The Trump-Vance administration says it got the message loud and clear from its drubbing last Tuesday: it needs to do better on alleviating the country’s cost-of-living crisis.

“We had an interesting evening, and we learned a lot, and we’re going to talk about that,” Donald Trump said after the results came in — perhaps closer to an indication of self-reflection than we will ever hear from the president.

“Why did Zohran Mamdani do so well last night? He relentlessly focused on affordability,” top White House advisor James Blair told Politico. He’s one of a number of White House officials who say they’re desperate to pivot to the issue of affordability.