Donald Trump just can't help himself, it seems. He keeps right on providing prime fodder for Democratic campaign ads in the midterms. Today was no different. After the official inflation rate was revealed today to have shot up to 4.2 percent, Trump was asked about it by a reporter. Here's what he had to say: "No, I love it, the numbers were great. I love the inflation."

Seriously, I am sorely tempted to just end this column right here with a hearty: "Make sure you run that clip in endless ads, Democrats!" Not much more really needs be said.

But I will continue anyway (as I am wont to do). Donald Trump seems absolutely determined to make things as hard as possible for his fellow Republicans, who are increasingly getting desperate about their chances in the midterm elections this November. Everything Trump does or says seems almost designed to torture Republicans, by making it almost impossible for them to defend anything he does. How can any GOP politician defend against the charge that "Trump loves inflation" when there is an actual video clip of him saying so? It must be disheartening.

Since the White House under Trump has jettisoned the idea of printing transcripts of everything the president says to reporters (as was traditional for every other president before him), we don't have the entire context of that quote. HuffPost had a longer version, which shows that what he said immediately afterwards was (in their words) so "bonkers" that it defies belief:

I love the inflation. You know why? Because as soon as this war is over -- you know, I can say it now -- do you know we've been taking out millions of barrels of oil? Nobody knows it. You know who doesn't know about it? Iran, until right now. We took out the other night 22 ships, late at night, with no lights because they don't have any radar because we blasted the crap out of it. That's why oil is $85 a barrel.

Word salad, anyone?

Trump, of course, ran for re-election on a promise to bring both prices and inflation down, starting "on Day One." He has not done so -- not even close. In fact, his policies have made both worse, and that was even before he started his misguided war of choice with Iran (which spiked the price of gas by over $1.80 a gallon).

Trump brushes off all complaints about all of this by just flat-out lying, as usual. The affordability crisis is just a "hoax" dreamed up by Democrats, according to him. Inflation right before he took office was "the highest ever." In the three months before the war, inflation was at "1.6 percent" (or sometimes "1.7 percent"). Prices on absolutely everything are way down, and gas prices will come down "like a rock" -- immediately -- once the war is over.

Spoiler alert: absolutely none of that is true. None of it. Inflation and the price of living and affordability is not a "hoax," it is the reality every American family has been facing ever since Trump took office. Under Joe Biden, inflation did spike way up and top out at 9.1 percent, but even that was nowhere near the highest it has ever been. And -- something that absolutely nobody ever gives him credit for -- inflation receded from that high point down to below three percent by the time Biden left office. But Trump likes to make it sound like it was still running at nine percent when he took the reins (which is a lie). Inflation in the three months before Trump's war of choice with Iran was: 2.6 percent, 2.4 percent, and 2.4 percent again. Prices on almost everything are up -- some of them way up -- because that's what causes inflation (duh). And gas prices will indeed come down if an end to the war is announced, but they will also remain a lot higher than when it started for a long time to come. Gas was selling for a nationwide average of $2.75 this January, but it may not get anywhere near that price again for (at least) the entire rest of this year (if not next).

That is the reality that Americans know full well. Which is why it is so jaw-dropping for Trump to proudly state that 4.2 percent inflation is "great," or to baldly claim: "I love the inflation." It's as if he just pasted a "Kick Me!" sign on his own butt.

Democrats should step up and do so, in a big way. Use that one quote to paint the entire Republican Party as completely out of touch with what everyday Americans are experiencing. "This is what you get when America hands full control over to the Republicans!" should be the main theme of Democratic attacks. "Donald Trump couldn't be plainer -- he just does not care about you! And the Republicans in Congress are never going to stand up to Trump in any way!"

This is easier than falling off a log, folks. The Democratic Party is the Roadrunner, and Wyle E. Coyote is attempting some scheme with some ACME product, and it's about to spectacularly fail, with disastrous results.

Trump's gaslighting has, up until now, been a powerful political weapon for him. He lays out his own version of reality, and a surprising number of both the public and the media takes him at face value rather than screaming out: "The Emperor has no clothes on!"

But now Trump's gaslighting is failing on two big fronts: foreign and domestic. No matter how hard he tries, he cannot gaslight the leaders of Iran into somehow doing what he wants (which is to completely capitulate and agree to all of his demands). He keeps promising that a ceasefire deal is imminent -- maybe today! maybe tomorrow! maybe in a few days! but real soon now! -- but no deal is ever agreed to by the Iranians. They have their own agenda, and they simply do not care one whit what Trump's political agenda may be. They know that the longer they wait, the more desperate Trump will be to cut a deal, so they have been dragging things out. The more they do so, the more they expose the falseness of Trump's gaslighting.

On the domestic front, making bold statements that affordability is some sort of Democratic "hoax" is not working either. Trump's approval ratings have fallen dramatically, and on the issue of inflation, they've fallen off a cliff. According to Nate Silver, Trump is now polling a stunning 46 points underwater on inflation (24.0 percent approval to 70.2 percent disapproval). He can gaslight all he wants about how it's all a "hoax," but nobody's buying it anymore.

So now he's apparently pivoting to actually embracing high inflation. At least, that's what he said today. Probably by tomorrow the White House will do one of their pretzel-bending spin jobs about "what the president really meant," but that's not going to stop that quote from (hopefully) appearing in thousands of Democratic ads, from now until November.

It's as if Trump is doing everything he possibly can to improve Democrats' chances of victory in the midterms, at this point. It'd really be hard for the Democratic Party to come up with anything worse than what he just said today, in fact, even if they gave free rein to their wildest dreams. Perhaps it will even be pointed to later by historians as the epitaph of the Republican Party in the 2026 midterms (because it truly is that bad). So I will end by repeating it, one last time, just for good measure.

Donald Trump reacting to the news that inflation spiked up to 4.2 percent: "No, I love it, the numbers were great. I love the inflation."

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant