated — consumer prices rose 3.7 percent last month from a year earlier, up from 3.4 percent in August and above the 3.6 percent year-on-year rate many economists had expected. Meanwhile, the president has crisscrossed the country, insisting that affordability is a hoax invented by Democrats As voters point to rising prices and their struggles to make ends meet as the primary issue of the election, White House spokesman Matthew Middleton previously told the Daily Beast that Trump “has implemented an aggressive, pro-growth economic agenda that has mitigated Biden’s inflation crisis, boosted economic growth, increased wages, and created private sector jobs in areas that “They had been emptied and sent abroad.” “It will continue to provide economic benefits to the American people for the next two years,” Middleton said. Unlock one year of full access to The Daily Beast for $35.What’s includedUnlimited access (web + app)Exclusive ad-free newslettersComment accessDaily crosswordSneak peek at releases and eventsAutomatically renews at $5.99 per month. 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