Trump to Downplay War Effects in OH, KY03/11 06:04

   President Donald Trump plans to visit Ohio and Kentucky on Wednesday to 
argue that his policies can steady an economy facing shock waves from the war 
on Iran and to try to defeat one of the few congressional Republicans who has 
dared to defy him.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump plans to visit Ohio and Kentucky 
on Wednesday to argue that his policies can steady an economy facing shock 
waves from the war on Iran and to try to defeat one of the few congressional 
Republicans who has dared to defy him.

   In Cincinnati, the Republican president is touring Thermo Fisher Scientific, 
a pharmaceutical company. There, he'll tout efforts to lower prescription drug 
prices, a key part of his attempts to show his administration is focused on 
making the cost of living more affordable for many Americans ahead of 
November's midterm elections.

   After that, Trump will visit a logistics packing facility in nearby Hebron, 
Kentucky, part of the district of Rep. Thomas Massie. Trump is backing a 
primary challenger to Massie.

   The trip presents a test of Trump's ability to cleanse his party of those 
who oppose him but also to try to stay on an economic message increasingly 
strained by the military action launched by the U.S. and Israel against Iran. 
He'll be "talking about the economy, which is, of course, the utmost importance 
to him," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

   Polls showed that Americans were increasingly wary of Trump's handling of 
the economy even before the conflict with Iran began, and fighting there has 
derailed Trump's messaging, as the low gas prices he once bragged about are now 
surging and stocks that had set record highs have slipped.

   Employers also cut an unexpectedly high 92,000 jobs in February, and 
revisions trimmed another 69,000 jobs from December and January payrolls -- 
which the White House had previously hailed as "blockbuster."

   None of that has stopped Trump from continuing to insist the country is 
booming -- and blaming the Democrats for everything else.

   "They're the one that caused the problem," he told a House Republican 
meeting in Florida on Monday. "But we're really bringing down prices big."

   Democrats offer a sharp contrast to Trump's depiction of the nation, arguing 
that costs remain high for many Americans more than a year into his second term 
and that families are still struggling under his policies.

   Trump's affordability tour meets his opposition to Massie

   After Democrats won the Virginia and New Jersey governors' races in 
November, the White House announced that Trump would travel the country to show 
that he's taking kitchen table issues seriously and reassure voters nervous 
about still-rising prices and economic growth.

   Since then, the president has made stops in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, 
North Carolina and Texas -- though his speeches sometimes have been more 
focused on his own political grievances than his plans to try to help lower 
everyday costs around the country.

   This trip, however, marks the first time this primary cycle that Trump has 
sought to keep promises to punish members of his own party who oppose him on 
key issues. The president has endorsed Ed Gallrein, a farmer, businessman and 
retired Navy SEAL, who is running against Massie in Kentucky's Republican 
primary on May 19. Trump and Gallrein will appear together on Wednesday.

   Massie is an outspoken Trump critic who opposed the White House-backed tax 
and spending measure and bucked Trump by pushing to have files related to the 
sex trafficking investigations into Jeffrey Epstein released. He's also opposed 
the U.S. strike on Venezuela that toppled then-President Nicols Maduro and, 
most recently, the war in Iran.

   "This isn't America First," Massie posted on X on Sunday, blaming the war 
for causing gas prices to jump.