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Throughout the previous race for the White House, the former president wooed voters with promises to lower costs immediately upon taking office. But, after he assumed office, he seemed to pay minimal focus to affordability issues. All that changed after inflation-weary citizens delivered a rebuke at the polls. Shortly thereafter, his team initiated a hastily assembled effort to tackle affordability. Regrettably, this initiative has proven a hot mess—characterized by illogical claims, contradictions, magical thinking, scapegoating, and misleading statements.

Detached Claims and Grocery Store Truth

Merely 48 hours after the election, Trump began his affordability drive with a disastrous statement: “Our groceries are way down. Everything is way down… So I don’t want to hear about the cost of living.” This comment from the wealthy leader—who frequently associates with fellow billionaires—demonstrated utter contempt for millions of Americans who struggle when visiting supermarkets. In effect, he ignored their struggles as trivial, implying they had it wrong about actual costs.

This statement that everything was “way down” was absurdly obtuse and inaccurate. In what way could every price be decreasing when the taxes he imposed were increasing prices? Official statistics show banana prices rose nearly 7% in the last twelve months, the price of beef climbed almost 15%, and the cost of coffee jumped 18.9%—in part because of punitive tariffs on Brazil’s coffee and beef. Between January and September, prices rose in five of the six food categories tracked by the government’s price index, including animal proteins (up 4.5%), drinks (up 2.8%), and produce (up 1.3%).

Contradictions and Inaccuracies in Economic Claims

Despite the evidence, the president continues to push his big lie about lower costs. After the vote, he has claimed there is “almost no price increases,” declared “prices are way down,” and argued “it is far less expensive under Trump than it was under sleepy Joe Biden.” These statements contradict the fact that general costs have unarguably risen after the previous administration. Currently, inflation is running at a 3% annual rate, that’s half again as much than the central bank’s target of 2 percent. In another falsehood, he boasted that fuel costs had dropped to nearly $2 a gallon, even though government figures indicate they average over three dollars.

Confronted by actual conditions and declining opinion polls, some Trump aides evidently warned that his “costs are falling” rhetoric portrayed him as disconnected from typical Americans. Many voters are angry about rising costs after promises of reductions. As a result, advisers suggested one quick fix: reduce certain import taxes. The logical move clashed with Trump’s absurd assertion that new tariffs wouldn’t raise prices for American shoppers.

Proposed Fixes and Their Possible Effects

As certain taxes reduced on several food items, Trump will likely claim that he has cut prices once those foods begin to fall in price. That would be like an arsonist boasting for extinguishing a fire that he had started. In another instance, while speaking McDonald’s executives, he declared that “we are in the golden age of America” and assured listeners that “costs are decreasing and all of that stuff.” These comments are easy for a wealthy individual to make, but they ring hollow to countless households facing hardships—especially when millions face losing food stamps or rising insurance costs.

Per a recent poll from October, three-quarters of respondents believe the state of the economy are mediocre or bad, while just a quarter consider them good or excellent. Another poll showed that a majority of citizens say the administration’s actions have “worsened economic conditions” in the country.

Economic Reality and Suggested Steps

Scott Bessent, Trump’s top economic official, recently disputed assertions of a prosperous era. He noted that far from booming, certain sectors of the US economy “are in recession.” The manufacturing sector—a priority for the administration—seems to have shrunk for multiple consecutive months and lost around 33,000 jobs since January. Citing these challenges, Bessent called on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates—an action that could ease financial pressure.

In response to widespread concern about affordability, Trump proposed a direct payment of “a dividend of at least $2,000 a person” excluding “the wealthy.” To numerous struggling Americans, this sounds like manna from heaven, but the prospects are dim that lawmakers—concerned about huge budget deficits—will enact such a plan. This idea could raise government expenditure, push up borrowing costs, and potentially fuel inflation by injecting cash into the economy.

Another supposed fix for cost issues involved creating 50-year mortgages, with the notion that they could lower housing costs. But, reality is that 50-year mortgages would do little to lower monthly payments—frequently cutting them by a small amount each month. The downside is that these loans could more than double the total interest homeowners pay and slow building home value.

Faulting the Past Government and Financial Prospects

As part of their cost-cutting effort, the administration have again blamed the previous president for financial challenges, such as rising prices. Spokespeople stated they “inherited a disaster from Joe Biden” and were “cleaning up the prior administration’s price hikes.” This is absurd and inaccurate claims. In reality, the former president left a robust economic situation, with low price growth, solid expansion, and minimal joblessness. However, Trump’s policies—particularly import taxes—have created an economic mess, driving costs higher and reducing economic output.

Per an economist, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, numerous regions are already in recession, with their economies damaged by the administration’s trade policies. Zandi worries that if key regions such as major economies enter a downturn, the US could slide into a broad economic slump. In downturns, people typically have reduced funds to spend, and price increases often falls. Sadly, with the highly-touted cost initiative likely to do little to control costs, his most effective “tool” for achieving increased affordability might prove to be pushing the nation into recession—a scenario that struggling Americans really can’t afford.