Trump Confronted Over His Bogus ‘Cheaper Thanksgiving’ Claim

President Trump cried “fake news” when he was confronted Friday about his boast that Thanksgiving is cheaper this year.

Trump, 79, was meeting with Hungary’s authoritarian prime minister Viktor Orbán on Friday at the White House to discuss trade and energy when he repeated a claim he’d previously made on Truth Social that the price of a Thanksgiving dinner from Walmart was 25 percent cheaper than last year.

“It was 25% — Walmart just announced its two days ago — 25% cheaper this year, will be cheaper to have Thanksgiving than it was a year ago under sleepy Joe Biden,” he said.

The claim has fallen apart under scrutiny: Walmart’s 2025 $39.33 Thanksgiving package features 22 items, while the chain’s 2024 meal, which cost $56, had 29 items. And some of the recurring items have shrunk: fried onions have gone down from 6oz to 4.5oz.

When Trump invited questions, NBC reporter Julie Tsirkin asked, “Mr. President, since you brought up the Walmart Thanksgiving meal, and it is cheaper, but it also contains less—”

But he interrupted and said, “I haven’t heard that. Who are you with?” When Tsirkin said she was with NBC, Trump cried, “You’re fake news!”

As she tried to get the president to listen to her question, he shouted over her, saying, “What a, what a—NBC’s gone down the tubes along with the rest of them.”

Eventually, Tsirkin was able to get her question out, asking the president, “Why do you think there’s such a disconnect between the economy you’re describing and the way many Americans feel day to day?”

Trump said Americans feel “better” about the country and would feel better if it weren’t for the shutdown, which he blamed on Democrats.

After Republicans were hammered in the Nov. 4 elections, the president denied that “affordability” issues hurt the GOP candidates. On Nov. 5 and Nov. 6, Trump claimed on Truth Social that the 2025 price of a Thanksgiving dinner from Walmart was evidence that Republicans are the party of “affordability.”

The president has been raving for days about the price of Walmart's Thanksgiving bundle. — The president has been raving for days about the price of Walmart’s Thanksgiving bundle. Donald Trump / Truth Social

Trump has reacted angrily to warnings that Republicans lost in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York because of the cost of living. He has claimed “affordability” is a Democratic “con job” and blamed Republicans for not repeating his economic boasts enough.

“I think the biggest problem is Republicans don’t talk about it. They don’t talk about the word ‘affordability,’ and the Democrats lie about it,” he told Fox’s Bret Baier on Wednesday.

Many of Trump’s economic boasts are not backed by data. Despite the president saying grocery prices are down and inflation is “defeated,” food prices rose 3.2 percent between August 2024 and August 2025, according to the USDA, while inflation is at 3 percent, the same as when Joe Biden left office.

The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House and Walmart for comment.

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