Democrats eager to let Trump own high gas prices and airport lines, make sure voters never forget

As President Trump’s troubles pile up, Democrats are piling on.

Rather than cooperating even minimally with Mr. Trump, they have sought to capitalize on high gas prices, long airport lines and a war with Iran that most Americans say should never have started.

Democrats also are seizing on broader anxieties in the midterm election year about overseas spending and the cost of living, and they are placing the blame squarely on the president.

Malcolm Kenyatta, vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said Democrats aren’t just standing aside; they are throwing punches.

“This is not us sitting on our hands waiting for him to fall on the shoestrings he tied together,” Mr. Kenyatta said. “This is us really highlighting how corrupt and incompetent he is, and then leveraging the anger of the American people to organize.”

Mr. Trump’s standing with voters continues to erode. According to the RealClearPolitics average of polls, voters disapprove of his handling of inflation by 61% to 36%, the economy by 58% to 39%, and even immigration, once his strongest issue, by 53% to 45%.

The slide has been driven in part by collapsing support among independents, who disapprove of the president’s job performance by a margin of 62% to 29%, according to the Economist/YouGov poll.

Mr. Kenyatta points to a string of minority-party maneuvers that he says have drawn blood: forcing the release of the Epstein files, beating back an executive order on collective bargaining, and hammering the White House over its push to cut taxes for the wealthy and wage an expensive war against Iran while gutting health care.

He credits the Democratic National Committee with organizing hundreds of town halls in Democratic and Republican districts alike that have put Republican lawmakers on the defensive before their own constituents.

“Donald Trump is where he is in terms of historic disapproval numbers not by accident,” Mr. Kenyatta said. “He has a bad, unpopular agenda, but it’s Democrats who are holding him accountable every day.”

Mr. Trump has declared that the Iran war is necessary to remove the threat of nuclear weapons and is essentially over. He is telling supporters that the biggest threat facing the country isn’t abroad; it’s his political rivals.

“Now with the death of Iran, the greatest enemy America has is the Radical Left, Highly Incompetent, Democrat Party!” Mr. Trump said over the weekend, after Senate Democrats rejected a proposal to fund the Homeland Security Department for the fifth time.

The Trump-led Republicans have said that the recent spike in gas prices is temporary and that the short-term gain will be well worth the long-term benefits.

“When this is over, oil prices are going to go down, very, very rapidly,” Mr. Trump said last week. “So is inflation, so is everything else.”

Gas prices on Tuesday reached a national average of $3.97 per gallon, the highest since June 2022, when prices peaked around $5 per gallon.

For now, Democrats’ unified pushback against Mr. Trump appears to be working in their favor.

It also fits a familiar political pattern: When a president is unpopular, the opposing party often benefits most by staying out of the way and letting him own the results.

President Biden learned that lesson after running headfirst into Republican opposition to his spending plans on Capitol Hill, as well as stiff criticism over rising energy prices, inflation and crime related to the porous southern border on his watch.

Still, some Democrats, including Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, warn that the party needs a clearer vision that goes beyond simple opposition to Mr. Trump.

“Right now, our party is governed by [Trump derangement syndrome],” Mr. Fetterman said recently on the “All-In” podcast.

The developments mark a dramatic shift from earlier this year, when Republicans were citing relatively low gas prices as evidence that the Trump agenda was working.

Mr. Trump and congressional Republicans have tried to gain ground by dinging Democrats on Homeland Security Department funding and immigration.

“It’s just unconscionable what Democrats are doing,” Sen. Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Republican, said Sunday on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday.” “But because the media is on their side, they’re not holding them accountable.”

The president has urged Republican lawmakers not to give Democrats anything they want until Democrats agree to pass the SAVE America Act, a voter ID proposal that has become his top priority and a rallying point for his base.

The bill would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote and a photo ID to cast a ballot in federal elections.

The issue has been overshadowed by economic uncertainty and the war. Both are creating political headwinds, particularly outside the MAGA base, for Republicans.

The Senate was moving toward a deal Tuesday to fund the Homeland Security Department and delay action on the SAVE America Act after Mr. Trump ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to staff major airports to ease long security lines.

Republicans have struggled to gain the upper hand in the fight over funding for the department, which has been without a budget since Feb. 14, and the pressure is starting to show.

With no funding, Transportation Security Administration agents have been working without pay. Close to 400 agents have quit, and others are simply not showing up for work, creating chaos at airports across the country.

Democrats have repeatedly refused to support the Republican push to fund the entire department because it includes money for ICE and Customs and Border Protection. They say these agencies need reforms after the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, in January by federal immigration agents in Minnesota.

Mr. Trump has blamed Democrats for the airport meltdown. Democrats counter that Trump has been blocking their effort to fund the rest of the Homeland Security Department — including the TSA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Coast Guard — separately from ICE.

Despite voters’ dissatisfaction with various issues, Republicans remain confident about their chances of defending their slim majorities in the House and Senate. They say they win most policy debates when the conversation is framed as a choice between Democratic and Republican ideas.

Democrats in the past month have hammered Mr. Trump for green-lighting the joint military strike with Israel against Iran. They say the move helped send gas prices soaring. According to AAA, the national average for a gallon of regular gas has jumped from $2.951 to $3.977 in the past month, while diesel has climbed from $3.727 to $5.345.

“The only way you are going to get prices down here in the United States, the only way that you are going to bring peace to the region, is by ending this war,” Sen. Christopher Murphy, Connecticut Democrat, said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee is offering “I did that!” stickers featuring Mr. Trump to donors who give at least $5, and is encouraging them to slap the stickers on gas pumps nationwide.

“Gas prices across the country are skyrocketing because of Trump’s illegal war,” the group said in an email blast. “Republicans in a panic about the 2026 midterm elections are desperately trying to tell voters not to care. Don’t let them get away with it!”

Mr. Kenyatta said Democrats plan to keep up the pressure through November.

“The American people are pissed off,” he said. “And we’re going to make sure they know exactly who is responsible.”