During a White House Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, President Donald Trump addressed concerns over consumer pricing, asserting that his administration has made significant strides in reducing costs. Trump highlighted the decrease in energy and gasoline prices, suggesting that these reductions would eventually lead to a broader decline in expenses. “Our prices now for energy, for gasoline, are really low. Electricity is coming down. And when that comes down, everything comes down,” he remarked, taking the opportunity to criticize his political adversaries for their stance on affordability issues. Trump labeled the notion of an affordability crisis as a “Democrat scam,” claiming it is used to mislead the public into believing prices were better under Democratic leadership.
The president went on to argue that inflation was more severe under his predecessor, Joe Biden, despite some critics contesting his claims. “Some people will correct me, because they always love to correct me, even though I’m right about everything,” Trump quipped, dismissing the idea that affordability is currently a pressing issue. However, his statements are at odds with a recent Daily Mail/J.L. Partners poll, which indicated that rising prices are indeed a primary concern for American voters.
The poll revealed that cost of living and inflation, alongside healthcare expenses and economic growth, are the top three concerns for citizens nationwide. Trump, nonetheless, maintained that his administration has effectively curbed inflation since the previous January. “Since last January we’ve stopped inflation in its tracks,” he stated, while acknowledging that further work remains. Meanwhile, Democrats have capitalized on the affordability narrative, following a series of successful electoral outcomes in November.
New York Mayor-elect and Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani is perhaps the most high-profile liberal who sailed to victory while preaching plans to lower prices. Democratic gubernatorial wins in Virginia and New Jersey the same month also drove home how tackling inflation is a winning message. ‘There’s this fake narrative that the Democrats talk about affordability,’ Trump told his Cabinet. ‘They just say the word. It doesn’t mean anything to anybody. You just say it, affordability.’
‘I inherited the worst inflation in history. There was no affordability. Nobody could afford anything. The prices were massively high,’ the president continued. Trump touted how grocery and gas prices were down year over year. The national average price for a gallon of gas is $2.99, according to AAA. That figure is down slightly from a year ago, when prices were $3.05. The president also highlighted how the cost of a Thanksgiving dinner was down when compared to prices last year.
Mortgage prices may soon also be coming down, Trump hoped, while taking a shot at Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, whom he has threatened to remove. ‘And mortgage rates, despite the fact that we have an incompetent chairman of the Fed, a real dope, we should reduce rates,’ the president said. A replacement for Powell will likely be announced early next year, he added. Later during the Cabinet’s session, Vice President JD Vance clarified some of Trump’s earlier remarks, noting how there is an ‘affordability crisis,’ while, like his boss, placing the blame squarely on Biden.
‘It is absurd that Democrats talk about an affordability crisis that they created,’ Vance began his remarks. ‘If you look at every affordability crisis that’s confronting the American people today, it is traceable directly to a problem caused by Joe Biden and congressional Democrats.’ ‘Mr. President, I think we’ve made incredible progress, but it would be preposterous to fix every problem caused over the last four years in just 10 months. I think we’ve done incredibly good.’
