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During the previous race for the White House, the former president wooed the electorate with pledges to lower prices immediately upon taking office. But, after his inauguration, he seemed to pay minimal focus to the cost of living. All that changed following inflation-weary citizens expressed dissatisfaction at the polls. Within days, the Trump administration initiated a hastily assembled campaign to tackle affordability. Unfortunately, the drive is a hot mess—characterized by illogical claims, contradictions, magical thinking, scapegoating, and misleading statements.

Detached Claims and Grocery Store Reality

Merely 48 hours after the election, the president began his affordability drive with a disastrous remark: “Food prices are way down. Everything is way down… So I don’t want to hear about the cost of living.” These words from billionaire Trump—often mingles with fellow billionaires—revealed a lack of empathy for millions of Americans who struggle every time they go supermarkets. In effect, he dismissed their concerns as unimportant, suggesting they had it wrong about actual costs.

His assertion that everything was “way down” proved highly misleading and dishonest. How could every price be falling when his cherished tariffs were pushing up costs? Official statistics indicate banana prices increased 6.9% in the last twelve months, the price of beef went up 14.7%, and coffee prices jumped by nearly 19%—in part due to import taxes on Brazil’s coffee and beef. Between January and September, costs increased in five of the six food categories monitored by the Consumer Price Index, including animal proteins (up 4.5%), drinks (increasing nearly 3%), and produce (rising slightly).

Inconsistencies and Falsehoods in Economic Statements

In spite of the evidence, Trump continues to push his misleading narrative about lower costs. Since election day, he has stated there is “virtually no inflation,” insisted “prices are way down,” and argued “it is far less expensive under Trump than it was under sleepy Joe Biden.” Such remarks contradict the reality that prices overall have clearly increased since Biden left office. At present, price growth is running at a 3 percent per year, that’s half again as much than the Federal Reserve’s target of 2 percent. In another falsehood, he claimed that fuel costs had dropped to around two dollars, even though government figures indicate they are over three dollars.

Confronted by actual conditions and declining opinion polls, advisers evidently cautioned that his “costs are falling” message portrayed him as disconnected from ordinary people. Many voters are frustrated about rising costs following assurances of decreases. In response, aides proposed a simple solution: reduce certain import taxes. The logical move contradicted Trump’s absurd assertion that additional taxes would not increase costs for American shoppers.

Proposed Fixes and Their Possible Impact

As certain taxes being rolled back on coffee, beef, tomatoes, and bananas, Trump will probably announce that he has cut prices once those foods start declining in price. This would be similar to a firestarter boasting for extinguishing a fire that he had started. On another occasion, when addressing fast-food leaders, Trump stated that “this is the golden age of America” and told listeners that “prices are coming down and all of that stuff.” These comments come naturally for a billionaire to make, but seem insincere to countless households facing hardships—especially when many risk cuts to nutrition assistance or skyrocketing health premiums.

Per a survey from October, 74% of Americans believe economic conditions are fair or poor, while only 26% consider them good or excellent. A separate survey showed that 61% of Americans feel Trump’s policies have “made the economy worse” in the country.

Economic Truth and Suggested Measures

Scott Bessent, Trump’s top economic official, recently contradicted claims of a golden age. He stated that instead of thriving, certain sectors of the US economy “are in recession.” The manufacturing sector—a priority for the administration—appears to have contracted for multiple consecutive months and shed around 33,000 jobs since January. Citing this weakness, the secretary called on the Federal Reserve to reduce borrowing costs—an action that could help affordability.

Reacting to public dismay about living costs, Trump suggested a cash handout of “a payout of at least $2,000 a person” not for “high income people.” For many households in need, this sounds like a financial lifeline, but the prospects are dim that lawmakers—already alarmed about huge budget deficits—will enact the proposal. This idea could increase federal spending, push up borrowing costs, and potentially drive prices higher by putting more money into the economy.

A further supposed fix for affordability involved creating half-century home loans, with the notion that this would reduce monthly mortgage payments. But, reality is that such lengthy loans would do little to reduce installments—frequently reducing them by a small amount each month. The downside is that these mortgages could more than double the total interest borrowers pay and slow building home value.

Blaming the Past Government and Economic Outlook

In their affordability campaign, Trump and his team have again pointed fingers at the previous president for economic problems, such as rising prices. Officials stated they “faced a mess from Joe Biden” and were “cleaning up 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 created an difficult situation, driving costs higher and slowing GDP growth.

Per Mark Zandi, lead analyst at Moody’s Analytics, numerous regions are already in recession, with their conditions worsened by the administration’s trade policies. He worries that if key regions such as major economies tumble into recession, the nation could slide into a broad economic slump. In downturns, people generally possess reduced funds to spend, and inflation usually declines. Sadly, given Trump’s much-ballyhooed cost initiative likely to do little to hold down prices, his primary method for achieving increased affordability might end up pushing the nation into recession—a scenario that hard-pressed households cannot handle.