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Throughout last year's race for the White House, the former president wooed voters with promises to lower costs immediately upon taking office. However, after his inauguration, there was precious little attention to affordability issues. All that changed following inflation-weary voters expressed dissatisfaction at the polls. Within days, his team initiated a slapdash campaign to address affordability. Regrettably, this initiative is a disorganized endeavor—filled with illogical claims, inconsistencies, magical thinking, scapegoating, and misleading statements.

Out-of-Touch Claims and Grocery Store Reality

Just two days after the election, Trump began his cost-reduction push with a poorly received statement: “Food prices are way down. All items is way down… So I don’t want to hear about the cost of living.” These words from billionaire Trump—who frequently associates with other ultra-rich individuals—demonstrated a lack of empathy for millions of Americans facing difficulties every time they go the grocery store. Essentially, he ignored their struggles as unimportant, suggesting they were mistaken about price levels.

His assertion about declining prices was absurdly obtuse and dishonest. In what way could all costs be falling when the taxes he imposed were increasing costs? Recent data show the cost of bananas increased nearly 7% in the last twelve months, the price of beef climbed 14.7%, and the cost of coffee jumped 18.9%—in part because of punitive tariffs on Brazil’s coffee and beef. Between January and September, costs increased in the majority of food categories monitored by the Consumer Price Index, such as animal proteins (rising over 4%), non-alcoholic beverages (up 2.8%), and fruits and vegetables (up 1.3%).

Contradictions and Falsehoods in Economic Statements

In spite of these numbers, Trump continues to push his misleading narrative about lower costs. After the vote, he has stated there is “virtually no inflation,” insisted “prices are way down,” and argued “living is cheaper under Trump than it was under his predecessor.” These statements ignore the reality that prices overall have unarguably risen after the previous administration. At present, inflation is running at a 3% annual rate, which is 50% higher than the central bank’s target of 2 percent. In another falsehood, he claimed that gas prices had fallen to nearly $2 a gallon, even though official data indicate they average $3.19.

Faced with actual conditions and declining opinion polls, some Trump aides apparently cautioned that his “costs are falling” message made him sound dangerously out of touch from ordinary people. A lot of citizens are angry about rising costs following assurances of decreases. In response, advisers suggested a simple solution: reduce certain import taxes. The logical move contradicted Trump’s absurd assertion that new tariffs would not increase costs for US consumers.

Proposed Fixes and Their Potential Impact

With certain taxes reduced on coffee, beef, tomatoes, and bananas, Trump will likely announce that he has lowered costs once those foods begin to fall in price. This would be similar to a firestarter boasting for extinguishing a fire that he had started. In another instance, while speaking fast-food leaders, he declared that “we are in the peak period of America” and assured the audience that “prices are coming down and all of that stuff.” Such statements are easy for a billionaire to make, but seem insincere to countless households facing hardships—particularly when many risk losing food stamps or rising insurance costs.

According to a recent poll conducted last fall, three-quarters of respondents think economic conditions are fair or poor, while just a quarter consider them good or excellent. A separate survey found that a majority of citizens feel Trump’s policies have “worsened economic conditions” in the country.

Financial Reality and Suggested Measures

Scott Bessent, Trump’s top economic official, recently contradicted assertions of a golden age. He stated that far from booming, certain sectors of the US economy “are in recession.” Industrial production—a priority for the administration—seems to have shrunk for multiple consecutive months and lost approximately 33,000 jobs this year. Pointing to these challenges, the secretary called on the central bank to reduce borrowing costs—an action that could ease financial pressure.

In response to widespread concern about affordability, Trump suggested a cash handout of “a payout of at least $2,000 a person” excluding “high income people.” To numerous households in need, this sounds like manna from heaven, but the prospects are dim that lawmakers—already alarmed about large shortfalls—will approve the proposal. This idea would likely increase federal spending, push up interest rates, and possibly fuel inflation by putting more money into the economy.

A further proposed solution for cost issues centered on creating 50-year mortgages, with the notion that this would lower housing costs. But, the truth is that such lengthy loans would do little to lower monthly payments—often reducing them by a small amount each month. The drawback is that these loans could more than double the overall cost borrowers pay and hinder building home value.

Blaming the Past Government and Economic Prospects

In their affordability campaign, the administration have again blamed Biden for financial challenges, such as increasing costs. Officials stated they “faced a mess from Joe Biden” and were “addressing Biden’s inflation.” This is absurd and inaccurate claims. Actually, Biden left a robust economic situation, with inflation way down, economic growth strong, and unemployment low. But, the current administration’s actions—particularly import taxes—have resulted in an economic mess, pushing up prices and reducing economic output.

Per Mark Zandi, lead analyst at a research firm, 22 states are experiencing economic decline, with their economies damaged by Trump’s tariffs. Zandi fears that if large states like California and New York tumble into recession, the US could slide into a broad economic slump. In downturns, consumers generally possess reduced funds to spend, and price increases often falls. Sadly, with the highly-touted affordability campaign likely to do little to control costs, his primary method for improving living standards might end up pushing the nation into recession—something that struggling Americans cannot handle.