Trump backtracks on campaign pledge to bring down grocery prices
Trump backtracks on campaign pledge to bring down grocery prices
The president-elect walked back what was always a wildly unrealistic campaign promise.
Summary
Trump admitted it will be difficult to lower consumer prices, despite campaign promises to reduce grocery, energy, and overall inflation costs.
Trump told Time that achieving price reductions is rare without major economic downturns.
During the campaign, Trump blamed rising costs on Democratic leadership and proposed tariffs as a solution, but economists warn tariffs could raise prices further.
Inflation, a key voter concern, played a significant role in Trump’s election victory, though he has yet to outline a clear plan to deliver on his economic pledges.
Oh wow who could have fucking predicted
my prediction is that they'll eventually just start saying "we DID lower prices. for everything" even though every graph will show that the prices have perpetually gone up. for everything. and all the complete fucking moron troompa loompa voters will 100% believe that prices have gone down
The graphs will indeed show that prices dropped, but that part will be in Sharpie ink.
"The price to buy a Banana has fallen from 3 Dogecoin to 1 Dogecoin. Who cares if it went up in dollars?"
Gotta love living in 1984: The Reality Show.
For sure this is going to happen; the only thing they took away from this election was that they can say whatever they want and push back on any kind of fact checking and they’ll just get rewarded for it.
The absolute crazy thing is the energy prices. He said he'd cut energy prices in HALF within 12 months. Then he said it again. And again. He like quadrupled down on this and people actually bought it. This dude legitimately promised that all energy prices would be fucking halved in 12 months. I will eat my entire piece of shit car if that happens lol
The only thing shocking here is that he's openly admitting he won't keep his promises.
Has he ever truly faced consequences for what he says or does?
Yes. He was celebrated for it!
Not yet.
Nobody knew health care could be so complicated
— President Trump (February 27, 2017)
I mean if nobody got the message he wasn't going to anything. Being direct this time isn't going to help. Literally didn't even fucking LOCK HER UP like he said he would. Don't even get me started on his tax return, still waiting on that, likely will happen on infrastructure week.
Anything that guy says is just utter shit.
Speaking of his tax returns...
He can now decree to the irs to stop the perpetual audit on his tax returns so he can release them to the eager and deserving american public ... right?
Same with the medical records of his grievous ear injury ...
Wait...does that mean he...does intend to fix prices then?
Is this Opposite Day?
I mean...is this not Opposite Day?
I'm so confused!
I've repeated this before, but here's the truth:
They did not vote for him for the "economy". Or for "America First". Or for "Farmers", "unions", etc.
They voted for him for racism and bigotry against the LGBTQ+ community. That's the only campaign promise they're 100% sure he's going to follow through on. Attacking immigrants and making their life a living hell.
Any other reason they gave is a dog whistle for their support of his absolutely transparent bigotry on display every moment his mouth is open.
We need to stop assuming his voters actually care about the same things we do, or even the things they publicly say. They care about him upholding their racist and bigoted views.
That's it.
For some, I would agree. But I'd also say that's an insane over generalisation and these kind of comments are the same shit. People with no serious education on a topic, spewing 'stats' and making sweeping statements.
I mean I heard someone say yesterday that gas was under a dollar when Trump was President and he was going to bring the price back down to that. Had no concept of why gas prices plummeted for a second there.
People forget how prices have gone. And you can show anything you want with gas because it is manipulated. Gas prices right now are lower than what they were in 2008. And inflation has risen by 46.5% from 2008-2024.
Gas price listings for people curious:
https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/leafhandler.ashx?f=m&n=pet&s=emm_epm0_pte_nus_dpg
So before Obama became president gas was on the rise, went to 3.30 when he got sworn in and stopped inflating at ~4.12 that July. When he left office in February 2017, at $2.44 a gallon.
So inflation from 2009 to 2017 should have been 14.3%. And gas went down about 26% under Obama.
Now either that means Republicans love Obama, or gas prices didn't matter to them as much as they say
They do care about bigotry, for sure. But I wholeheartedly reject the notion that they don't care about the economy. The majority of America has suffered catastrophic financial losses over the last 4 years. The democratic platform did not honestly do a very convincing job of showing that they can or will remedy that. And they see everything from a reactionary right wing news source that lies to them.
The proof is in the past week. It's in the bipartisan celebration of the public execution of a mass murderer. Seriously, the conservative right is floundering trying to condemn the slaying while their whole base celebrates it openly. Working class conservatives still suffer medical debt, they still suffer cost of living increases, they still suffer from wage theft and pay stagnation. The way to appeal to those people wasn't to reach out to Republicans it was to reach out to them directly. It was to come forward with a radical plan to change the ways society sucks for all working class people.
