The stark difference in media treatment a worse average inflation rate under Biden received vs. the Armageddon-level coverage a retrospectively tamer inflation situation under Trump got was first exposed via an analysis conducted by MRC Business and CNSNews.
Now, just before the midterm elections this November, the tale of two inflation rates just got worse for the furiously spinning partisan journalists who covered them.
Using Bureau of Labor Statistics data, MRC Business and CNSNews researchers analyzed inflation rates across the seven-month midterm election season span of the Iran War during President Donald Trump’s second year (March 2026—September 2026). For comparison, the data was then juxtaposed to the same timeframe during the midterm election season during President Joe Biden’s second year (March 2022 — September 2022). As MRC previously revealed, the disparity was massive, especially in light of the “transitory” media narrative voters were getting under Biden vs. the doom-and-gloom circling the Trump administration now.
For Trump, the average all-items inflation rate across the time period analyzed was 3.6 percent, and that’s counting the major price fluctuations undergirding the energy market rollercoaster-ride from the Strait of Hormuz conflict. For Biden, across the same time length with no international war, the all-items inflation average was a whopping 8.5 percent.
For added measure, core inflation data excluding volatile food and energy prices were also calculated for the chosen time periods, and the numbers were just as ridiculous. For Trump, core inflation hovered at an average of 2.6 percent. For Biden, on the other hand, core inflation stood at an unsettling 6.2 percent average across seven months.
But watching the coverage of the inflation dilemma during both time periods give clear indication which economy they treated as being worse in nature. Here’s a hint: it wasn’t Bidenflation. Here’s how the media covered Biden-era inflation vs. Trump-era inflation based on MRC’s first report on the five-month average inflation for both presidents during their second year (March 2022 — July 2022 vs. March 2026 — July 2026):
All through the most recent BLS drop of September 2026’s inflation numbers — which showed a minor uptick in the year-over year metrics from the month prior — the anti-Trump fanatics in the media have dialed up the doom porn to a 100, which is a useful tactic since the obvious goal is to swing the political pendulum of power to Democrats in the midterms.
CNN Business Senior Writer David Goldman, who had one of the dumbest economic hot takes of the Iran War by peddling the narrative that America wouldn’t see sub-$70 a barrel oil prices again until 2032, published another doozy October 15 headlined, “Trump was trying to force prices lower ahead of the midterms. But Iran gets a vote, too.” According to Goldman’s spin, this was “the worst news on inflation” ahead of the midterms, despite the fact that a bird’s eye-view clearly shows the inflation situation as being relatively muted given all his and his other media colleagues’ scare mongering to the contrary.
It’s worth noting that this is the same Goldman who pushed what was tantamount to a free campaign ad just before the 2024 presidential election when he bleated that Biden “won the war on inflation.” That’s despite the fact that data would soon show that wages only increased 19.9 percent against an enormous 21.5 percent spike in prices by the end of his term, according to a Texas A&M University analysis. Goldman has shown a particular knack for twisting whatever economic narrative he wants to if it happens to behoove his political side of the aisle during an election season.
You think Goldman’s alone? Don’t worry. We have anecdotes aplenty.
During the 2022 midterms, Associated Press reporter Josh Boak threw Biden a lifeline in a September 12 story by regurgitating how he “stopped talking so much about inflation worries.” The reason? Per Boak’s editorialization, “It’s a self-edit ahead of the midterm elections in November, prompted in part by the easing of inflationary pressures.” For context, that was right before news dropped a day later that inflation had spiked 8.3 percent in August 2022 while core inflation sat at a bloated 6.3 percent rate.
Fast forward to September 2026, and Boak would try to upend news that the Trump economy shattered expectations in August by posting a smashing 162,000 jobs and eclipsing expectations of a mere 53,000 increase. In short, Boak turned the news into a tale of inflation trouble, because Trump used the report to smack the lackadaisical Federal Reserve for dragging its feet on cutting interest rates: “[Trump] objected to the commonly accepted notion in economics that the surprise gain of 162,000 jobs in August could contribute to inflationary pressures.”
Holy spinjob, Batman!
And where would we be without The New York Times? Coming off the heels of 9.1 percent inflation rate in June 2022, Times economic policy reporter Alan Rappeport turned the whole Bidenflation disaster into another Republicans pounce! screed and even suggested that GOP campaign ads could launch the U.S. into a recession, as opposed to the Biden-era policies that put the economy into a sugar-high in the first place. No, we’re not kidding. Rappeport was actually complaining about campaign ads spinning a narrative in a display of complete lack of self-awareness:
“Some economists have expressed concern that the political debate could actually make it harder for the central bank to orchestrate a so-called soft landing -- in which it cools the economy without causing a recession -- if the proliferation of campaign ads fan fears of inflation.”
Then again, this is the same newspaper that tried telling readers in May 2022 that “For Tens of Millions of Americans, the Good Times Are Right Now.”
Meanwhile, under Trump, voters are treated to sensationalistic headlines like this October 10 item, “Economic Pain and an Unpopular Trump Put G.O.P. on its Heels With Three Weeks to Go.”
How about this beauty from October 14, “Democrats Put Blame for Higher Prices on Trump?” Apparently, by Times standards, Democrats blaming Trump for inflation during an election season didn’t have the same campaign-ads-cause-recession effect Rappeport suggested were innate in GOP messaging prior to the 2022 midterms.
The upshot is that inflation stinks, no matter how one slices it. But no one, especially voters, should expect the leftist media to give the straight skinny on any of it, regardless of whoever’s controlling the levers of power in Washington, D.C.
