There’s no shortage of possible explanations for why Donald Trump won a second term, but during the president-elect’s latest appearance on “Meet the Press,” the Republican shared his own theory.
After briefly commenting on border concerns, Trump told NBC News’ Kristen Welker, “I won on groceries. Very simple word, groceries. Like almost — you know, who uses the word? I started using the word — the groceries … I won an election based on that.”
Though his on-camera comments made it sound as if Trump were taking credit for use of the word, which was bizarre, his political analysis isn’t necessarily wrong: The prices consumers pay at grocery stores likely contributed to the GOP ticket’s success.
But the president-elect concluded his thought by saying, “We’re going to bring those prices way down.”
That was the message the public heard on Sunday, when the “Meet the Press” interview aired. Four days later, Time magazine published the transcript of its latest interview Trump, which included a rather pointed question: “If the prices of groceries don’t come down, will your presidency be a failure?” The president-elect replied:
I don’t think so. 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.
For context, it’s important to emphasize that the interview was conducted on Nov. 25. In other words, shortly before Thanksgiving, Trump told Time that it’d be “very hard” to lower grocery prices, and he wasn’t sure whether he’d be able to achieve that goal. The following week, the Republican sat down with Welker and publicly committed to bringing grocery prices “way down.”
In the same interview, Trump added that he “can’t guarantee” that his trade tariffs won’t actually raise prices.
If you voted for the GOP ticket because you believed Trump when he vowed that consumer prices would “come down fast,” I have some bad news for you: His position is burdened by incoherence. Complicating matters, Trump’s difficulties with the subject aren’t altogether new. In mid-October, the Republican participated in an event in Pennsylvania where a local voter asked how the candidate intended to address grocery prices. He offered a lengthy, rambling response — which mentioned Hannibal Lecter for reasons unknown — that never actually answered the question. Soon after, Trump decided that he and the audience should, instead of discussing campaign issues, simply listen to music for roughly 39 minutes. In other words, before Election Day, the Republican struggled to talk about his plans for grocery prices, and that hasn’t changed in the election’s wake.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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