President Donald Trump’s Tuesday night visit to the swing state of Pennsylvania was billed by administration officials as part of an ongoing, broader effort to reshape perceptions of an economy that many Americans say is failing to meet their needs. But what viewers actually got was a meandering speech in which the president doubled down on his prior assessment of affordability as a partisan “hoax” before blasting former President Joe Biden as “a sleepy son of a b—-,” praising White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s “beautiful face and those lips that don’t stop” talking, and railing against Somali immigrants in Minnesota — among other issues unrelated to the economy. It took 15 minutes into his speech before Trump first uttered the word “affordable” — and it wasn’t long before he began railing against the concept entirely. “They have a new word, you know?” Trump said of Democrats. “They always have a hoax. The new word is ‘affordability.’ So they look at the camera and they say, ‘This election is all about affordability.’” Later, Trump contradicted those comments. “I can’t say ‘affordability hoax,’ because I agree the prices were too high, so I can’t go to ‘hoax’ because they’ll misconstrue that,” he said. Beneath a banner touting “LOWER PRICES, BIGGER PAYCHECKS,” Trump sought to paint an optimistic picture of economic conditions and blame Democrats for everyday Americans’ struggles. “They gave you high prices,” Trump said. “They gave you the highest inflation in history, and we’re bringing those prices down rapidly —…
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