Videos: Trump, Vance slam Democrats, illegal immigration for 'affordability crisis'

President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance slammed Democrats on Tuesday for attempting to campaign on an “affordability crisis that they created” by allowing millions of illegal immigrants to enter the United States.

During Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, Trump said, “The word ‘affordability’ is a Democrat scam. They say it, and then they go into the next subject, and everyone thinks, ‘Oh, they had lower prices.’ No, they had the worst inflation in the history of our country.”

Vance later called out Democrats for trying to emphasize affordability as a major campaign talking point ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The vice president told Trump he “hit the nail on the head” by exposing Democrats over the issue.

“It is absurd that Democrats talk about an affordability crisis that they created, and the people around this table work every single day to address,” Vance said.

Vance explained that the average American family lost more than $3,000 in household income under former President Joe Biden’s administration, while the average American family has gained more than $1,000 in household income during the first 10 months of the Trump administration.

“What that says very clearly is that we are fixing the problem that Joe Biden and the Democrats created in the last administration,” Vance stated. He added that every “affordability crisis” facing Americans today is “traceable” to a problem created by Biden and congressional Democrats.

“Why did homes get so unaffordable? Because we had 20 million illegal aliens in this country taking homes that ought, by right, to go to American citizens,” the vice president continued. “Why did tax bills get so unaffordable? Because Democrats were raising taxes, while congressional Republicans, under the president’s leadership, we’re now cutting taxes.”

“Why did food get so expensive? Because we printed trillions of dollars and threw it into green scams that made our agricultural economy suffer while Americans were paying higher prices for food,” Vance added.

The vice president shared that he believes the Trump administration has made “incredible progress” on each of the issues he highlighted; however, he claimed it would be “preposterous” for the Trump administration to fix all of the problems caused under the Biden administration in less than a year.

“We have now done incredible work to fix what Joe Biden broke, and I think the next year… American growth and American prosperity could be the best year that we’ve had in the United States of America,” Vance said. 

“But I think for congressional Democrats, in particular, if they want to talk about affordability, they ought to look in the mirror,” Vance added. “We are fixing what [they’ve] broken. We’re proud to do it. It’s the job that we were elected to do. But I think 2026 is going to be the year where this economy really takes off.”