‘It’s hard to bring things down’: Trump isn’t sure if he can bring grocery prices down after all
The Americans who were motivated by the cost of eggs to vote a convicted felon into office will likely be disappointed to learn that Donald Trump is walking back his promises to bring down grocery prices.
The price of groceries was an important topic leading up to the 2024 presidential election, as it should be. Grocery prices are rising so high that millions of Americans are struggling to buy food despite working long hours in industries like retail and food services. Given that inflation has spiked in recent years, many have taken to blaming the Biden administration for high prices. However, that’s not entirely accurate, as economists point out that factors out of the president’s control, like the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine War, are major culprits in inflation. Meanwhile, both Joe Biden and Trump contributed to the pandemic-era economic stimulus that further drove inflation. Regardless of blame, Americans wanted a president who would address grocery costs.
Both Kamala Harris and Trump made campaign promises to cut grocery costs. The main difference between them was that Harris actually had a plan to do so, including combating price gouging and corporate corruption and exploitation. Although Trump promised to lower grocery costs, he actually only proposed a measure that would increase costs by imposing tariffs on goods made outside the U.S. However, since MAGA is inclined to believe everything Trump says, they remained convinced that grocery prices would magically drop when he entered office. Only after his election into office did Trump admit that grocery prices probably won’t go down.
Trump admits lowering prices is “hard”
Days after gloating about how he “won the election” based on groceries, Trump suddenly walked back his repeated promise to lower costs. Trump recently spoke with Time after being named “Person of the Year.” During the interview, he was asked if his presidency would be a failure if he couldn’t fulfill his grocery price promises. Trump replied, “I don’t think so.” He then cast doubt about his ability to lower prices, stating, “Look, they got them up. I’d like to bring them down. It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up. You know, it’s very hard. But I think that they will.”
He then launched into a word salad about the supply chain and stuff “with the cars” as he stumbled through excuses about prices. It’s not the first time he has suggested that prices may not go down after all. In the same Meet the Press interview in which he touted how he “won on groceries,” he admitted that he couldn’t “guarantee” that his tariff plan wouldn’t raise prices. It’s interesting how Trump is suddenly being so modest about his ability to lower prices. Where was this modesty and inability to guarantee lower prices during his campaign? His campaign promise was never that he might lower prices. He stated outright numerous times, “Prices will come down.”
Of course, only MAGA will be surprised by Trump backtracking on his promise. Economists and Democrats have pointed out countless times that tariffs will raise prices and that inflation is far more complicated than Trump was making it out to be. Neither Trump nor Harris could just snap their fingers and make inflation disappear. People were even skeptical about how effective Harris’ plan would be, but at least she had a real idea for trying to help America. On the other hand, Trump has essentially admitted that he simply saw grocery prices as a way to win the election. He could pin high prices on Biden, make grand promises to lower prices, and then claim that Biden messed up the economy too badly for him to actually do anything.
It’s unclear if MAGA will even care about the grocery prices. After all, a lot of the MAGAs who whined the loudest about grocery prices actually had no trouble paying for groceries. However, some Americans will definitely be hit hard by rising prices from tariffs, especially since Trump is threatening to slash aid for the people who are already genuinely struggling to afford groceries.
Have a tip we should know? tips@themarysue.com
