U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser’s recent column paints a dramatic story of economic collapse under President Biden and a sudden comeback under President Trump. But that story doesn’t match what people in our communities live every day, whether it’s “a waitress in Tamaqua, a doctor in Danville, a farmer in Lebanon, a senior in Williamsport, a small business owner in Bloomsburg, or a coal miner finishing a shift in Schuylkill County.” Those trying to keep up with grocery bills, rent, housing costs, or gas prices believe their own experience more than a politician’s abject sales pitch.

Meuser’s column claims inflation stayed at a 40‒year high for four straight years. Inflation peaked in 2022 at about 8% and then fell sharply: roughly 4% in 2023 and under 3% in 2024. The 2.4% figure cited for 2026 is simply part of that same downward trend, not proof of a sudden turnaround tied to a new administration.

The same pattern shows up in the claims about grocery prices. Inflation in food costs had already slowed significantly by 2024, long before any 2025 policy changes could have taken effect.

Meuser frames gas prices in a similar way. He suggests gas stayed above $4 for nearly all of Biden’s presidency, but national averages moved up and down and often stayed below that mark. The drop to $2.98 in 2026 lines up with global oil trends, not a dramatic shift in domestic policy.

Meuser also blames mortgage rates on the wrong thing. Rates rose in 2023-2024 because the Federal Reserve was fighting inflation, not because of congressional action. As inflation eased, rates naturally began to fall, a process already underway before 2025.

Next, Meuser presents his fiscal claims selectively. A smaller trade deficit or a lower monthly budget deficit may sound impressive, but both can swing from month to month. They don’t erase the large deficit increases during Trump’s first term, which were driven by tax cuts and pandemic spending.

Meuser even leaves out the context about “the largest tax hike in American history.” The tax increases come from the scheduled expiration of parts of the 2017 tax law, an expiration date written into the law itself, not something newly created by Biden.

Taken together, Congressman Meuser’s arguments rely on selective framing rather than full context. The broader economic picture is more straightforward: inflation spiked worldwide after the pandemic and then steadily declined; energy and housing costs followed normal market cycles; and many of the numbers cited for 2026 reflect long‒running trends, not sudden partisan accomplishments. Congressman Meuser’ s fantasy about how great Trump has made life for us matches Trump’s recent credit-stealing State of the Union Address, not the lived reality of his constituents under Trump’s lame-brained, oppressive tariff regime.

I cannot fine any available public records which show a single clear instance of U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser ever voting against a position publicly supported by President Donald Trump, nor any instance of Meuser publicly criticizing Trump for anything: release of the Epstein files, war with Iran, tariffs, mass deportations, detention camps, abandonment of due process, his felony convictions, undermining NATO and our other allies, betraying Ukraine, his self-aggrandizement in Gaza, violating Venezuela’s, Greenland, Canada’s sovereignty, etc., etc. Congressman Meuser seems to have chosen to accept the alternative universe of Donald Trump as a craven acolyte for over a decade. If you want a loyal Trump “yes-man” without a mind of his own, Congressman Meuser is the man to vote for in November.

TIM MANNELLO

Williamsport

Submitted by email