The bigotry is unacceptable. I'm a trans woman, I agree. I'm an anarchist. I'm about as opposite politically as I could be from far right reactionary conservatives. The way to actually garner mass appeal among the working class is to actually do things that appeal to the working class. Establishment democrats categorically failed to do that, time and again. This recent health insurance dialog clearly shows that people want change. But instead of advocating for change, the establishment advocated for itself. Instead of combating transphobic and xenophobic narratives they just said the token progressive things expected of them. Why didn't Harris come out and say that focus on trans people and illegal immigrants is meant to draw attention away from the billionaires and capitalists who are profiting off of mass worker exploitation? She couldn't do that. She is as beholden to those billionaires and capitalists as MAGA is.
Like it's time to acknowledge that most transphobic members of the working class don't even understand what trans people are. They are outraged solely because the right wing propaganda tells them to be. The way forward isn't ostracization and more partisanship, but actual dialog focusing on the things that affect them and us negatively. It's far easier to demonstrate to them that they've been fed propaganda about trans people, when we can show them things they already know are true (like health insurance is bullshit) and then point out the propaganda they're being fed on that. We have common enemies. Class unity should be our goal. Not to appeal to Republican pundits and politicians and law makers, but to appeal to the well-being of all working class people. To be actually progressive, to be the actual left and to push for real radical positive change.
I wholeheartedly reject the notion that they don’t care about the economy.
To add more proof to this, according to the Pew Research Center, the economy made up a massive swath of the top issue for voters in this last election.
I get what you're going for, but there are plenty of people that did vote for him for the economy and the like. There are plenty I'm sure that voted because of anti-lgbt issues without a doubt. But casting this blanket statement of "they all" like every single trump voter went to the polls and said "Gee I'd love healthcare, but those gays are a real problem" is dangerous rhetoric. This "us vs them" mentality is what makes things so difficult and divisive in the first place.
You're not going to win people over to your point of view if you lump every single person who doesn't already agree with you under the "racist bigot" umbrella.
Is there hate in their ranks? Sure. Do I think everyone who put trump on their vote card hates LGBT people and anyone not matching their race? No.
I get being upset but they won the election. And if we sit here going "We don't want you anyway bigot!" They're gonna win again. It's just not a healthy mentality to have in a dialogue.
Edit: also not really what the article was about. People did vote for him cause he said he'd lower prices and fix the economy, and he is failing to do that. This is an opportunity to point out his lies and welcome people to a different viewpoint, not slam the door in their face.
I know urban people who voted for Trump. They don't care about white supremacy, Palestine, or even Trump himself. They want lower grocery bills, lower interest on their credit cards, no taxes on overtime, and not be forced to pay child support. These are actual answers I got from work.
Simplistic representation of a complex situation leading to a simple "solution" that doesn't actually fix anything but perpetuates or intensifies current issues? Now you too know what it's like to be a United States Republican!
They voted for him because they associated Kamela and Biden with "The Woke!", that's it.
That and just poor reporting from the Media, the Centerists never saw that Center-Outreach nor any of Biden's accomplishments... I didn't even know Kamela ate dinner with the Cheneys on a hunting trip as part of the "Look how center we are!" till after the Green Lantern himself John Stewart poiinting it out while reminding everyone that Kamela was never woke.
They just saw "BIDEN'S LETTING EM IN THROUGH THE BORDER, oh and Trump uhh.... prefers white chocolate I guess?"
The Media treated Trump with kid gloves and ignored anything positive Biden did.
Now I'm seeing the Media try to say "Luigi Bad, Trans Bad, CEOs Good!"
Fuck them, Trump was right, they are the enemy of the people. Not because they refused to kiss Trump's ass, but because they're the best player on his team.
I don’t disagree in many cases, but I think there is a lot of ignorance and low-information voting involved too.
The two go hand in hand though.
Have you seen the absolute ruins of our public education system, defunded over and over to cut sociopath's taxes for half a century?
This isnt just "these people are awful" these people were made by unchained capitalists.
They act like tribal animals fearing and hating the other because educating someone is the same as civilizing someone.
We don't do that here for most. Our public ed has become little more than laborer daycare.
We can barely even manage it being laborer daycare, since our defunded public schools can't pay shit, choosing to become a teacher in public ed is choosing a life of scraping by and trying to educate classrooms of 30+ children by yourself, of being punished for trying to help society for a living.
Meanwhile, those with enough time not working to complain on behalf of their children are given charter escape hatches that the owners profit off of despite claiming charters are "non-profit" through for profit, publicly traded charter management corporations, and even charters tend to have a conservative "helping society bad" bias in their curriculum. You should hear some of the shit my local "Challenger schools" advertises, students being interviewed saying they learned they should seek friends who can help themselves today. Yikes.
