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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. However, once his inauguration, he seemed to pay precious little focus to the cost of living. All that changed following inflation-weary voters delivered a rebuke at the polls. Shortly thereafter, his team launched a slapdash campaign to tackle affordability. Regrettably, this initiative has proven a hot mess—characterized by illogical claims, inconsistencies, unrealistic expectations, scapegoating, and Trumpian dishonesty.

Detached Claims and Grocery Store Reality

Just two days after the election, Trump began his affordability drive with a poorly received statement: “Food prices are way down. Everything is way down… So I don’t want to hear about affordability.” These words from the wealthy leader—who frequently associates with fellow billionaires—demonstrated a lack of empathy for everyday citizens who struggle when visiting the grocery store. Essentially, he dismissed their struggles as trivial, implying they were mistaken about price levels.

This statement about declining prices proved absurdly obtuse and inaccurate. In what way could all costs be decreasing when his cherished tariffs were pushing up costs? Recent data indicate the cost of bananas increased nearly 7% over the past year, the price of beef went up 14.7%, and the cost of coffee jumped by nearly 19%—partly due to import taxes applied to Brazilian products. In the first three quarters, prices rose 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 (rising slightly).

Contradictions and Falsehoods in Financial Claims

In spite of these numbers, the president persists in repeating his big lie about lower costs. After the vote, he has stated there is “almost no price increases,” declared “prices are way down,” and argued “living is cheaper under Trump than it was under his predecessor.” These statements ignore the fact that general costs have clearly increased since Biden left office. Currently, price growth is at a 3% annual rate, that’s half again as much than the Federal Reserve’s target of 2 percent. In another falsehood, Trump claimed that fuel costs had dropped to nearly $2 a gallon, even though government figures indicate they average $3.19.

Confronted by actual conditions and lower approval ratings, advisers evidently warned that his “prices are down” message made him sound dangerously out of touch from typical Americans. Many citizens are frustrated about rising costs after promises of reductions. As a result, advisers proposed a simple solution: reduce certain import taxes. The logical move contradicted Trump’s absurd assertion that new tariffs would not increase costs for American shoppers.

Proposed Fixes and Their Potential Effects

As certain taxes reduced on several food items, Trump will likely announce that he has cut prices once those foods begin to fall in price. This would be similar to a firestarter boasting for extinguishing a blaze that he had started. In another instance, while speaking fast-food leaders, Trump stated that “we are in the peak period of America” and assured listeners that “costs are decreasing and all of that stuff.” Such statements come naturally for a wealthy individual to make, but they ring hollow to millions of Americans facing hardships—especially when many risk losing food stamps or rising insurance costs.

Per a survey conducted last fall, three-quarters of respondents think the state of the economy are fair or poor, while only 26% consider them positive. A separate survey found that 61% of Americans say Trump’s policies have “made the economy worse” in the country.

Financial Truth and Suggested Steps

The treasury secretary, Trump’s chief financial officer, recently contradicted assertions of a golden age. He noted that instead of thriving, some parts of the US economy “have contracted.” Industrial production—which Trump vowed to save—appears to have contracted for multiple consecutive months and lost around 33,000 jobs this year. Citing these challenges, the secretary urged the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates—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.” To numerous households in need, it seems like manna from heaven, but the prospects are dim that Congress—already alarmed about huge budget deficits—will enact such a plan. This idea would likely raise government expenditure, increase borrowing costs, and possibly fuel inflation by injecting cash into the economy.

A further supposed fix for cost issues involved introducing 50-year mortgages, based on the idea that they could reduce monthly mortgage payments. But, reality is that such lengthy loans have minimal impact to lower monthly payments—frequently cutting them by a small amount per month. The drawback is that these mortgages could significantly increase the total interest borrowers pay and slow their accumulation of equity.

Blaming the Previous Administration and Financial Prospects

In their cost-cutting effort, the administration have once more pointed fingers at Biden for financial challenges, such as increasing costs. Officials stated they “faced a mess from Joe Biden” and were “cleaning up Biden’s inflation.” This is absurd and inaccurate claims. In reality, the former president left a robust economic situation, with low price growth, economic growth strong, and unemployment low. But, the current administration’s actions—especially his tariffs—have resulted in an economic mess, driving costs higher and reducing economic output.

According to Mark Zandi, lead analyst at Moody’s Analytics, numerous regions are already in recession, with their conditions worsened by Trump’s tariffs. Zandi fears that if large states like California and New York enter a downturn, the nation could slide into a broad economic slump. In downturns, consumers typically have less money to spend, and price increases usually declines. Unfortunately, with Trump’s much-ballyhooed cost initiative likely to do little to control costs, his primary method for improving living standards might prove to be pushing the nation into recession—something that hard-pressed households cannot handle.