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Throughout the previous presidential campaign, the former president courted voters with promises to reduce costs immediately upon taking office. But, once his inauguration, he seemed to pay precious little focus to affordability issues. This shifted following price-fatigued citizens expressed dissatisfaction at the polls. Shortly thereafter, the Trump administration launched a slapdash campaign to tackle living costs. Unfortunately, the drive has proven a hot mess—filled with absurdity, inconsistencies, unrealistic expectations, blame-shifting, and misleading statements.

Out-of-Touch Claims and Grocery Store Reality

Just two days post-election, the president kicked off his affordability drive with a disastrous statement: “Food prices are way down. Everything is way down… So I don’t want to hear about the cost of living.” These words from billionaire Trump—who frequently mingles with fellow billionaires—demonstrated a lack of empathy for everyday citizens who struggle when visiting the grocery store. In effect, he ignored their struggles as trivial, suggesting they were mistaken about actual costs.

His assertion about declining prices proved absurdly obtuse and dishonest. How could every price be decreasing when his cherished tariffs were increasing costs? Official statistics show banana prices rose nearly 7% over the past year, beef prices climbed 14.7%, and the cost of coffee 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 meats, poultry, and fish (up 4.5%), drinks (up 2.8%), and produce (up 1.3%).

Inconsistencies and Falsehoods in Economic Claims

Despite the evidence, Trump continues to push his misleading narrative about lower costs. Since election day, he has stated there is “almost no price increases,” declared “costs have fallen significantly,” and asserted “living is cheaper under Trump than it was under sleepy Joe Biden.” Such remarks contradict the fact that prices overall have clearly increased since Biden left office. Currently, price growth is at a 3 percent per year, that’s 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, even though official data show they average $3.19.

Faced with reality and declining opinion polls, advisers evidently cautioned that his “costs are falling” message portrayed him as dangerously out of touch from ordinary people. Many citizens are angry about prices continuing to climb following promises of decreases. In response, aides suggested a simple solution: roll back some of Trump’s beloved tariffs. The logical move clashed with the president’s unrealistic claim that additional taxes would not increase costs for American shoppers.

Proposed Solutions and Their Potential Effects

With some tariffs reduced on several food items, the administration will likely announce that he has lowered costs once those foods start declining in price. That would be like an arsonist boasting for extinguishing a blaze that he ignited. On another occasion, while speaking McDonald’s executives, he declared that “we are in the golden age of America” and assured the audience that “prices are coming down and all of that stuff.” These comments come naturally for a billionaire to make, but they ring hollow to millions of Americans facing hardships—especially when many face losing food stamps or rising insurance costs.

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

Financial Reality and Proposed Measures

Scott Bessent, Trump’s top economic official, lately contradicted claims of a golden age. He noted that far from booming, certain sectors of the US economy “are in recession.” Industrial production—a priority for the administration—appears to have contracted for multiple consecutive months and shed approximately tens of thousands of positions since January. Citing these challenges, Bessent urged the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates—an action that could ease financial pressure.

In response to public dismay about living costs, Trump suggested a cash handout of “a dividend of at least $2,000 a person” excluding “the wealthy.” To numerous struggling Americans, this sounds like manna from heaven, but it is unlikely that lawmakers—concerned about huge budget deficits—will approve the proposal. The scheme could raise government expenditure, push up interest rates, and potentially fuel inflation by putting more money into consumers’ pockets.

A further supposed fix for affordability involved creating 50-year mortgages, based on the idea that they could lower housing costs. However, the truth is that 50-year mortgages have minimal impact to reduce installments—often cutting them by a small amount each month. The downside is that these mortgages could more than double the total interest borrowers pay and hinder building home value.

Faulting the Previous Administration and Financial Outlook

In their affordability campaign, the administration have again blamed Biden for economic problems, such as rising prices. Spokespeople stated they “inherited a disaster from Joe Biden” and were “cleaning up Biden’s inflation.” These are unfounded and untruthful allegations. In reality, Biden handed over a robust economic situation, with inflation way down, solid expansion, and unemployment low. However, the current administration’s actions—especially his tariffs—have resulted in an economic mess, driving costs higher and slowing GDP growth.

According to an economist, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, 22 states are already in recession, with their economies damaged by Trump’s tariffs. Zandi fears that if key regions like California and New York tumble into recession, the nation could slide into a broad economic slump. During recessions, consumers generally possess reduced funds to spend, and inflation often falls. Sadly, given Trump’s much-ballyhooed affordability campaign likely to do little to hold down prices, his most effective “tool” for improving living standards might prove to be triggering an economic contraction—something that struggling Americans really can’t afford.