President Donald Trump briefly appeared to have learned a lesson after watching his Republican Party soundly beat Democrats on Election Day.
As Trump, he has presented a common concept — affordability — as a unique insight he has discovered that has led to the success of Democratic candidates in New York, New Jersey, Virginia and other states.
But forget all the talk about affordability for now.
Trump’s thin narcissism quickly undermined his momentary revelation that American voters, who re-elected him in 2024 largely because of their concerns about the economy, are still deeply concerned about their living costs right now.
This is Trump’s first problem. And this is compounded by his second problem, which is that he refuses to admit that there is a problem.
Trump, who pretended to have invented the word “affordability,” later dismissed the idea in a dizzying and disingenuous series of conversations with reporters at the White House on Nov. 6 and 7.
“I don’t want to hear about affordability,” Trump said during a Nov. 6 meeting at the White House.
If you didn’t get it, don’t worry. You’ll see the video over and over again of Democratic candidates seeking to unseat Republican incumbents in the 2026 primary. mid-term elections, in campaign ads. Complicating matters for the president and his fellow Republicans is how casually and reflexively he lies about the state of our economy, and how easy it is to fact-check his claims to disprove them.
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Trump says our grocery bills are fake news, just like basic math
President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, DC, 2025. November 7
In that November 6 At the hearing, Trump defended his administration’s attempts to resist a judge’s order to make full payments to 42 million Americans from the federal food assistance program, known as SNAP, during the federal government shutdown.
It is a bad look to fight to keep the needy people hungry.
Trump, being Trump, made matters worse with a lightning-fast stream of dishonest claims.
First, he boasted that Walmart’s pre-assembled Thanksgiving dinner was 25% off this year, echoing a claim he made on social media earlier in the day.
Stovetop stuffing, Butterball turkey and other Thanksgiving staples are part of Walmart’s 2025 plans. A Thanksgiving package that feeds a family of 10 for under $40.
However, social media users were quick to point out that Walmart had reduced the size of the meal from 21 items to 15 items and swapped branded products for Walmart brands.
November 7 the reporter followed up on Trump’s Walmart claim by noting the reduction in meal sizes. He cried “fake news” instead of acknowledging the math or the truth.
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Trump 6 November also claimed that “now we practically do not have inflation”. Anyone who buys anything knows that’s not true. Inflation picked up in September, with consumer prices up 3 percent from the same month in 2024.
A day later, on Nov. 7, Trump claimed that inflation “is down to 2 percent now, and we’re going to be maybe 1 percent.” His own administration is telling a different story, but he can’t hear it.
November 6 Trump went on to claim that “grocery prices are down significantly.” But the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service reported in late September, “All food prices are projected to increase by 3.0 percent in 2025.”
Are you starting to sense a theme here?
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Prices go up, not down. And the president doesn’t want to hear it. And he really doesn’t want you to hear it, even when you’re going through it.
A day after making that claim about groceries, Trump claimed the recent focus on “affordability” was a “scam” by Democrats.
November 6 Trump also claimed that “energy costs are down significantly” and that gasoline is “close to $2 a gallon.”
But that doesn’t reflect the reality at the gas pump. On the same day, the American Automobile Association reported that the national average price for a gallon of gasoline was $3.084, compared to $3.107 last year.
This is a reduction of less than 1 percent. Not my idea of a road down. And almost $2 a gallon.
But here’s how Trump on November 7th. defined gas prices: “Gas is just over $2 right now…We’re a winner on affordability.”
A sane person would refrain from posting We Are The Champions here. But Trump’s ego demands that we all sing the chorus with him.
He’s not fooling anyone with it.
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Trump’s approval rating has hit a new low
A CNN/USSR poll released a day before the election showed Trump’s approval rating at 37%, the lowest of his second term, with 61% saying his policies have made the American economy worse, not better.
An NBC News poll released Nov. 2 found that 63% of Americans think Trump has failed to meet their expectations for how he will handle the economy.
A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released on Election Day found that about 7 in 10 Americans say they are spending more on groceries this year. And 60% of them blame Trump for it.
Trump doesn’t want to hear about affordability anymore. It’s a pity.
The more he complains about it, the more Democrats will weaponize his own words. And his Republican allies in Congress will pay the price in next year’s midterms.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump’s gas price lie proves the only ‘hoax’ is himself | Opinion