Then the owner's children are educated, at private schools, where they are taught that owners don't empathize or concern themselves with the plight of the livestock.
Never wonder why the citizens of prosocial nation's impression of average Americans is that we are complete ignoramuses. It's not an accident. It's intended. A bone dead stupid laborer is a compliant, easily manipulated laborer.
I don't think the majority of Walmart Americans vote based on race and gender stuff at all. They literally couldn't care less about those things. Lemmy and reddit do not reflect reality
I think this is right for many of his supporters, but never attribute to malice what can be explained by pure idiocy
He's saying this because his administration will absolutely approve the Kroger Albertsons merger
https://www.npr.org/2024/12/10/nx-s1-5114999/kroger-albertsons-merger-ftc-lawsuit-court-ruling
Yes, that's what the article I linked says.
Kroger and Albertsons saw their $24.6 billion merger blocked on Tuesday by judges in two separate cases, one brought by federal regulators and the other by the Washington state attorney general.
However that's likely temporary until the Trump administration is in. It'll probably be passed within the first year. Kroger and Albertsons just need to settle their current suit and re apply to the Trump administration.
Because if monopolies are known for anything, it's reducing prices to benefit the consumer. /s
Inflation soared above 9% in 2022 as a result of supply chain problems related to the coronavirus pandemic and strong consumer demand that had been buttressed by stimulus checks and other relief policies both Trump and President Joe Biden championed.
Jesus Christ we're still blaming stimulus checks for inflation. Most people couldn't pay more than a months rent at most with the stimulus they received and yet we're supposed to believe that was a huge factor driving prices up? Saying stupid shit like this is exactly as bad as Trump's ridiculous tariff proposals but because it's not a Republican saying it we're just supposed to accept it as gospel. Eat my ass HuffPo
we're still blaming stimulus checks for inflation.
Most western countries had inflation as high or higher than the US and did not provide stimulus checks. Gee, I wonder what the common denominator could be...? Certainly not a worldwide pandemic!
Canada gave way more, inflation is under 2% now
Almost like giving more to the people who spend it on the economy, helps the economy. Who knew?
More people spending money can cause inflation if you have the same amount of goods.
How many months of rent is irrelevant because that's not disposable income. If the stimulus didn't meaningfully increase your disposable income dieting the pandemic you're too rich to discuss it
Here's the thing though, no it's not hard to reduce the price of all of that, you just need to nationalize the industry for essential products. No more investors to please, no need to make billions in profit, prices can be reduced.
bUT, frEe MaRkeT brINg DOwn pRiCe!
Or start assassinating the ceos of Ralph's and Albertsons on the side walk and see if that helps, just a suggestion
What does it say that for a good 30 seconds I thought, "maybe it is the way to go, -could it hurt?" Is this reality now?!
You said it's not hard, but that's gonna be really hard.
Quebec did it with electricity, passed a law to purchase all stocks at a set price on a specific date, got a loan from the USA, 3 years later it had been refunded using the profit it realized by nationalizing the industry... It was a 50 years loan if I'm not mistaken.
Hey humans, stop being greedy! ... no? Nothing?
Oh man. I wish I could see the faces being eaten.
They're all currently in denial and even when prices increase further due to the tariffs they'll just blame it on the previous administration.
Trust me, I've been trying to explain this to these people for a long time. Had a talk with one of them where I told them about this interview and their exact response was to blame Biden.
Yeah, you’re absolutely right. They never accept responsibility for their choices, they just blame others when they fail and try to claim other’s successes as their own.
But surely a few realize their fuckup before they manufacture fault and rage to aim at others.
No kidding, he just lied his ass off like he always does and the dickless MAGAT drones just slurped that jizz right up without ever stopping to think about how insanely fucking stupid the promis was to begin with...
Given how us dickless folks voted maybe that's not the insult to use for those brainless jackasses
🤣
I don't think we need a headline or a news story to know this .... nothing he says means anything. The next four years is just going to be a never ending parade of bad faith, anger and anxiety.
Everyone iny social circle and at work convinced themselves that he would fix things immediately. I can't tell you how many times I heard "as soon as Trump gets in the economy will get better" or "he'll fix it". He's a liar. A big reason we're here is he didn't get called out enough for being a liar.
I'm pretty sure the only thing he's interested in is revenge and he doesn't care who gets hurt on his path to achieving it.
If people understood the very first thing about economics it would be glaringly obvious that his proposed tariffs would drastically raise grocery prices, and the prices of many other things. Unfortunately, people don't understand, and the media carefully avoids explaining it to them.
