Democrats’ rhetoric about an impending catastrophe driven by the “Trump economy” increasingly reads less like analysis and more like sour frustration. The latest consumer price index data only reinforced that impression. Inflation came in at 2.7 percent—well below the expected 3.1 percent—and for Democrats this was unwelcome news. Since April, after the so-called “Liberation Day,” when Donald Trump announced tariffs intended to reengineer global trade in favor of U.S. companies, the left and its allied media have warned that these measures would damage the economy and send inflation soaring. That did not happen. The impact of tariffs on prices has proved modest. At the same time, Trump’s push for higher energy production, lower budget deficits, and lighter regulation has helped slow inflation. Under Joe Biden, inflation averaged 5 percent a year and rose by nearly 22 percent over four years; as of November, price growth stands at the same 2.7 percent. In this context, the question of who exactly created the “affordability crisis” sounds markedly different.
As inflation continues to retreat from the 9 percent peak recorded under Biden, voters may begin to grasp more clearly the scale of the damage caused by expansive government spending and ballooning deficits. Another popular claim has also come under scrutiny—the argument that Trump-backed investment in artificial intelligence primarily benefits billionaires and will hollow out the labor market, much as trade agreements of the 1990s are said by critics to have pushed jobs overseas. Two recent studies, however, challenge that narrative, showing that AI is instead creating jobs in the United States.
In its year-end report to investors, the investment firm Vanguard argues that AI is not, in fact, responsible for the slowdown in employment growth. Its analysts cite data showing that “roughly 100 occupations most exposed to AI-driven automation are actually outpacing the broader labor market in both job creation and real wage growth.” The accompanying charts indicate that employment in AI-affected occupations grew by 1.7 percent between mid-2023 and mid-2025—compared with 1.0 percent in the pre-pandemic period and 0.8 percent for other forms of employment. Wages tell a similar story: real income growth for workers linked to AI reached 3.8 percent, versus 0.7 percent in other sectors. The authors conclude that “current AI systems generally raise labor productivity and shift workers’ tasks toward activities with higher value added.”
These findings are reinforced by a recent survey of executives and investors conducted by the consultancy Teneo. The report states that “most chief executives and investors expect AI to lead to increased hiring at all levels in 2026.” More than two-thirds of executives anticipate higher recruitment of both entry-level staff and mid-career professionals, while a majority also foresee growth in hiring at the senior management level. Investors, notably, are even more optimistic about AI’s impact on employment.
Against a backdrop of dire warnings from the left about the rapid advance of AI, these forecasts appear reassuring. Bernie Sanders, for example, has warned that “there is a very real fear that, in the not-too-distant future, a superintelligent AI could replace human beings in running the planet.” Beyond such apocalyptic scenarios, the Vermont senator published an op-ed on the Fox News website citing a report that claims “AI, automation, and robotics could replace nearly 100 million jobs in America over the next decade, including 40 percent of registered nurses, 47 percent of truck drivers, 64 percent of accountants, 65 percent of teaching assistants, and 89 percent of fast-food workers, among many other professions.” This deeply pessimistic view of AI has led Sanders to call for a moratorium on the construction of new data centers in order, as he puts it, “to give democracy a chance to catch up.”
Even if one concedes that these concerns contain a kernel of truth, slowing AI development in the United States would mean ceding leadership to China. Whether America is prepared to accept Chinese dominance in the industries of the future is a rhetorical question. Sanders’s anxieties about employment may be sincere, but many of his fellow Democrats criticize the AI investment boom for a different reason. They recognize that this rapidly emerging sector is becoming a significant pillar of support for the Trump economy. The outcome of the midterm elections will shape jobs and growth, and the vast sums flowing into data centers, grid upgrades, new power generation, and related infrastructure are highly likely to underpin sustained economic expansion in 2026.
That is precisely why Democratic-led states are seeking to restrain AI development through regulation. Recently, Trump signed an executive order aimed at preventing Democratic officials from erecting regulatory barriers to AI. State legislatures have considered roughly a thousand such bills, and had they been enacted—often in conflicting and inconsistent forms—the sector’s growth could have been effectively paralyzed. If the economy remains on a steady footing next year, real wages continue to rise, inflation stays moderate, and productivity improves—and this is the most plausible scenario—Republicans may well retain control of the House of Representatives. That would give Trump another two years to reengineer global trade, overhaul social welfare programs vulnerable to abuse, address failures in the immigration system, and potentially pursue other initiatives, including efforts to strengthen electoral integrity.
For the left-wing opposition, such an outcome is unacceptable. As a result, alongside resisting the president at every turn, delaying confirmation of his appointments, challenging executive orders in court, and, more recently, participating in the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, Democrats have persistently stoked anxiety about the economy. They initially warned Americans about Trump’s tariffs; now they have shifted their focus to AI—a technology that is fueling not only domestic investment but also gains in the stock market. They are alarmed by rising share prices, which they describe as a bubble, and by the fear that this will spur consumption and, in turn, economic growth and hiring.
Democrats’ anti-AI campaign has had an effect. According to David Sacks, the White House’s AI czar, China is ahead of the United States in only one respect—optimism. He notes that 83 percent of Chinese citizens view AI positively, compared with just 39 percent of Americans. Against this backdrop, one can only hope that as AI delivers medical breakthroughs and boosts productivity, voters will begin to see the technology as a tool of progress and support its development—perhaps, in time, even Bernie Sanders will come to that view.