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During last year's race for the White House, Donald Trump courted the electorate with pledges to lower costs immediately upon taking office. But, once he assumed office, he seemed to pay precious little attention to the cost of living. This shifted after price-fatigued voters delivered a rebuke at the ballot box. Within days, the Trump administration launched a slapdash effort to address affordability. Regrettably, this initiative is a hot mess—filled with illogical claims, contradictions, unrealistic expectations, blame-shifting, and misleading statements.

Out-of-Touch Claims and Grocery Store Truth

Merely 48 hours post-election, Trump kicked off his cost-reduction push with a disastrous statement: “Food prices are way down. Everything is way down… So I don’t want to hear about affordability.” These words from billionaire Trump—who frequently associates with fellow billionaires—demonstrated a lack of empathy for millions of Americans facing difficulties every time they go supermarkets. In effect, he ignored their concerns as unimportant, suggesting they had it wrong about price levels.

This statement that everything was “way down” proved absurdly obtuse and dishonest. In what way could every price be decreasing when his cherished tariffs were pushing up prices? Recent data indicate the cost of bananas rose 6.9% over the past year, beef prices climbed 14.7%, and coffee prices surged by nearly 19%—partly due to punitive tariffs applied to Brazilian products. In the first three quarters, prices rose in the majority of main grocery groups tracked by the government’s price index, including animal proteins (rising over 4%), drinks (up 2.8%), and produce (rising slightly).

Contradictions and Falsehoods in Financial Statements

Despite these numbers, the president persists in repeating his misleading narrative about lower costs. After the vote, he has stated there is “virtually no inflation,” declared “costs have fallen significantly,” and argued “it is far less expensive under Trump than it was under sleepy Joe Biden.” These statements ignore the reality that prices overall have clearly increased after the previous administration. Currently, inflation is at a 3% annual rate, which is half again as much than the Federal Reserve’s 2% goal. In another falsehood, Trump claimed that gas prices had fallen to nearly $2 a gallon, despite government figures show they are over three dollars.

Confronted by reality and lower approval ratings, some Trump aides evidently cautioned that his “prices are down” message portrayed him as dangerously out of touch from typical Americans. Many citizens are frustrated about prices continuing to climb following assurances of reductions. In response, advisers suggested one quick fix: reduce certain import taxes. This sensible idea clashed with the president’s unrealistic claim that additional taxes would not increase costs for American shoppers.

Proposed Fixes and Their Potential Impact

With certain taxes being rolled back on several food items, the administration will probably claim that he has cut prices once those foods start declining in price. This would be like an arsonist taking credit for putting out a fire that he had started. On another occasion, when addressing McDonald’s executives, Trump stated that “this is the peak period of America” and told listeners that “prices are coming down and all of that stuff.” Such statements come naturally for a wealthy individual to make, but they ring hollow to countless households who are struggling—particularly when many risk losing food stamps or rising insurance costs.

According to a recent poll conducted last fall, three-quarters of respondents think the state of the economy are fair or poor, while only 26% consider them good or excellent. Another poll showed that 61% of Americans feel Trump’s policies have “made the economy worse” in the country.

Economic Truth and Suggested Steps

The treasury secretary, Trump’s chief financial officer, lately contradicted assertions of a golden age. He stated that instead of thriving, some parts of the US economy “are in recession.” The manufacturing sector—which Trump vowed to save—appears to have contracted for eight months in a row and shed around tens of thousands of positions this year. Pointing to this weakness, the secretary called on the central bank to reduce borrowing costs—a move that could help affordability.

Reacting to widespread concern about affordability, Trump proposed a direct payment of “a dividend of at least $2,000 a person” not for “the wealthy.” For many struggling Americans, this sounds like a financial lifeline, but the prospects are dim that lawmakers—concerned about huge budget deficits—will approve such a plan. This idea would likely raise government expenditure, push up interest rates, and potentially fuel inflation by putting more money into the economy.

A further supposed fix for affordability involved introducing half-century home loans, with the notion that this would reduce monthly mortgage payments. However, reality is that such lengthy loans have minimal impact to reduce installments—frequently reducing them by a small amount per month. The drawback is that these loans could significantly increase the overall cost borrowers pay and hinder building home value.

Blaming the Previous Administration and Financial Prospects

As part of their cost-cutting effort, the administration have once more blamed Biden for financial challenges, such as increasing costs. Officials stated they “inherited a disaster from Joe Biden” and were “cleaning up Biden’s inflation.” These are unfounded and inaccurate allegations. Actually, the former president left a strong economy, with low price growth, economic growth strong, and unemployment low. However, Trump’s policies—particularly his tariffs—have resulted in an economic mess, driving costs higher and slowing GDP growth.

Per Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, numerous regions are already in recession, with their conditions worsened by the administration’s trade policies. Zandi fears that if large states such as California and New York enter a downturn, the nation could face a widespread recession. During recessions, people generally possess reduced funds to spend, and inflation often falls. Unfortunately, given the highly-touted affordability campaign probably ineffective to hold down prices, his most effective “tool” for achieving increased affordability might prove to be triggering an economic contraction—something that hard-pressed households cannot handle.