President Donald Trump is making a rare visit to California and Nevada this week to raise money, attack Democrats, and sell a story about the economy that many people don’t seem to buy. The AP reported that he was headed to the Los Angeles area on Tuesday to speak at a fundraising dinner for the Republican National Committee at a golf club his family owns in the suburb of Rancho Palos Verdes, then on Wednesday he will discuss the economy during an event at Red Rock casino in Las Vegas.
The trip puts the machinery of power on display. Trump is using a private family-owned golf club and a casino stage to push his message on economy, border security and crime, while ordinary people are left to deal with elevated inflation, high interest rates, and the cost of groceries and gas. Reuters said the U.S. economy is overstimulated and bond markets fear it. That’s the polished language of the financial class. Down below, people are calling the state of the economy “poor.”
Who Pays for the Show
The AP said Trump has struggled to connect with voters on the economy as elevated inflation and Americans’ feelings of uncertainty have overshadowed the stock market gains he often cites along with a low national unemployment rate. In an AP-NORC poll conducted in late July, only 32% of U.S. adults approved of Trump’s handling of the economy. In the same poll, 69% characterized the state of the economy as “poor,” and many said the cost of everyday essentials like groceries and gas was a “major” source of stress in their lives. Trump’s overall approval rating was 33%, slightly below where he stood at this point in his first term.
Those numbers tell the story better than any campaign speech. The people at the bottom are paying for the instability, while the people at the top keep talking about stock gains and “commonsense agenda.” The gap is the point. The economy can be called strong from a podium while households absorb the pain.
White House spokesperson Olivia Wales said the president plans to “draw a sharp contrast between his commonsense agenda and the radical policies of Democrats like Gavin Newsom,” and said Trump is touting his efforts to cut taxes, reduce fraud in government programs, and crack down on immigration and crime. That’s the official script: tax cuts for the powerful, punishment for migrants, and more policing dressed up as order.
The Political Theater
During the trip, Trump is likely to take aim at California Gov. Gavin Newsom, whom the AP described as a Democrat eyed as a likely candidate for his party’s presidential nomination in 2028 and one of Trump’s highest-profile opponents. Newsom’s press office said Trump was traveling to California not to help survivors of the wildfires but to raise money and attack the state with lies. Newsom said, “More than anything, we’d like the President to keep the promise he made on January 24, 2025: to ‘take care of Los Angeles.’” He added, “18 months later, survivors are still waiting. And while you’re here, Mr. President, welcome to the world’s fourth-largest economy — growing faster than Texas and Florida combined. Enjoy your stay.”
Rusty Hicks, chair of the California Democratic Party, said, “Trump treats California like his personal political punching bag—right up until he needs someone to write a check,” and added, “He may hit up a few billionaire donors who bankroll his political operation, but the people of California have already made it clear: they want nothing to do with his chaos and corruption.” The quote lands where the money is. Billionaire donors bankroll the operation, and the rest are told to live with the fallout.
The AP said California was one of Trump’s first domestic stops after returning to office in January 2025, when he surveyed the aftermath of wildfires that had wiped out whole neighborhoods of Los Angeles County, left thousands of people homeless and killed more than two dozen. It said Newsom greeted Trump at the airport on that trip and they chatted amiably, but that the comity did not last. Six months later, Newsom said in a speech that “democracy is under assault” by Trump after the president sent National Guard troops and U.S. Marines into Los Angeles without Newsom’s consent following protests after a series of immigration raids by federal authorities.
What Order Looks Like From Above
That deployment showed the state’s preferred answer when people resist federal raids: troops, not accountability. The AP said Trump sent National Guard troops and U.S. Marines into Los Angeles without Newsom’s consent. The language of “security” covered a show of force aimed at people already under pressure from immigration raids. The hierarchy didn’t hide itself. It marched in.
Nevada offers a different version of the same arrangement. The AP said the state is led by a Republican governor, Joe Lombardo, who faces Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford in a battle for reelection in November. It said the contest is considered one of the most competitive governor’s races in the country. The Nevada State Democratic Party is putting up billboard signs about Trump’s visit that tie him to Lombardo and higher costs. The state is grappling with a shortage of affordable housing, exploding energy demand from artificial intelligence data centers and federal cuts to key state programs.
That’s the terrain voters are supposed to navigate: rising costs, shrinking programs, and campaign billboards linking one politician to another. The election machinery keeps spinning while the material problems stay put.
Trump has tried for several months to sell voters on his income tax cuts and claims of a manufacturing renaissance, the AP said. But interest rates are high, a gallon of gasoline costs more because of the Iran war, tariffs are still reshaping the economy and, by the White House’s own estimates, there is a national shortage of housing. The president called his own housing bill a “yawn,” and past speeches advertised by the White House as being about the economy, including one he delivered at a General Motors facility in Michigan last week, gave way to Trumpian weaves about his political enemies and construction projects in the nation’s capital.
Reuters added another layer to the picture, saying the U.S. economy is characterized as being overstimulated, with fiscal largesse, loose financial conditions, booming business investment and near-zero real interest rates fueling a strong growth engine, raising concerns about overheating and bond-market fears. A Reuters/Ipsos poll cited in The Hill article showed Democrats hold a slight edge over Republicans on economic messaging, with 37% of voters preferring Democrats’ approach to the economy.
The whole setup is familiar. Leaders stage their fights, donors write checks, and the public gets told to choose between managed versions of the same system. Meanwhile, the costs keep climbing, the housing shortage stays national, and the people at the bottom keep paying for decisions made far above them.