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During last year's presidential campaign, the former president wooed the electorate with promises to lower prices immediately upon taking office. But, after his inauguration, he seemed to pay minimal attention to the cost of living. This shifted following price-fatigued voters expressed dissatisfaction at the ballot box. Within days, his team launched a slapdash campaign to address affordability. Regrettably, the drive is a disorganized endeavor—filled with absurdity, contradictions, magical thinking, blame-shifting, and Trumpian dishonesty.

Out-of-Touch Assertions and Supermarket Truth

Merely 48 hours after the election, the president kicked off his affordability drive with a disastrous statement: “Our groceries are way down. Everything is way down… So I don’t want to hear about the cost of living.” This comment from billionaire Trump—who frequently associates with fellow billionaires—revealed utter contempt for everyday citizens facing difficulties when visiting the grocery store. Essentially, he ignored their struggles as trivial, suggesting they were mistaken about price levels.

This statement that everything was “way down” proved highly misleading and dishonest. In what way could all costs be falling when his cherished tariffs were increasing prices? Official statistics indicate the cost of bananas rose 6.9% in the last twelve months, beef prices climbed 14.7%, and coffee prices jumped 18.9%—partly due to punitive tariffs applied to Brazilian products. In the first three quarters, prices rose in the majority of main grocery groups monitored by the government’s price index, such as meats, poultry, and fish (up 4.5%), drinks (up 2.8%), and produce (rising slightly).

Inconsistencies and Falsehoods in Financial Claims

In spite of these numbers, the president persists in repeating his misleading narrative about lower costs. Since election day, he has stated there is “almost no price increases,” insisted “costs have fallen significantly,” and argued “living is cheaper under Trump than it was under sleepy Joe Biden.” Such remarks ignore the fact that prices overall have clearly increased after the previous administration. Currently, price growth is running at a 3 percent per year, which is 50% higher than the central bank’s 2% goal. Adding to the inaccuracies, he claimed that fuel costs had fallen to around two dollars, despite official data indicate they are $3.19.

Faced with actual conditions and lower approval ratings, some Trump aides evidently warned that his “prices are down” rhetoric made him sound disconnected from typical Americans. Many voters are angry about prices continuing to climb after promises of reductions. In response, aides suggested a simple solution: roll back some of Trump’s beloved tariffs. This sensible idea clashed with Trump’s absurd assertion that additional taxes wouldn’t raise prices for US consumers.

Proposed Solutions and Their Possible Effects

With certain taxes being rolled back on coffee, beef, tomatoes, and bananas, the administration will likely announce that he has lowered costs once these products start declining in price. That would be similar to a firestarter boasting for extinguishing a blaze that he had started. On another occasion, while speaking fast-food leaders, he declared that “this is the golden age of America” and told the audience that “costs are decreasing and all of that stuff.” Such statements are easy for a billionaire to make, but they ring hollow to countless households facing hardships—particularly when many face losing food stamps or rising insurance costs.

Per a survey from October, 74% of Americans think economic conditions are mediocre or bad, while just a quarter consider them good or excellent. Another poll found that a majority of citizens say the administration’s actions have “worsened economic conditions” in the country.

Economic Reality and Proposed Steps

Scott Bessent, Trump’s chief financial officer, recently contradicted assertions of a prosperous era. He stated that instead of thriving, some parts of the US economy “are in recession.” Industrial production—a priority for the administration—appears to have contracted for eight months in a row and lost around 33,000 jobs since January. Pointing to these challenges, Bessent urged the central bank to reduce borrowing costs—a move that could ease financial pressure.

Reacting to widespread concern about affordability, Trump suggested a cash handout of “a payout of at least $2,000 a person” not for “the wealthy.” To numerous struggling Americans, this sounds like manna from heaven, but it is unlikely that lawmakers—already alarmed about large shortfalls—will approve the proposal. The scheme would likely increase federal spending, increase borrowing costs, and potentially drive prices higher by injecting cash into the economy.

Another proposed solution for affordability involved introducing half-century home loans, based on the idea that this would reduce monthly mortgage payments. However, the truth is that such lengthy loans have minimal impact to reduce installments—frequently cutting them by a small amount per month. The downside is that these mortgages could more than double the overall cost homeowners pay and slow their accumulation of equity.

Blaming the Past Government and Economic Prospects

In their cost-cutting effort, the administration have once more blamed the previous president for financial challenges, including increasing costs. Officials claimed they “faced a mess from Joe Biden” and were “cleaning up the prior administration’s price hikes.” These are absurd and untruthful claims. In reality, Biden left a robust economic situation, with low price growth, solid expansion, and minimal joblessness. But, Trump’s policies—especially his tariffs—have created an difficult situation, pushing up prices and slowing GDP growth.

Per Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, 22 states are already in recession, with their economies damaged by the administration’s trade policies. He fears that if key regions such as major economies tumble into recession, the US could face a broad economic slump. In downturns, consumers typically have less money to spend, and price increases often falls. Unfortunately, with the highly-touted cost initiative likely to do little to control costs, his primary method for achieving increased affordability might end up pushing the nation into recession—a scenario that struggling Americans cannot handle.