President Donald Trump spent the past week repeating false claims that inflation has been defeated, even as new government data showed consumer prices climbing to their highest level since January.
But data and facts seem to be inconvenient things for Trump which then allows opportunities for California Gov. Gavin Newsom to fact check him with hardcore facts.
On Wednesday, Trump wrote on his social media platform: âJust out: No Inflation!!!â He repeated the message in a Fox News interview two days later: âWe have almost no inflation anymore⊠Iâve already solved inflation. Costs are down.â He also assured listeners: âLook at energy costs. Youâre gonna have $2 gasoline soon.â
Newsom had already seized on the disconnect and refused to let the president sit comfortably in his lies. The governor posted an image lampooning Trumpâs planned UFC-style boxing event on the White House lawn when he asked on Sept. 9: âwhen do the groceries get cheaper.â
Two days earlier, he posted a less than 30-second haunting video clip that destroyed the president’s boasts. The red film covering Trump’s face as he brags and the ominous music were clever additions in case anyone mistoke the creativity as a compliment.
“I won on groceries, very simple word, groceries … we’re gonna bring those prices way down.” Trump seemingly thinks he invented the word, “Like almost you know … who is the …. I started using the word “the groceries,” he rambled.
Newsom’s team included shocking facts across the screen as Trump spoke showing eggs up by 17 percent, chicken up by 15 percent, orange juice up by 9 percent and more. The well-crafted clip went viral with over 600,000 views and 5,000 comments.
Social media seized on Trump’s ability to “effortlessly” lie in the face of truth.
“The fact that this lying sack of shit is President is a rank obscenity. He’s scum – pure scum. History will paint him as the lying, cowardly traitor that he is,” one user wrote on X.
“Lies! the cost of everything is up. Whatever Trump says, the opposite is the truth. The bullshit is easy to see through now. Predictable. What a gasbag idiot,” fumed another frustrated commentor.
“He feels comfortable telling these big whoppers because he knows his MAGAts will never question his lies, and he doesn’t give a fĂŒĂ§k what any of the rest of us think,” another added.
Others on Threads caught onto Trump’s self-applause for inventing a new word, “U know. That new word he made up. âGroceriesâđ€Șđ«Łđ” as another simply added, “Omfg.”
Mogana summed it up nicely, “Pure delusion. Iâm convinced Trump currently lives in another universe.”
Figures released Thursday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics told a very different story from the one playing in Trump’s universe.Â
Consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in August, pushing the annual inflation rate to 2.9 percent â up from 2.7 percent in July and well above the Federal Reserveâs 2 percent target. The increase was the sharpest monthly jump since January.
Once again, the facts didn’t keep Trump from creating a whole other reality. “We are taking in Trillions of dollars from foreign countries. We have no inflation. Prices are down on just about everything. We are going to boom in about a year,” he said boldly during a radio interview that same week.
Grocery costs in particular surged 0.6 percent, the largest rise in nearly three years, with coffee prices spiking 3.6 percent in August alone and now up 20.9 percent compared to last year.
The same report showed unemployment claims at 263,000 for the week ending Sept. 6, the highest in nearly four years. Economists described the numbers as signs of a slowing economy complicated by Trumpâs tariffs and immigration crackdowns.
Critics online went further, dismissing Trumpâs false claims as propaganda.
On one X post, someone wrote: âIt isn’t true. This is his daily dose of MAGA feed bullsh-t. They eat it up like hogs at a trough. That is where he gets his power. A blind army mired in a bog of denial that props up a convicted felon and pedophile. Sad, sad sh-t America.â
For the White House, the disconnect between Trumpâs message and the data is now one of his steepest political liabilities. Inflation ranks as votersâ top economic concern, and with tariffs and deportations driving up costs, economists warn relief is unlikely without a shift in policy.
Polls show the public isnât buying it. A new Yahoo News/YouGov survey gave Trump just 28 percent approval on handling inflation. A CBS News poll found only 36 percent support for his approach to rising costs, with 65 percent of respondents saying his policies have made groceries more expensive. RealClearPoliticsâ tracker puts his average approval on inflation at 38.8 percent, far below his overall approval rating of 45.2 percent.
According to an NBC News poll, 61 percent of Americans say Trump failed them on inflation. Another 59 percent say he failed on trade and tariffs. One critic on X summed it up bluntly:
âWe see how his trade âdealsâ work: sky-high prices & economic pain for us, billions of dollars pocketed by him & his cronies! Weâre all paying the price of Trump-flation.â
