Mary Trump Says Republicans 'Own' Iran War Mike Johnson Blames for Economy

Mary Trump, the podcast host and niece of President Donald Trump, says Republicans cannot blame the Iran war for delaying an economic boom they promised for 2026, because her uncle started the war and his party owns it.

On The Mary Trump Podcast, she responded to House Speaker Mike Johnson's recent interview on CNBC's Squawk Box. In it, the Louisiana Republican said the economy had started to take off in the first quarter before the Iran conflict began, and that the payoff from Republican policies was still coming.

"And to use the Iran war as an excuse for things for this glorious epoch of economic success to start is bullshit because Donald started that war, the Republicans own that war," Mary Trump said.

Mike Johnson's 'Feast and Banquet' Promise

Johnson took the metaphor from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. "As Scott Bessent said at the end of last year, 2025 is like setting the table. The feast and the banquet will be in the economy in 2026," Johnson said.

Mary Trump said Johnson "seems not to understand that we're 10 months in to the year we were told that the table set in 2025 would give us all this banquet." She said the war, "in addition to Donald's insane and deleterious tariffs are why prices are on the rise, inflation is on the rise, and our economy is on the brink of recession."

What the Inflation Data Shows

The latest government figures back part of her argument on prices. The consumer price index rose 3.4 percent in the 12 months ending in August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on September 11. Prices rose 0.4 percent from July, up from a 0.1 percent monthly gain the month before.

Much of the increase came from energy. The BLS said gasoline prices were up 27.4 percent over the year and the energy index was up 16.3 percent. Regular gasoline now averages $4.48 a gallon nationally, according to PolitiKool's gas price tracker.

Underlying inflation was lower. Core CPI, which leaves out food and energy, rose 2.4 percent over the year, down from 2.5 percent through July, according to the BLS. PolitiKool's inflation tracker follows the monthly readings.

Growth Figures Complicate the Recession Claim

The growth data does not match Mary Trump's description of an economy "on the brink of recession," which is her own assessment.

"The Atlanta Fed says 5.1% economic growth expected in the third quarter," Johnson said. The Atlanta Fed's GDPNow model did estimate annualized third-quarter growth at 5.1 percent on September 16 and 17. It then lowered the estimate to 5.0 percent on September 25. GDPNow is a running model estimate, not an official measure. For the second quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis's second estimate, released Aug. 26, put annualized growth at 1.5 percent.

The labor market has also held up. Employers added 162,000 jobs in August and the unemployment rate stayed at 4.1 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The rate is tracked on PolitiKool's unemployment page.

Economy Weighs on Republicans Before the Midterms

Voters are unhappy with the president's handling of the economy. Trump's economic approval stands at 29.8 percent, with 68.6 percent disapproving, according to PolitiKool's polling average. Democrats lead the generic congressional ballot 47.8 percent to 40.3 percent in PolitiKool's polling average.

When asked what Republicans would do with another two years in power, Johnson said, "We got so much more to do and we can make things so much better. We just gotta keep going."

With the midterms about a month away, Mary Trump told listeners that Johnson "just lies with such fluency, I'm beginning to think I'm related to him."