It makes sense to cite the rate of inflation from the past 12 months when you want to talk about the cost of living versus a year before, which is what most families care about. But it’s totally acceptable to cite the one-month change in prices if you want to convey how much inflation is speeding up or slowing down in real time
Nonetheless, everything Biden said was strictly accurate. Overall prices did not rise in July, meaning that inflation for the month was zero.
Republicans nonetheless erupted in furor and mockery. In tweet after tweet
and article after article, right-leaning journalists, GOP officials, and party operatives accused of Biden of lying or misleading the public, since inflation is still up 8.5 percent over the past 12 months. “Ridiculous BS from the White House,” Sen. Ted Cruz
huffed in a characteristic tweet. “There’s 8.5% inflation and basically everything anyone ever buys went up in price. This is just cruel gaslighting from the Biden admin.” Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee managed to wrap in some transphobia,
tweeting that, “In Joe Biden’s America, men are women, and 8.5% inflation = 0% inflation.” Classy.
no one ever accused republicans of being intelligent
