Trump says bringing down grocery prices is 'very hard' after vowing to cut costs on the campaign trail

[LetMyPeopleVote]

16. When it comes to grocery prices, Trump suddenly changes his tune

Is Donald Trump going to succeed in lowering grocery prices? In successive weeks, the president-elect answered the question in two very different ways.

Trump on Meet the Press: "We're going to bring [grocery] prices way down."

Trump to Time magazine: "I'd like to bring them down. It's hard to bring things down once they're up. You know, it's very hard." www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2024-12-12T16:42:55.679Z

Trump on Meet the Press: "We're going to bring [grocery] prices way down."

Trump to Time magazine: "I'd like to bring them down. It's hard to bring things down once they're up. You know, it's very hard."

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/comes-grocery-prices-trump-suddenly-changes-tune-rcna183958

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......

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.