During a recent White House Cabinet meeting, President Donald Trump attempted to downplay consumer concerns about rising prices. His remarks highlighted his administration’s efforts to combat inflation, a challenge that has persisted into 2025 despite his initiatives.

Trump began by emphasizing what he described as achievements in reducing prices, particularly in the energy sector. “Our prices now for energy, for gasoline, are really low. Electricity is coming down. And when that comes down, everything comes down,” he asserted. He further criticized the idea of an affordability crisis, labeling it a “hoax” created by Democrats, whom he accused of being responsible for price increases.

However, the president’s statements stand in contrast to economic data showing a 3 percent year-over-year rise in consumer prices. Experts largely attribute this increase to tariffs and other policies implemented by the administration.

Despite these figures, Trump continued to criticize his political adversaries for raising alarms about affordability under his leadership. “The word affordability is a Democrat scam,” he claimed. “They say it, and then they go into the next subject, and everyone thinks, ‘oh, they had lower prices.'” His comments reflect ongoing political tensions as both sides grapple with the economic challenges facing the nation. 

Nonetheless the president skewered his political rivals for decrying an affordability crisis under Trump. 

‘The word affordability is a Democrat scam,’ Trump stated. ‘They say it, and then they go into the next subject, and everyone thinks, “oh, they had lower prices.”‘

‘No, they had the worst inflation in the history of our country,’ the president continued, arguing that inflation was worse under Joe Biden. ‘Now, some people will correct me, because they always love to correct me, even though I’m right about everything, but some people like to correct me and they say, “48 years.”‘

The highest inflation in US history occurred under President Jimmy Carter, with inflation peaking at 14.6 percent in 1980.

His refutation that affordability is an issue stands in stark contrast with the latest Daily Mail/ J.L. Partners poll released last week, which found rising prices were the top concern of American voters.

That survey found that cost of living and inflation, health care costs and economic growth and job creation were the top three worries nationwide.

‘Since last January we’ve stopped inflation in its tracks,’ Trump said. ‘And there is still more to do. There’s always more to do, but we have it down to a very good level.’

Democrats have been seizing on the message of affordability following a slew of successful liberal victories 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.’