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During last year's race for the White House, the former president wooed voters with promises to lower prices immediately upon taking office. However, after his inauguration, there was minimal attention to the cost of living. All that changed after inflation-weary voters delivered a rebuke at the polls. Shortly thereafter, his team initiated a hastily assembled effort to tackle affordability. Regrettably, the drive is a hot mess—filled with illogical claims, contradictions, unrealistic expectations, blame-shifting, and misleading statements.

Out-of-Touch Assertions and Supermarket Reality

Just two days post-election, the president kicked off his cost-reduction push with a disastrous remark: “Food prices are way down. All items is way down… So I don’t want to hear about the cost of living.” This comment from the wealthy leader—often mingles with fellow billionaires—revealed a lack of empathy for millions of Americans facing difficulties when visiting supermarkets. In effect, he dismissed their struggles as trivial, suggesting they were mistaken about actual costs.

This statement about declining prices was absurdly obtuse and dishonest. How could every price be falling when the taxes he imposed were pushing up costs? Recent data show the cost of bananas rose 6.9% over the past year, the price of beef went up almost 15%, and coffee prices jumped by nearly 19%—in part because of punitive tariffs applied to Brazilian products. In the first three quarters, costs increased in five of the six food categories monitored by the Consumer Price Index, including animal proteins (rising over 4%), drinks (increasing nearly 3%), and fruits and vegetables (rising slightly).

Inconsistencies and Falsehoods in Financial Statements

Despite the evidence, Trump persists in repeating his misleading narrative about lower costs. Since election day, he has claimed there is “virtually no inflation,” insisted “costs have fallen significantly,” and asserted “it is far less expensive under Trump than it was under his predecessor.” These statements ignore the reality that general costs have clearly increased after the previous administration. At present, price growth is running at a 3 percent per year, which is half again as much than the Federal Reserve’s 2% goal. In another falsehood, he boasted that fuel costs had dropped to nearly $2 a gallon, despite government figures show they average $3.19.

Faced with actual conditions and declining opinion polls, some Trump aides apparently cautioned that his “costs are falling” message made him sound disconnected from typical Americans. A lot of citizens are frustrated about prices continuing to climb following promises of decreases. As a result, advisers suggested one quick fix: roll back some of Trump’s beloved tariffs. This sensible idea clashed with Trump’s absurd assertion that new tariffs wouldn’t raise prices for US consumers.

Proposed Solutions and Their Possible Impact

With certain taxes being rolled back on coffee, beef, tomatoes, and bananas, Trump will probably announce that he has lowered costs once these products start declining in price. That would be like an arsonist taking credit for putting out a blaze that he ignited. In another instance, when addressing fast-food leaders, he declared that “we are in the peak period of America” and assured the audience that “prices are coming down and all of that stuff.” These comments are easy for a billionaire to make, but they ring hollow to millions of Americans facing hardships—particularly when many face losing food stamps or rising insurance costs.

Per a recent poll from October, 74% of Americans think economic conditions are fair or poor, while only 26% rate them good or excellent. A separate survey found that a majority of citizens feel Trump’s policies have “worsened economic conditions” in the country.

Economic Reality and Suggested Measures

The treasury secretary, Trump’s chief financial officer, recently disputed claims of a golden age. He noted that far from booming, certain sectors of the American economy “are in recession.” The manufacturing sector—a priority for the administration—appears to have contracted for multiple consecutive months and shed approximately 33,000 jobs since January. Citing this weakness, Bessent urged the central bank to cut interest rates—an action that could ease financial pressure.

Reacting to public dismay about affordability, Trump proposed a cash handout of “a dividend of at least $2,000 a person” not for “high income people.” For many struggling Americans, this sounds like manna from heaven, but it is unlikely that Congress—already alarmed about large shortfalls—will approve the proposal. This idea would likely increase federal spending, push up borrowing costs, and possibly fuel inflation by injecting cash into consumers’ pockets.

A further proposed solution for affordability involved introducing 50-year mortgages, based on the idea that this would reduce monthly mortgage payments. 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 Past Government and Economic Prospects

In their affordability campaign, Trump and his team have again pointed fingers at Biden for financial challenges, such as increasing costs. Spokespeople stated they “faced a mess from Joe Biden” and were “cleaning up the prior administration’s price hikes.” These are unfounded and untruthful allegations. In reality, the former president left a strong economy, with inflation way down, economic growth strong, and unemployment low. However, Trump’s policies—particularly his tariffs—have resulted in an economic mess, pushing up prices and slowing GDP growth.

According to an economist, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, 22 states are experiencing economic decline, with their conditions worsened by the administration’s trade policies. Zandi fears that if key regions such as California and New York tumble into recession, the US could slide into a broad economic slump. During recessions, people typically have reduced funds to spend, and price increases usually declines. Sadly, with Trump’s much-ballyhooed affordability campaign likely to do little to control costs, his most effective “tool” for achieving increased affordability might prove to be triggering an economic contraction—a scenario that struggling Americans really can’t afford.