High inflation and high gas prices due to the war with Iran have pushed President Trump's approval ratings on the economy to near-record lows, which is causing headwinds for Republican candidates running this November. Nancy Cordes reports.
Page F3From§Eachthe wee small hours edition — 29 September 2026
Trump unveils a factory that opens in 2030 to fix gas prices already earning him $4.4 million.
As it ran on the front
CBS reports the plant, billed by the President as the largest steel plant in U.S. history, is not expected to be up and running until 2030. That is a four-year build. The poll number attached to the same week moved in days, not years.
The pitch, per the New York Times, is timing: as Trump travels the country, he is expected to lean on economic accomplishments at a moment when Americans have expressed deep frustration with his policies. The accomplishment on offer is a plant that breaks ground now and produces steel in 2030 — after this November's midterms, and after the next presidential election besides.…
…(cont) The frustration arrived on a faster clock. Reuters put his approval at 32 percent on September 21, the worst of either term, citing diesel prices at record highs. Three days later, on September 24, Emerson College measured 58 percent disapproval against 39 percent approval, the highest disapproval mark yet of his second term, tied again to energy costs. His response, per CBS: "The polls are fake."
Fake is one description. Here is another, filed September 9 by Common Dreams: an analysis of the nine largest fossil fuel holdings in Trump's own financial disclosure found their value rose by as much as $4.4 million during the same war CBS names as the driver of the gas and grocery prices dragging his numbers down. The disclosure logged 23 sales alongside the gain. The same six months that added $4.4 million to those nine holdings pushed the pump the other direction for the 58 percent of respondents who told Emerson they disapprove of how he's handling it, hon.
Reconciled, the filing reads plainly. The fix arrives in 2030, two elections past this one. The complaint is three days old between two pollsters and getting louder. The portfolio gain is six months old and already banked. Nobody asked the mill to open sooner. Somebody already got paid.
“They're selling us a steel plant that won't turn a wrench until 2030 like that's supposed to cover the gas tank today. Meanwhile the man's own oil stocks picked up $4.4 million while the war he's running jacked up the price you're paying at the pump right now. That's not a jobs plan, that's a guy grading his own homework while the bill collector's already knocking.”
“Look, a steel plant is a steel plant — biggest in American history, the President said so himself, and if it takes until 2030, well, these things take time to build right. As for the stock numbers, that's just a blind trust situation, or it would be, if — did I say blind trust? There's no blind trust. Forget I said that.”
The receipts
As President Trump travels the country, he is expected to focus on his economic accomplishments at a time when Americans have expressed deep frustration with his policies.
President Trump has announced a multi-billion-dollar steel plant project in Iowa. What the president called the "largest steel plant in U.S. history" is expected to be up and running by 2030.
· Trump's Top Oil Stocks Have Made Him Up to $4.4 Million Richer During Iran War: Analysis from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026
· As Iran War and Economic Struggles Persist, Trump Approval Rating Hits Record Low from the morgue, 21 Sep 2026
· Trump disapproval highest in second term amid economic woes: Emerson College from the morgue, 24 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.