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Throughout last year's race for the White House, the former president courted the electorate with promises to reduce costs immediately upon taking office. However, once he assumed office, he seemed to pay precious little attention to the cost of living. All that changed after price-fatigued citizens expressed dissatisfaction at the ballot box. Within days, his team launched a slapdash effort to address affordability. Regrettably, this initiative has proven a hot mess—filled with absurdity, contradictions, unrealistic expectations, scapegoating, and misleading statements.

Out-of-Touch Assertions and Grocery Store Reality

Just two days after the election, Trump kicked off his affordability drive with a disastrous remark: “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 mingles with fellow billionaires—demonstrated a lack of empathy for millions of Americans facing difficulties when visiting supermarkets. Essentially, he ignored their concerns as trivial, implying they had it wrong about price levels.

His assertion that everything was “way down” proved highly misleading and inaccurate. How could all costs be decreasing when his cherished tariffs were increasing costs? Recent data indicate the cost of bananas increased 6.9% in the last twelve months, the price of beef climbed 14.7%, and coffee prices surged 18.9%—partly due to import taxes applied to Brazilian products. Between January and September, prices rose in the majority of main grocery groups monitored by the Consumer Price Index, including animal proteins (rising over 4%), drinks (increasing nearly 3%), and produce (up 1.3%).

Inconsistencies and Falsehoods in Economic Claims

Despite the evidence, the president continues to push his misleading narrative about affordability. After the vote, he has claimed there is “virtually no inflation,” declared “prices are way down,” and asserted “it is far less expensive under Trump than it was under sleepy Joe Biden.” Such remarks contradict the fact that general costs have unarguably risen since Biden left office. Currently, price growth is at a 3 percent per year, that’s 50% higher than the Federal Reserve’s 2% goal. In another falsehood, he claimed that fuel costs had fallen to around two dollars, despite government figures indicate they are over three dollars.

Confronted by reality and lower approval ratings, some Trump aides apparently warned that his “costs are falling” message made him sound disconnected from ordinary people. A lot of voters are frustrated about prices continuing to climb following assurances of reductions. In response, aides suggested one quick fix: roll back certain import taxes. This sensible idea contradicted the president’s unrealistic claim that additional taxes would not increase costs for US consumers.

Suggested Solutions and Their Possible Impact

With some tariffs being rolled back on coffee, beef, tomatoes, and bananas, Trump will likely claim that he has cut prices once those foods begin to fall in price. That would be similar to a firestarter taking credit for putting out a blaze that he ignited. In another instance, when addressing McDonald’s executives, Trump stated that “we are in the golden age of America” and assured the audience that “costs are decreasing and all of that stuff.” These comments are easy for a billionaire to make, but they ring hollow to countless households who are struggling—especially when many face losing food stamps or skyrocketing health premiums.

Per a survey from October, three-quarters of respondents think the state of the economy are fair or poor, while just a quarter consider them positive. Another poll showed that a majority of citizens feel Trump’s policies have “worsened economic conditions” in the country.

Financial Truth and Proposed Steps

The treasury secretary, the president’s chief financial officer, recently contradicted assertions of a prosperous era. He stated that far from booming, certain sectors of the American economy “have contracted.” The manufacturing sector—a priority for the administration—seems to have shrunk for eight months in a row and shed approximately tens of thousands of positions since January. Citing this weakness, the secretary urged the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates—an action that could ease financial pressure.

In response to public dismay about affordability, Trump proposed a direct payment of “a dividend of at least $2,000 a person” excluding “high income people.” For many struggling Americans, this sounds like a financial lifeline, but the prospects are dim that lawmakers—concerned about huge budget deficits—will enact the proposal. This idea would likely raise government expenditure, increase interest rates, and possibly fuel inflation by putting more money into the economy.

Another proposed solution for affordability involved creating 50-year mortgages, based on the idea that they could lower housing costs. But, reality is that such lengthy loans have minimal impact to lower monthly payments—often cutting them by just $100 or $200 each month. The downside is that these mortgages could more than double the total interest homeowners pay and slow building home value.

Faulting the Previous Administration and Financial Prospects

As part of their affordability campaign, the administration have again pointed fingers at Biden for economic problems, such as rising prices. Spokespeople claimed they “faced a mess from Joe Biden” and were “cleaning up the prior administration’s price hikes.” This is absurd and inaccurate claims. In reality, Biden left a strong economy, with inflation way down, economic growth strong, and unemployment low. But, Trump’s policies—particularly import taxes—have created an difficult situation, driving costs higher and reducing economic output.

Per an economist, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, numerous regions are already in recession, with their economies damaged by the administration’s trade policies. Zandi worries that if key regions like California and New York tumble into recession, the nation could face a widespread recession. In downturns, consumers typically have less money to spend, and inflation often falls. Unfortunately, with the highly-touted affordability campaign likely to do little to hold down prices, his primary method for improving living standards might end up pushing the nation into recession—a scenario that struggling Americans really can’t afford.