When it comes to inflation, affordability and Americans’ concerns about the cost of living, Donald Trump has spent months fighting a losing war. The president keeps lying, and the public keeps getting annoyed.
The White House, however, believes it has one key piece of evidence on its side.
“Go to Walmart and other companies, and in every case it’s about 25%, a Thanksgiving meal and surroundings are 25% lower than it was under the Biden administration,” Trump falsely claimed. “That’s a big fact, and that comes from Walmart and others.”
In reality, the claim is neither big nor a fact, as the president really ought to understand by now.
The truth is simple: Walmart lowered the cost of its Thanksgiving dinner by reducing the number of items included in the package and replacing brand-name products with value products. Consumers will pay less, in other words, because they’ll get less, no thanks to the White House’s misguided agenda.
And yet, the day after Democratic victories in this year’s elections, Trump boasted online, “2025 Thanksgiving dinner under Trump is 25% lower than 2024 Thanksgiving dinner under Biden, according to Walmart. … So the Democrats [sic] ‘affordability’ issue is DEAD! STOP LYING!!!” A couple of days later, after the president repeated the lie at a White House event, a reporter explained reality to him. “I haven’t heard that,” the Republican replied, shortly before condemning the truth as “fake news.” In the days that followed, he continued to peddle the same falsehood. Members of his team, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House National Economic Council, faced similar difficulties reconciling the talking point with the truth. That leading administration officials, including the president, keep trying to mislead the public about one of the issues Americans care about most is obviously indefensible, but I’m also struck by the bigger picture: Pressed on federal efforts to address consumer costs, the White House has exactly one talking point — and it’s not true.
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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