Trump Officials Paint a Rosy Picture of Affordability. Here’s the Reality

“If you look at affordability, which [Democrats] campaigned on, they lied,” Trump said. The numbers show he and his administration are the ones lying about rising costs

After Democrats won big last Tuesday campaigning on the issue of the affordability crisis, Trump and his administration officials are trying to paint a positive but inaccurate picture of economic indicators.

“I will say this: If you look at affordability, which they campaigned on, they lied,” Trump said on Friday of the Democrats’ electoral wins. “Because they talked about, ‘Oh, prices are up.’ No, no. Prices are down under the Trump administration. And they’re down substantially.”

Meanwhile, Trump administration officials took to the Sunday news shows to spread the message of good economic cheer. But actual economic indicators, such as the 3 percent inflation the U.S. saw in September, point to rising prices, although it wasn’t as bad as the 3.1 percent economists had predicted. When Trump first announced his tariffs in April, inflation was at 2.3 percent. In September alone, consumer prices rose .3 percent, and prices increased for four of the six major grocery store food groups. We won’t know the October numbers until Nov. 13.

Trump’s director of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett, claimed that grocery prices are down, even though the evidence does not support that assertion.

“Grocery prices are down significantly under Trump… People are right to feel stretched but we’re making progress… Inflation is under control and the economy is booming,” Hassett said on CBS’s Face the Nation. “We understand why people are still hurting because we haven’t made up all the room that was lost under Joe Biden.”

Kevin Hasset straight up lies: “Grocery prices are down significantly under Trump… People are right to feel stretched but we’re making progress… Inflation is under control and the economy is booming. We understand why people are still hurting because we haven’t made up all… pic.twitter.com/JIf2H9lSax

— Ron Smith (@Ronxyz00) November 9, 2025

Trump and his officials have also tried to push the idea that the punitive tariffs they imposed on foreign imports are somehow going to enrich Americans. This contradicts the truth, which is that the Trump tariffs are raising consumer prices.

“People that are against Tariffs are FOOLS! … A dividend of at least $2,000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone,” Trump promised in a Truth Social post on Sunday. When ABC’s This Week host George Stephanopoulos asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about Trump’s claim, Bessent was evasive.

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“We are making substantial progress … Over the coming months and next year, prices are going to come down.”

With the economy proving to be a driving force for voters. George Stephanopoulos presses Sec. Bessent on the GOP’s plan to lower prices. https://t.co/fthuOU60x8 pic.twitter.com/tQJwC7FWYg

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) November 9, 2025

“I haven’t spoken to the president about this yet,” he said, adding, “The $2,000 dividend could come in lots of forms and lots of ways.”

Bessent then went on to mention that the administration’s cessation of taxes on tips and overtime could make up that dividend, which is very different from tariffs. Bessent has admitted in the past that Americans are the ones who end up paying for tariffs.

The White House account on X, formerly Twitter, also tried to gaslight Americans into believing grocery prices are more affordable now than under Biden. In a Sunday post, the White House claimed that Thanksgiving dinner is 25 percent cheaper now compared to last year. That is likely based on the cost of Walmart’s promotional Thanksgiving meal basket. But if you compare the goods included in the basket this year compared to last, there are significant differences. This year’s basket only has 15 products, whereas last year’s had 21. This year’s basket also contains more products from Walmart’s Great Value brand, which is cheaper than the name brands in last year’s dinner. But, the retailer says, the 2025 basket will feed 10 people compared to last year’s eight. The bottom line is that it’s not a fair comparison and is therefore an inaccurate measure of grocery affordability. Trump, meanwhile, has dismissed this criticism as “fake news.” But if we look at grocery prices across the board in September, they were approximately 2.7 percent higher than last year and 1.4 percent higher than January 2025, according to CNN.

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The post additionally claims that the “national average of gasoline dropped $3 in the first week of November.” The way it’s worded, it sounds like gas prices decreased by $3 per gallon. In reality, gas prices dropped below $3 per gallon in that time period, according to GasBuddy (AAA’s average for that week, however, was above $3 per gallon). Regardless, gas prices certainly did not drop by $3 per gallon.

Another false claim in the post boasts 2.5 percent inflation in September, which is true if we’re talking about Sept. 2024, when Biden was president.

Trump, though, sounds like he wants to bury his head in the sand rather than hear about the economic reality that is causing many Americans to struggle.

“I don’t want to hear about the affordability,” Trump said Thursday at the White House when a reporter asked about the elections and voters’ affordability concerns.

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But even conservative media are calling Republicans out for their lies.

“Grocery prices are going up. And now Republicans are perversely doing the same thing Democrats did when they were in office with Joe Biden, saying, ‘No, actually, don’t believe your eyes at the grocery store, prices are coming down!’” conservative radio host Erick Erickson said last week. “That’s not helpful to Americans who are feeling higher grocery costs right now, which is actually happening. The Republicans have gotta figure this out.”