Trump 'wants to sink his party's fortunes': Data guru draws mind-boggling conclusion

President Donald Trump's economic polling looks so bad that CNN's Harry Enten wondered whether he was engaged in self-sabotage.

The president blurted out "I love the inflation" when asked about the last month's 4.2 percent spike in costs, and the data analyst said that certainly won't help Trump or his Republican allies on the most pressing issue for American voters.

"I would just say, if I'm an American, based upon the polling I'm seeing, I hear the president, go, 'What the heck did I just hear? What the heck is going on?'" Enten said. "One of the most politically tone-deaf statements I've ever heard, and you can see it in the numbers right here. Americans don't think don't like the inflation, they hate the inflation. They don't love the inflation, they hate the inflation."

Trump is 50 points underwater on the issue of inflation in at least eight polls — a historic first, Enten said.

"Every other president and every other year, the answer is zero," he said. "Trump is not only the first one to reach minus-50 points or worse, net approval rating on inflation. He's done it many times, so when I hear Trump's statement, I just, I feel like [the character] Mrs. White in [the 1985 film] 'Clue' and going, what what is what is happening here?"

The president's approval rating on gas prices, which have exploded since he launched a war on Iran, is even more gruesome.

"How about an 80 percent disapproval on gas prices?" Enten said. "Which of course is fueling this frustration with inflation. Take a look here, the only president with an 80 percent disapproval rating on gas prices of all time is Trump in 2026. You can see Trump there, he's pointing the arrow to it. Yes, he has done it, this Iran war has done it. It has fueled record frustration, inflation and record frustration when it comes to gas prices. The only president ever with at least an 80 percent disapproval rating on gas prices, Donald John Trump in this year, 2026."

Trump's inflation comments quickly spread among Republicans on Capitol Hill, and Enten said the remarks won't be helpful.

"The Republicans on Capitol Hill absolutely hated Donald Trump's statement," he said. "Why? Because just it is absolutely funneling down, okay. Democrats are more, are the party more trusted on inflation, for the first time since the 1970s. It is true. Now today we are actually seeing polling in which the Democrats are the party that is more trust than inflation. I was looking back at all the polls. I can find the last time it really happened in an average of polls was in 1978. Of course, before that, inflation, boom, took Jimmy Carter out, and if history is prologue in this situation, well, it's going to take out the Republican majority in the House, as well."

"So no wonder that Republicans heard that statement and, just like me, are like Mrs. White. What, what what what did I just hear? Well, you just heard a president who wants to sink his party's midterm fortunes. That's what you just heard"