A Fox Business host apologized on air Thursday after acknowledging that the inflation weighing on President Donald Trump's second administration is not going away, pushing back on arguments from Trump's allies that price pressures would prove "transitory." According to longtime Fox financial analyst Cheryl Casone, inflation is not transitory, and another Federal Reserve rate hike is coming — the only question is when.

The word carries recent history: Federal Reserve officials, including Chair Jerome Powell, spent much of 2021 describing post-pandemic price pressures as "transitory" before retiring the term as inflation proved persistent. Its reappearance in defense of the administration's economic record underscores why Casone's on-air concession is notable.

Fox Big Money host Jackie DeAngelis framed the environment as one investors have so far absorbed. "Investors have been handling high gas prices and whatever inflation there is in the economy, and they've actually been handling the higher rates as well," she claimed. "They're not happy about it, but they've been dealing with it."

Polling indicates Americans are, in fact, not happy about it. Per AP News, 25 percent approve of Trump's overall handling of the economy, 17 percent approve of his handling of cost-of-living issues, and 65 percent say his policies — specifically tariffs and the war with Iran — have directly contributed to rising costs.

"Do you really believe that they're going to they're going to do another hike before the midterms?" Casone asked, noting that the Fed appeared to be signaling another increase and guessing it would arrive in December. "Inflation is not going away. It's not transitory," she admitted abruptly. "I can't believe I just said that. Sorry, everybody." Whether the Fed follows through, and whether any move lands before the midterms, is set to be among the most closely watched economic questions in the months ahead.

Despite Trump's promise to bring prices down "on day one," inflation has remained persistent throughout his second term. Core inflation stands at roughly 3.4 percent, well above the Fed's 2 percent, with tariffs and the fuel cost increases caused by Trump's war with Iran identified as the key drivers.

A new report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, published earlier this week, found that "levies put in place last year by the Trump administration drove up consumer goods inflation by an estimated 2.9 percentage points as of February."

As The Washington Post explains, "That disrupted a slight downward trajectory in inflation; without tariffs, 'goods prices would have fallen slightly,' the researchers found. The study estimates that 'about a quarter of a tariff increase is passed through to consumer goods prices.' Tariffs added to price increases for both imported and domestic goods, it found."

The Fox panel went on to discuss rising mortgage rates, ultimately concluding that Americans would simply grow accustomed to them. "Remember back in the 80s, there were higher rates. You just have to renormalize that to the Gen Z right now," one panelist said. "Seven, eight percent mortgages sound ridiculous, but as we get further down the road and we're just used to that, it becomes the normal." The exchange captures the tension at the heart of the Fed's dilemma: rate increases are the central bank's principal tool for reining in inflation, but the same increases feed into the borrowing costs — mortgages chief among them — that shape household budgets.

Polling consistently shows that housing affordability ranks among Americans' top financial concerns, according to Gallup.