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During last year's race for the White House, Donald Trump wooed the electorate with pledges to reduce prices immediately upon taking office. However, after his inauguration, there was precious little focus to affordability issues. This shifted after inflation-weary citizens expressed dissatisfaction at the polls. Within days, his team initiated a slapdash campaign to address affordability. Regrettably, this initiative is a hot mess—filled with illogical claims, contradictions, magical thinking, scapegoating, and misleading statements.

Detached Claims and Supermarket Reality

Merely 48 hours after the election, the president kicked off his cost-reduction push with a poorly received remark: “Food prices are way down. Everything is way down… So I don’t want to hear about affordability.” This comment from the wealthy leader—who frequently mingles with fellow billionaires—revealed a lack of empathy for everyday citizens who struggle every time they go supermarkets. In effect, he ignored their struggles as trivial, implying they had it wrong about price levels.

His assertion about declining prices was highly misleading and dishonest. In what way could all costs be decreasing when the taxes he imposed were pushing up costs? Recent data show the cost of bananas rose 6.9% over the past year, beef prices climbed almost 15%, and coffee prices jumped by nearly 19%—partly due to punitive tariffs on Brazil’s coffee and beef. In the first three quarters, costs increased in five of the six main grocery groups monitored by the Consumer Price Index, including animal proteins (up 4.5%), drinks (increasing nearly 3%), and produce (rising slightly).

Contradictions and Inaccuracies in Financial Claims

Despite the evidence, the president 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 sleepy Joe Biden.” Such remarks ignore the reality that general costs have unarguably risen after the previous administration. At present, price growth is running at a 3% annual rate, which is half again as much than the Federal Reserve’s target of 2 percent. In another falsehood, Trump boasted that fuel costs had fallen to around two dollars, even though official data show they are $3.19.

Faced with actual conditions and lower approval ratings, advisers evidently warned that his “costs are falling” message portrayed him as dangerously out of touch from typical Americans. A lot of voters are angry about prices continuing to climb following promises of decreases. In response, advisers suggested 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 American shoppers.

Proposed Fixes and Their Possible Effects

With certain taxes being rolled back on coffee, beef, tomatoes, and bananas, Trump will likely announce that he has lowered costs once these products start declining in price. This would be similar to a firestarter boasting for putting out a blaze that he ignited. On another occasion, while speaking McDonald’s executives, Trump declared that “we are in the golden age of America” and told listeners that “costs are decreasing and all of that stuff.” Such statements are easy for a billionaire to make, but seem insincere to countless households who are struggling—especially when many risk losing food stamps or skyrocketing health premiums.

According to a recent poll from October, 74% of Americans think the state of the economy are mediocre or bad, while only 26% rate them positive. A separate survey showed that a majority of citizens feel Trump’s policies have “made the economy worse” in the country.

Economic Reality and Proposed Steps

Scott Bessent, the president’s chief financial officer, lately disputed claims of a prosperous era. He stated that far from booming, certain sectors of the US economy “have contracted.” The manufacturing sector—a priority for the administration—seems to have shrunk for multiple consecutive months and lost around tens of thousands of positions this year. Pointing to these challenges, the secretary called on the Federal Reserve to reduce borrowing costs—a move that could ease financial pressure.

Reacting to public dismay about living costs, the president proposed a direct payment of “a dividend of at least $2,000 a person” not for “the wealthy.” To numerous struggling Americans, this sounds like manna from heaven, but the prospects are dim that Congress—concerned about large shortfalls—will approve such a plan. This idea could raise government expenditure, push up borrowing costs, and potentially drive prices higher by injecting cash into consumers’ pockets.

A further supposed fix for affordability involved introducing 50-year mortgages, based on the idea that this would reduce monthly mortgage payments. But, the truth is that such lengthy loans would do little to reduce installments—often reducing them by just $100 or $200 per month. The drawback is that these loans could significantly increase the total interest borrowers pay and hinder building home value.

Faulting the Previous Administration and Economic Prospects

As part of their affordability campaign, the administration have once more pointed fingers at the previous president for financial challenges, such as rising prices. Officials claimed they “inherited a disaster from Joe Biden” and were “cleaning up the prior administration’s price hikes.” This is absurd and untruthful allegations. Actually, Biden handed over a strong economy, with low price growth, solid expansion, and minimal joblessness. However, Trump’s policies—particularly import taxes—have resulted in an difficult situation, pushing up prices and slowing GDP growth.

According to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, numerous regions are already in recession, with their conditions worsened by the administration’s trade policies. He fears that if key regions like major economies enter a downturn, the US could face a broad economic slump. In downturns, consumers typically have less money to spend, and inflation often falls. Sadly, given the highly-touted affordability campaign probably ineffective to hold down prices, his primary method for improving living standards might prove to be triggering an economic contraction—something that struggling Americans really can’t afford.