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During last year's presidential campaign, the former president wooed voters with pledges to lower costs immediately upon taking office. But, after his inauguration, he seemed to pay precious little attention to affordability issues. This shifted after price-fatigued citizens delivered a rebuke at the polls. Within days, the Trump administration initiated a hastily assembled campaign to tackle affordability. Unfortunately, this initiative is a hot mess—characterized by absurdity, inconsistencies, magical thinking, scapegoating, and Trumpian dishonesty.

Out-of-Touch Assertions and Supermarket Truth

Just two days after the election, Trump began 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.” This comment from billionaire Trump—who frequently mingles with other ultra-rich individuals—revealed a lack of empathy for everyday citizens who struggle when visiting supermarkets. In effect, he ignored their concerns as trivial, implying they had it wrong about actual costs.

This statement that everything was “way down” was absurdly obtuse and inaccurate. How could all costs be falling when the taxes he imposed were pushing up costs? Recent data indicate the cost of bananas increased 6.9% over the past year, the price of beef went up 14.7%, and the cost of coffee jumped 18.9%—partly due to import taxes applied to Brazilian products. Between January and September, prices rose in five of the six main grocery groups monitored by the government’s price index, including meats, poultry, and fish (up 4.5%), non-alcoholic beverages (increasing nearly 3%), and produce (rising slightly).

Inconsistencies and Inaccuracies in Financial Claims

Despite the evidence, Trump continues to push his misleading narrative about lower costs. Since election day, he has claimed there is “virtually no inflation,” declared “costs have fallen significantly,” and asserted “living is cheaper under Trump than it was under sleepy Joe Biden.” These statements ignore the reality that prices overall have clearly increased after the previous administration. Currently, price growth is running at a 3 percent per year, which is half again as much than the central bank’s 2% goal. In another falsehood, Trump boasted that gas prices had dropped to nearly $2 a gallon, despite official data indicate they average $3.19.

Confronted by actual conditions and lower approval ratings, some Trump aides apparently warned that his “prices are down” rhetoric made him sound dangerously out of touch from ordinary people. Many citizens are angry about prices continuing to climb after assurances of reductions. In response, advisers proposed a simple solution: roll back some of Trump’s beloved tariffs. This sensible idea contradicted the president’s unrealistic claim that additional taxes would not increase costs for US consumers.

Suggested Solutions and Their Possible Impact

With some tariffs reduced on coffee, beef, tomatoes, and bananas, the administration will likely claim that he has cut prices once those foods begin to fall in price. This would be like an arsonist taking credit 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 assured listeners that “costs are decreasing and all of that stuff.” These comments come naturally for a billionaire to make, but seem insincere to millions of Americans facing hardships—especially when many face losing food stamps or rising insurance costs.

According to a recent poll from October, 74% of Americans think the state of the economy are fair or poor, while only 26% rate 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 Proposed Steps

The treasury secretary, the president’s chief financial officer, lately contradicted assertions of a golden age. He stated that instead of thriving, some parts of the American economy “have contracted.” The manufacturing sector—a priority for the administration—appears to have contracted for eight months in a row and lost approximately tens of thousands of positions this year. Pointing to this weakness, Bessent called on the central bank to cut interest rates—an action that could help affordability.

In response to widespread concern about living costs, the president proposed a cash handout of “a dividend of at least $2,000 a person” not for “the wealthy.” To numerous households in need, it seems like manna from heaven, but it is unlikely that lawmakers—already alarmed about large shortfalls—will approve the proposal. This idea could increase federal spending, push up interest rates, 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 they could reduce monthly mortgage payments. However, the truth is that such lengthy loans have minimal impact to reduce installments—often reducing them by just $100 or $200 each month. The downside is that these loans could more than double the total interest homeowners pay and hinder building home value.

Blaming the Past Government and Financial Prospects

In their affordability campaign, the administration have once more blamed the previous president for economic problems, including increasing costs. Spokespeople claimed they “inherited a disaster from Joe Biden” and were “cleaning up the prior administration’s price hikes.” These are absurd and untruthful allegations. In reality, Biden left a strong economy, with inflation way down, solid expansion, and minimal joblessness. However, the current administration’s actions—especially his tariffs—have created an difficult situation, pushing up prices and reducing economic output.

According to Mark Zandi, lead analyst at Moody’s Analytics, numerous regions are already in recession, with their conditions worsened by the administration’s trade policies. Zandi worries that if key regions like major economies tumble into recession, the US could face a broad economic slump. During recessions, people generally possess reduced funds to spend, and inflation usually declines. Unfortunately, given the highly-touted cost initiative probably ineffective to control costs, his primary method for improving living standards might prove to be triggering an economic contraction—something that struggling Americans really can’t afford.