President Donald Trump is nothing if not gifted at crafting politically advantageous alternate realities. Through repetition, force of will and shamelessness, he’s satisfied tens of thousands and thousands of Americans of a host of dubious or outright-false claims – most notably that the 2020 election he misplaced was one way or the other “stolen.”
But Trump’s newest effort to rewrite actuality is brazen and puzzling even by his requirements.
As inflation has confirmed cussed, and even ticked up, and as power and grocery costs have continued to rise, Trump has set about trying to persuade those that this isn’t the case in any respect.
He’s argued that the rising prices individuals can see and really feel are literally down. And now he’s trying to make “affordability” his calling card.
Good luck with that.
Polls have made clear Americans not solely overwhelmingly perceive costs are rising, however they strongly hyperlink this to Trump’s insurance policies.
What’s extra, the president has allowed a very troublesome notion to fester: that he’s been asleep on the wheel.
It’s troublesome to see how pretending that inflation doesn’t exist and that his administration has executed an awesome job on this problem is going to change that. If something, it may exacerbate a notion that the administration is divorced from actuality.
Trump has responded to Republicans’ poor 2025 election outcomes by out of the blue keying like a laser on “affordability.” He may not have a lot regard for New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s democratic socialist insurance policies, however he appears blissful to rip a web page out of Mamdani’s political playbook.
“Why did Zohran Mamdani do so well last night? He relentlessly focused on affordability,” high White House political adviser James Blair told Politico on Wednesday.
Trump’s MAGA ally Vivek Ramaswamy, who is operating for Ohio governor, reduce a video on election evening urging Republicans to put aside their give attention to tradition wars in favor of an affordability focus.
Trump has posted on social media and spoken repeatedly about affordability in the previous few days.
“I don’t want to hear about (Democrats winning on affordability), because right now we’re much less,” Trump stated Thursday, including: “We had the worst inflation within the historical past of our nation. Now we now have nearly no inflation in any respect.
“The only problem is the Republicans don’t talk about it, and Republicans should start talking about it and use their heads, because we have great numbers.”
Trump has additionally repeatedly pointed to Walmart’s annual Thanksgiving grocery listing costing below $40 this yr in contrast to about $55 final yr.
The speaking level is a complete non sequitur, as NCS’s Daniel Dale writes. It’s not apples-to-apples as a result of this yr’s listing has fewer gadgets. And it’s clear that grocery costs writ massive are up. In truth, common costs in September were up 1.4% compared to January and up about 3% since final yr, in accordance to a latest Consumer Price Index examine. They additionally simply noticed their largest one-month year-over-year increase (0.6%) in three years this summer season.
But it’s not simply that costs are up; it’s additionally that folks acknowledge that, regardless of Trump’s claims.
A CBS News-YouGov ballot final week confirmed simply 7% of Americans said prices have been going down not too long ago. Another 62% stated they’re going up.
A Washington Post-ABC News ballot, in the meantime, exhibits fewer than 10% of Americans say they’re paying less for groceries and utilities in contrast to a yr in the past. Conversely, 71% stated they’re paying extra for groceries, and 59% stated they’re paying extra for utilities.
And greater than that, individuals draw a direct line from these worth will increase and financial pains to Trump.
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The CBS ballot confirmed Americans stated 64%-11% that Trump’s insurance policies have been making the costs they paid for meals and groceries go up slightly than down.
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The Post-ABC ballot confirmed 59% blamed Trump no less than a “good amount” for rising costs.
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A brand new NCS poll, in the meantime, confirmed 61% of Americans stated Trump’s insurance policies have “worsened economic conditions in the country.” That quantity has risen 10 factors since March. And fairly notably, it’s larger than it ever was with Joe Biden – regardless of the Democratic president affected by even worse inflation issues.
All of which brings us to maybe the one financial quantity that I maintain coming again to on this subject.
CBS has requested repeatedly throughout Trump’s second time period whether or not he was targeted sufficient on reducing costs.
The proportion who stated he’s targeted “not enough” on this has risen from 64% in March to 70% in July to 75% in October.
That’s three-quarters of Americans who haven’t seen Trump doing sufficient on this subject. Even a transparent majority of Republicans – 57% – say Trump has uncared for the difficulty.
These perceptions are baked-in now, largely as a result of Trump has uncared for the difficulty, no less than till he determined to begin saying “affordability” loads in latest days.
If something, he’s given individuals a shorthand to tie him to this persistent inflation. That’s partially as a result of he determined to make tariffs, which are sometimes inflationary, his signature financial coverage. And he determined to implement them unilaterally, making it clear precisely who is accountable for them. He voluntarily took near-complete possession of the economic system, and now he’s trying to faux issues have gone higher than they’ve.
Trump would possibly give you the option to persuade some those that what they see with their very own eyes on the grocery shops or on their electrical payments isn’t actual. Maybe he’ll get some MAGA Republicans to misremember costs being larger a yr in the past.
But when it comes to convincing the remainder of the inhabitants they’re higher off now, it’s actually laborious to see that working.
Trump’s alternate realities usually resonate as a result of Americans stay in data silos the place his claims aren’t fact-checked. That can work properly when it comes to complicated topics like voter fraud.
But costs are issues individuals can fact-check with their very own eyes. They’re info which might be fairly actually in individuals’s faces each day.
And in the end, what Trump dangers is as an alternative convincing those that he’s out of contact with their financial realities.