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MaddowBlog-On affordability and consumer costs, Trump goes all-in on an alternate reality
When the president tells Americans that prices on “everything” are “coming down,” no one needs a fact-check. They just need a wallet.
Link to tweet
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/on-affordability-and-consumer-costs-trump-goes-all-in-on-an-alternate-reality
A year later, amid rising prices and widespread public discontent over his many economic failures, the president has some choices. He could repeat the line he delivered to Time magazine during his transition and tell the public that it’s “very hard” to lower consumer costs, despite his unrealistic assurances to the contrary. He could also ask for Americans’ patience and argue that conditions will improve in the coming months and years.
But Trump prefers a different course: He’s decided that gaslighting is the way to go.
....This rhetoric dovetailed with Trump’s recent claims that Americans’ concerns about affordability are a “Democrat [sic] hoax,” a “con job by the Democrats” and a “Democrat [sic] scam.”
That the president is the nation’s most prolific liar is nothing new, but there’s a qualitative difference between regular ol’ lying and self-defeating lying. Often, when Trump peddles nonsense, the American mainstream isn’t immediately sure what to believe, and it falls to media fact-checkers to offer the public guidance on what’s true and what’s not.
But when the president tells Americans that prices on “everything” are “coming down,” no one needs a fact-checker; they just need a wallet.
The more the Republican plays make-believe, the more he appears hopelessly out of touch. If he and his team want to know why Trump’s public support has fallen to embarrassing depths, they can start by coming to terms with his failure on affordability. The public knows he’s failing, so brazenly lying about Americans’ own life experiences does more harm than good.
But Trump prefers a different course: He’s decided that gaslighting is the way to go.
Trump: "Prices are all coming down"
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-12-09T17:51:23.322Z
....This rhetoric dovetailed with Trump’s recent claims that Americans’ concerns about affordability are a “Democrat [sic] hoax,” a “con job by the Democrats” and a “Democrat [sic] scam.”
That the president is the nation’s most prolific liar is nothing new, but there’s a qualitative difference between regular ol’ lying and self-defeating lying. Often, when Trump peddles nonsense, the American mainstream isn’t immediately sure what to believe, and it falls to media fact-checkers to offer the public guidance on what’s true and what’s not.
But when the president tells Americans that prices on “everything” are “coming down,” no one needs a fact-checker; they just need a wallet.
The more the Republican plays make-believe, the more he appears hopelessly out of touch. If he and his team want to know why Trump’s public support has fallen to embarrassing depths, they can start by coming to terms with his failure on affordability. The public knows he’s failing, so brazenly lying about Americans’ own life experiences does more harm than good.