KALISPELL, Mont.— On a day when the U.S.
inflation rate was shown to have climbed 3.7% over the past year, President Donald Trump said at a rally in Montana on Wednesday, “We have very little inflation.”Trump touted a booming economy as he campaigned for Republican candidates on the final leg of a Western campaign swing, three weeks before the midterm elections.Poverty is down and incomes are up, he told the crowd.More than $22 trillion is flowing into the country and with that record-setting level of investment, “they’re building plants all over Montana, and they’re building plants all over …”“Everyone, we’re all having a good time,” he said.Yet the economic resurgence he described isn’t the reality that many people say they are living.
People arrive before Trump at a campaign rally at Majestic Valley Arena, in Kalispell, Mont., Wednesday.Ross D.Franklin / APIn interviews before Trump appeared onstage, some of the supporters who came to see him said they’re feeling squeezed by grocery, housing and fuel costs.Moneen Ahlquist, an 84-year-old homemaker who lives in Missoula, said that she is careful to combine errands in one trip so that she can keep her car in the garage and save on gas.For SubscribersFOR SUBSCRIBERSWatchdog seeks investigation into press secretary Katie Zacharia’s legal résuméFOR SUBSCRIBERSHow safe are roller coasters? What riders should know FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe economic crunch ahead of the election crunchFOR SUBSCRIBERSApple’s HomeView is part iPad, part Apple Watch and part CarPlayFOR SUBSCRIBERSMichigan GOP Senate nominee Mike Rogers on whether Iran war was a mistake: ‘We’ll find out’FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘We didn’t think this could happen’: Pennsylvania doctors seeing what measles can do to kidsFOR SUBSCRIBERSUnion leader quoted in Maine Senate attack ad sends ‘cease and desist’ letter to GOP PACFOR SUBSCRIBERSRepublicans shift funds in the battle for the House, pulling money from some tough racesFOR S...