The usual suspects on cable news and in coastal newsrooms are in full meltdown mode, painting the economy as some kind of Trump-induced disaster while ignoring every metric that actually matters to working families. Gas prices are higher, no question about it, and that stings at the pump every single week. But zoom out to the real picture in mid-May 2026 and the story is completely different. Jobs are growing, unemployment sits at a rock-solid level, wages are climbing faster than prices in the private sector, and overall growth is humming along at a pace the previous administration could only dream about after its post-pandemic hangover. The contrast with what a Harris continuation of the old policies would have delivered is stark. We are measurably better off today because the adults are back in charge, and the data proves it.
Jobs and Unemployment: Steady Growth Without the Old Smoke and Mirrors
Nonfarm payrolls added 115,000 jobs in April, keeping the streak of private-sector gains alive even as government hiring slowed. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.3 percent—right around the level economists consider full employment and well below the peaks seen during the last administration’s inflation spike. Over the past year the labor market has absorbed workers without the artificial boost from massive public-sector expansion that masked weakness before. Participation rates are healthy, and the kind of broad-based hiring that puts money in real paychecks is back.
This isn’t the fragile recovery sold as a “boom” four years ago. It’s sustainable private-sector momentum driven by deregulation and energy production that the last team never prioritized. Families see more help-wanted signs in their communities instead of endless government make-work programs.
Wages Rising Faster Than the Media Admits
Average hourly earnings climbed 3.6 percent over the past year as of April, outpacing the core inflation rate in the private economy. Real wages for production and non-supervisory workers—the folks who actually build things and keep the country running—are positive again after years of getting hammered under the previous setup. The gap between what people take home and what they pay at the store has narrowed dramatically because policy now rewards work instead of punishing it.
Compare that to the trajectory we would have stayed on under four more years of the old approach. Continued heavy spending and regulatory drag would have kept wage growth chasing inflation instead of leading it. Today’s numbers show working Americans finally getting ahead, not just keeping their heads above water.
Inflation Under Control—Except Where the World Intrudes
Headline CPI came in at 3.8 percent for the twelve months through April, up a bit from recent months but still a far cry from the 9 percent peaks of 2022. Core inflation, which strips out the volatile food and energy that get distorted by global events, sits at 2.6 to 2.8 percent—exactly where it needs to be for stability. The recent uptick in the overall number is almost entirely energy-driven, a direct result of international tensions rather than domestic policy failure.
The previous administration handed off an economy where inflation was still sticky and embedded after years of overspending. Today’s figures reflect a return to normalcy everywhere except the pump, where global supply shocks hit hardest. That is not a domestic policy disaster. It is reality in a dangerous world, and the current path of boosting domestic production is the only long-term fix.
Gas Prices: The One Real Pain Point—and Why It’s Not the Full Story
The national average for regular unleaded sits around $4.50 a gallon as of mid-May, with spikes in some regions pushing closer to five dollars. Yes, that hurts. But it is the direct consequence of supply disruptions from overseas conflicts, not some domestic failure to drill or refine. The previous four years proved that restricting domestic energy only made America more vulnerable to exactly these shocks. Today’s production levels and policy focus on American energy independence are already laying the groundwork to blunt future spikes. Families feel the pinch now, but they are not trapped in the permanent high-price trap the last team normalized.
How Much Better Off Are We Than the Harris Alternative?
Imagine four more years of the same playbook—higher spending, heavier regulation, continued hostility to domestic energy, and the same approach to taxes and trade that slowed recovery before. Projections from before the election and the actual trends under the prior administration pointed to sticky inflation around 3 percent or higher, slower private-sector job growth, and real wages that struggled to stay ahead of prices. Debt would have climbed faster, crowding out private investment and keeping interest rates elevated longer.
Instead, we have GDP growth rebounding to 2 percent annualized in the first quarter of 2026, private investment leading the way, and a labor market that is adding jobs without the artificial props. The difference is not theoretical. It is the gap between an economy built on work, production, and American energy versus one built on government expansion and dependency. Families have more take-home pay in real terms, more job opportunities in the sectors that matter, and a clearer path out of the cost-of-living squeeze.
The media can keep screaming that the sky is falling because it fits their narrative. The numbers tell the opposite story. We are better off today—measurably, demonstrably better off—than we would be under the continuation of the policies that delivered four years of pain. Gas prices are the exception that proves the rule: the rest of the economy is delivering for the people who actually build it. That is what America First economics looks like in practice, and the data backs it up every single month.
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