Revenge and being shielded from prosecution. And he'll get everything he wanted, courtesy of American voters (and especially non-voters).
Oh my gosh! Oh my! Trustworthy Trump?! He lied... For political gain?
I'm sure the people who voted for him would be very upset right now if they could read.
I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.
Promises Made, Promises Kept*!
<p></p>* = Promises will not be kept
Promise *bullshit = new Promise; delete bullshit;
To the surprise of literally no one with more than three brain cells
🧐 🐆 🐆 🐆 🐆
Trump: "I won on groceries. Very simple word, groceries. Like almost, you know, who uses the word. I started using the word. The groceries. When you buy apples, when you buy bacon, when you buy eggs, they would double and triple the price over a short period of time."
We need a Trump poster that quotes him saying,
"The Groceries."
You need to watch the video of him at this non-chain grocery store and how confused/impressed he is at everything. And then the owner starts talking to him about it and Trump zones out completely and almost turns away from the guy he's so bored and only there for the PR. The guy has never shopped for himself, and is so out of touch with everyday people. He has lived in a bubble of influencers, con men, and fixers for his whole life, and has no idea how anything around him actually works.
Trump lied? Wow, what kind of precedent is there for that?
People are surprised by this?
God this country is so full of idiots.
It thinks it's time we do our own Vandalism campaign similar to their stupid Biden I did that stickers. It clearly worked despite it being braindead.
A lot of people yelling that he's not backtracking, that he's just saying it's hard. Did we not pay attention in 2016? "It's easy, we'll fix it in a day, I'll do it faster than any other president". Then it didn't happen. Then it was hard, then it was in the works, then it was a concept, then it never came. We're just going to have tons of repeats of the same old crap. I'm just waiting for the "who thought ending a war was difficult" quote to drop for Ukraine. (If it doesn't just get handed over on a silver platter on day one)
Trump: hey! I got an idea that could lower those prices and fix our borders...we will bring enough migrants in to be able to plant, care for and harvest our food crops which are not easily automated! In return the migrants may eventually become residents or citizens. We'll have the best migrants only by asking them questions before bringing them in such as...do you work hard or are you hardly working and happy to see me? It will be the best question ever asked of any one. And to the bad Compadres, we will tell them "you're fired" ha ha ha! It will be the best. Best carrots and apples and oranges we have ever tasted...we will also have water desalination plants to water all the crops. And we will donate our surplus to countries like Ukraine who may need support for a while.
Just play along.... If that fuck does even 1% of this we should be so Lucky.
It's not "the economy stupid"
This is what he said:
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.
That's nothing. This article is based on nothing.
I mean, he's the president elect. If you look at the following sentences he thinks energy and supply chain will fix the problem.
The issue is neither of those is going to come down enough to lower prices, and even more poignant is that he is not proposing any plan or strategy to enable those to fix pricing.
Inflation and grocery prices aren't new issues and if he doesn't have a plan now he isn't going to come up with one (lest we be reminded how his Healthcare plans have evolved over 8+ years).
That motherfucker really does say a lot to always say so little. That's a nonsensical statement
Bombastic.
You're probably the only other person who read the article. He didn't backtrack; just that it would be difficult. Which is obvious. Another Huffpost W.
Lemmy really isn't any different than Reddit.
Shocker...
But of course, Mon ami. Surely the ravings of one such as l'orange simply could not be believed?
Does this mean he's backing down on tariffs? Jesus, one of the only things he actually campaigned on...
trump is a liar... This explains pretty much everything.. None of his plans would work though if the electorate were educated...
I wonder what people will do about that.
Nothing? Or cheer?
Haha just wait until he tanks the economy and all these prices stay high.
Oooooh.. what.. a surprise. Well. Too late now..
Shocker.
Is that an AI generated hand holding an umbrella?
This is super clickbait. What's Trump's actual quote?
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.
That doesn't scream "backtracks on promise to me". Actually, if anything, he's saying that he'd still like to do it and he thinks they will. I mean, the other thing is he hasn't even taken over, so we can't really say he's failed at anything. Look, I don't like the guy very much either, but let's save our outrage when he's actually fucked up. Headlines like this is when some lazy editor just needs to crank a story out there.
If I asked someone if they like ice cream and they say "I'd like to get it. It's hard not to have it, but I think I will", the headline shouldn't be "LOCAL MAN HATES ICE CREAM". Fuck off lazy journalists and wake me up when something actually happens.
"Guys, the iceberg wasn't even that big. I'm as skeptical of the Titanic's engineers as the next guy, but right now, my side of the ship is farther out of the water than it's ever been. Wake me up when the ship ACTUALLY starts sinking."