Trump Rages About Affordability ‘Con’ as Living Costs Rise

President Donald Trump has blasted Democrats for lying about affordability as he struggles to keep his promise to bring down costs.

A series of recent economic and political indicators has put the Trump administration on the defensive, even as the record-long government shutdown comes to an end.

“Affordability is a lie when used by the Dems. It is a complete CON JOB,” Trump wrote in a post on Friday.

He argued that costs under his administration are tumbling down, but data suggest otherwise.

While inflation has dramatically eased over the past few years since it dramatically peaked under President Joe Biden as the U.S. came out of the pandemic in 2022, the cost of living has continued to go up.

President Donald Trump speaks as he is seated in the Cabinet Room for his meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at White House on November 7, 2025. — President Donald Trump melted down when asked about affordability at the White House on November 7, but it has been a growing issue for the president as prices continue to climb. SAUL LOEB/Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

The most recent data has not been released and may never come out due to the government shutdown, but inflation was up three percent year over year in September while the price of food was up 3.1 percent.

Trump has repeatedly claimed the cost of energy is down, including in his post on Friday, and while Americans are paying somewhat less at the gas pump, energy prices are still up from a year ago. Electricity costs were up more than five percent, and service costs were up more than six percent.

U.S. consumer confidence hit a six-month low, according to the latest survey released this week.

“We are the Party of Affordability!” the president declared in his post on Friday. However, that claim does not appear to be sticking with voters.

Last week, Democrats swept a series of off-year elections while running largely on the issue of affordability and the cost of living, signaling the administration and Republicans’ discussion around the topic have not been landing or believed.

Voters who said the economy was a top concern helped deliver victories for both the Democratic gubernatorial candidates in Virginia and New Jersey as well as the New York mayoral race for Zohran Mamdani in New York.

And while a group of Democrats caved and voted for the GOP bill to end the shutdown this week, millions of Americans are still waiting to see how the president and congressional Republicans in power address the cost of health care as premiums are set to spike with the expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies at the end of the year.

The president and GOP members have not revealed how they plan to prevent costs from skyrocketing while Democrats have demanded the ACA tax credits be extended and will try to force a vote.

At the same time, the president’s widespread tariffs have muddled Trump’s own messaging on lowering prices as the administration has contradicted itself repeatedly over whether tariffs are a tax on American consumers.

Economists have warned for months that Trump’s sweeping tariffs would drive up prices as the cost is passed on to American consumers and it has started to show up in the economic data.

This week, the president claimed in a Fox News interview that the administration was going to “lower some tariffs” in response to the rising price of coffee.

It was an apparent acknowledgement that he knew his trade policies were impacting costs for Americans. The price of coffee is up nearly 20 percent from a year ago.

One week ago, Trump also accused foreign-owned meat packers of driving up the price of beef in the U.S. and called for the Justice Department to investigate.

However, economists have also warned his tariffs were driving up the cost of beef as Brazil is the largest exporter of beef in the world while the U.S. remains a major buyer.

The New York Times reported on Friday that the administration is preparing broad exemptions to some tariffs to help ease food prices.

If implemented, it would be the latest backtrack on one of the president’s main economic policies as the administration faces affordability concerns.

The Daily Beast asked the White House for comment on the report, but Democrats immediately seized on it as an admission.

“After lying for months, Donald Trump has finally admitted that his tariffs are forcing Americans to pay more for groceries and making the affordability crisis worse,” Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden said in a memo. “Even if he lifts his taxes on a few products this week, American consumers, farmers, and small businesses will be paying more for essential goods for as long as he’s in office and Republicans refuse to do their job and end the tariffs.”

Meanwhile, the the White House has continued to argue that it inherited a mess from Biden when Trump took office eleven months ago.

With affordability in mind, they sent out a release on Friday insisting they’ve made progress and touting the GOP tax bill passed over the summer that extended provisions of the 2017 law while throwing in some new ones aimed at working Americans such as allowing them to temporarily deduct overtime and tips.

Trump blasting affordability as a “con job” by Democrats comes more than a week after he said while responding to a Fox News reporter’s question “I don’t want to hear about the affordability.”

The comment echoed across cable news and the internet turning heads even among his base which urged him to do something to address rising costs.

Since then, the president has continued to argue he has done better than former President Joe Biden while repeating false claims about falling prices despite being called out.

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