posted December 13, 2024 09:49 AM            

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-walks-back-vow-grocery-prices-1235202052/

This is my shocked face. No, really, I’m stunned that he was lying the whole time.

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The idea was that grocery prices are high because of President Joe Biden, and the only way to bring them down was for Americans to send Trump back to the White House. Trump had been pressing this point repeatedly down the stretch of the campaign.

“Prices will come down,” Trump said in August. “You just watch: They’ll come down, and they’ll come down fast, not only with insurance, with everything.” He added in September: “Vote Trump, and your incomes will soar. Your net worth will skyrocket. Your energy costs and grocery prices will come tumbling down.”

“I won on groceries,” he said. “It’s a very simple word. Who uses the word? I started using the word. The groceries. When you buy apples, when you buy bacon, when you buy eggs. They were double and triple the price over a short period of time. I won the election based on that. We’re going to bring those prices down.”

One problem here is that the foundation of Trump’s economic plan for the United States is imposing sweeping, staggering tariffs on goods imported from key trade partners with which he may or may not have an ax to grind. Economists have long insisted this will result in prices going up, not down, as retailers pass the burden of these tariffs on to their customers. Trump seemed to acknowledge this possibility in the very same Meet the Press interview.