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During last year's race for the White House, the former president courted voters with promises to lower prices immediately upon taking office. But, once his inauguration, there was minimal attention to affordability issues. All that changed following price-fatigued voters delivered a rebuke at the ballot box. Within days, his team launched a hastily assembled effort to tackle affordability. Unfortunately, the drive has proven a hot mess—characterized by absurdity, inconsistencies, unrealistic expectations, blame-shifting, and Trumpian dishonesty.

Out-of-Touch Claims and Grocery Store Reality

Merely 48 hours after the election, the president began his cost-reduction push with a poorly received remark: “Our groceries are way down. All items is way down… So I don’t want to hear about the cost of living.” These words from billionaire Trump—often mingles with other ultra-rich individuals—revealed a lack of empathy for everyday citizens who struggle every time they go supermarkets. In effect, he ignored their concerns as unimportant, suggesting they had it wrong about actual costs.

This statement that everything was “way down” proved highly misleading and dishonest. In what way could every price be decreasing when the taxes he imposed were increasing prices? Official statistics indicate the cost of bananas rose 6.9% over the past year, beef prices went up almost 15%, and coffee prices surged 18.9%—partly because of import taxes applied to Brazilian products. In the first three quarters, prices rose in the majority of food categories tracked by the Consumer Price Index, such as animal proteins (rising over 4%), drinks (increasing nearly 3%), and produce (rising slightly).

Inconsistencies and Falsehoods in Economic Claims

Despite these numbers, Trump persists in repeating his big lie about affordability. Since election day, he has claimed there is “almost no price increases,” insisted “costs have fallen significantly,” and argued “living is cheaper under Trump than it was under his predecessor.” These statements contradict the reality that general costs have unarguably risen since Biden left office. Currently, price growth is at a 3 percent per year, which is 50% higher than the central bank’s 2% goal. Adding to the inaccuracies, Trump claimed that gas prices had dropped to nearly $2 a gallon, despite official data show they are over three dollars.

Confronted by reality and declining opinion polls, some Trump aides evidently cautioned that his “prices are down” message portrayed him as dangerously out of touch from ordinary people. Many citizens are angry about rising costs following assurances of reductions. As a result, advisers proposed one quick fix: roll back some of Trump’s beloved tariffs. This sensible idea clashed with the president’s unrealistic claim that new tariffs would not increase costs for US consumers.

Suggested Fixes and Their Potential Impact

With certain taxes reduced on coffee, beef, tomatoes, and bananas, Trump will probably announce that he has lowered costs once these products begin to fall in price. This would be similar to a firestarter boasting for extinguishing a fire that he had started. In another instance, when addressing fast-food leaders, Trump stated that “this is the golden age of America” and assured listeners that “prices are coming down and all of that stuff.” Such statements are easy for a wealthy individual to make, but seem insincere to countless households facing hardships—especially when many risk cuts to nutrition assistance or rising insurance costs.

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

Economic Truth and Proposed Steps

The treasury secretary, Trump’s chief financial officer, lately contradicted assertions of a prosperous era. He stated that instead of thriving, certain sectors of the American economy “are in recession.” The manufacturing sector—a priority for the administration—appears to have contracted for eight months in a row and shed approximately 33,000 jobs since January. Pointing to this weakness, Bessent urged the Federal Reserve to reduce borrowing costs—an action that could help affordability.

In response to widespread concern about living costs, Trump proposed a direct payment of “a dividend of at least $2,000 a person” excluding “the wealthy.” For many struggling Americans, this sounds like a financial lifeline, but it is unlikely that lawmakers—concerned about large shortfalls—will approve such a plan. The scheme would likely raise government expenditure, increase interest rates, and potentially fuel inflation by putting more money into consumers’ pockets.

Another proposed solution for affordability involved creating half-century home loans, with the notion that they could lower housing costs. However, the truth is that such lengthy loans have minimal impact to reduce installments—frequently reducing them by just $100 or $200 per month. The drawback is that these loans could significantly increase the total interest borrowers pay and slow their accumulation of equity.

Blaming the Previous Administration and Economic Prospects

In their affordability campaign, Trump and his team have once more pointed fingers at the previous president for financial challenges, including rising prices. Spokespeople claimed they “faced a mess from Joe Biden” and were “addressing Biden’s inflation.” These are absurd and untruthful allegations. Actually, the former president left a robust economic situation, with inflation way down, economic growth strong, and unemployment low. But, Trump’s policies—particularly his tariffs—have created an difficult situation, pushing up prices and reducing economic output.

According to Mark Zandi, lead analyst at a research firm, numerous regions are experiencing economic decline, with their conditions worsened by Trump’s tariffs. Zandi worries that if key regions such as California and New York enter a downturn, the US could slide into a broad economic slump. In downturns, consumers generally possess reduced funds to spend, and inflation usually declines. Unfortunately, with the highly-touted affordability campaign probably ineffective to control costs, his most effective “tool” for achieving increased affordability might prove to be triggering an economic contraction—a scenario that hard-pressed households really can’t afford.