At a Pennsylvania rally on Tuesday, Trump pointed to fresh economic data and argued that core household expenses — including healthcare, groceries, gasoline and rent — are finally easing, contending that the economy is becoming more affordable for working families. According to the Daily Caller, Hume told viewers on “Special Report with Bret Baier” that Trump’s political strength has depended in part on voters who once backed Democrats, and that those gains are not guaranteed to endure.
“These are not dyed-in-the-wool Republicans who voted for him. And it’s always a constant danger that you’re going to lose people like that who will go back to voting the way they used to,” Hume told host Bret Baier. “So I think that’s something he has to worry about. And it’s partly about prices for sure and partly about him for sure.”
January 16, 2026
Baier noted that Trump has made affordability a central theme at his rallies, with the White House viewing the price of food, fuel and housing as a defining political battleground heading into 2026. Hume agreed that the president is right to hammer away at the issue, but argued that Trump sometimes muddies his own economic message.
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“He certainly is, and he’s right to do so, even though he tends to veer away from his expressions of sympathy for people who are suffering the high prices into talking about the economy being, as he put it just the other day, A plus plus,” Hume said. “That’s a message that a lot of people look at and say, A plus plus, hell. I paid X amount for some food the other day,’ although I will say from a personal point of view, I filled my tank the other day for $2.72 a gallon. I was delighted. So in that area, of course, there’s been real progress.”
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Hume stressed that economics alone does not explain the shifting political landscape, pointing to a notable Democratic breakthrough in South Florida. “But I think the president is contending in part here, and his party is. You look at that election in Miami. The mayorship of Miami has gone to a Democrat for the first time since anybody can remember, what, 30-some years?” he asked.
“And you sense here, I think, that present in this feeling about the economy is also the reaction to Mr. Trump himself. You know, he won this election this last time because he picked up a lot of votes that I think had previously gone to Joe Biden and other Democrats.” Former Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins captured the Miami mayoralty with 59% of the vote in Tuesday’s runoff, defeating former City Manager Emilio Gonzalez and becoming the city’s first Democratic mayor in nearly three decades.
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Her win capped a contentious contest that began with a crowded 13-candidate field, underscoring how urban centers remain fertile ground for Democrats even as many working- and middle-class voters recoil from progressive economic policies. Hume’s cautionary remarks came as the Federal Reserve delivered its third straight interest-rate cut, lowering its benchmark rate to a range of 3.50% to 3.75% amid an unprecedented data blackout triggered by the federal government shutdown, a reminder that monetary policy and political messaging will collide directly in the months ahead.
