New York Post, February 1, 2026

Affordability fact check: Trump can’t hide from higher prices

by James Bovard

“Just after one year of President Trump, our economy is booming. Incomes are rising. Investment is soaring. Inflation has been defeated.”

That verdict was proclaimed by the highest authority in the land — President Trump himself, notifying an Iowa audience Tuesday about the transcendent blessings of his reign. It is unclear whether the 47th president believes referring to himself in the third person mesmerizes listeners as much as himself.

During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump continually promised to make life more “affordable” for Americans battered by Bidenflation. But in Iowa, Trump scoffed that Democrats “come up with this word ‘affordability.’” “First time you heard about it was like a few months ago,” he said. “You’re not hearing it so much anymore . . . because the prices are coming down so much.”

Yet on Nov. 29, Trump proclaimed on Truth Social: “I AM THE AFFORDABILITY PRESIDENT.” Six weeks later, he sneered in Detroit that affordability is a “fake word by Democrats.”

For Donald Trump, the affordability issue conveniently appears and vanishes like the Cheshire Cat in “Alice in Wonderland.”

Iowa rally attendees dutifully held up signs made by the Trump campaign team proclaiming: “Lower prices.” Gasoline prices have fallen sharply since a year ago, but after you fill up your tank, life often feels Bidenesque.

Trump promised Aug. 14, 2024, “We will be slashing energy and electricity prices by half within 12 months, at a maximum 18 months.” Natural-gas prices rose 56% last year. Energy costs in general have risen almost 6% since Trump took office. Millions of consumers will get walloped in the coming weeks with their highest-ever heating bills thanks to the ongoing Arctic surge across much of the nation.

In that same 2024 campaign speech, Trump promised, “Prices will come down . . . fast, not only with insurance, with everything.” Auto-insurance prices have jumped 12% since 2024, and homeowner’s insurance rates have jumped 9%. Health-insurance premiums are forecast to jump 18% this year, thanks in part to changes to the Affordable Care Act subsidies.

Trump asserted in Iowa that grocery prices have “come down very fast.” But that’s only true if people eat nothing but eggs, whose prices were sky-high due primarily to the avian-flu outbreak.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed victory over inflation based on a DoorDash “Breakfast Basics Index” report showing a 14% decline in the “cost of three eggs, a glass of milk, a bagel and an avocado.” Damn few Trump supporters get DoorDash avocado deliveries for breakfast. DoorDash’s deal is no solace for people pummeled by the 30%+ increase in coffee prices and the 18% hike in orange prices since Trump took office. Overall, food prices rose almost 3% last year — faster than the overall inflation rate and more than 20% faster than they rose in Biden’s final year.

Trump’s benevolence rises above the laws of mathematics. “I got the biggest price reduction in history on drugs, pharmaceuticals,” the president boasted in Iowa. “You could say it’s a 1,000% reduction.” Trump has yet to explain how a price can fall more than 100%. But that conundrum is null and void since the drug prices continue to rise.

In Iowa, Trump bragged about his high tariffs like they were holy water he splashed across the nation. But tariffs are costing Iowa importers (including farmers) almost $100 million a month, a 304% increase since Trump took office. An AgAmerica report notes, “Tariffs have raised costs of some fertilizers by $100 per ton. Steel and parts tariffs make tractors, combines, and repair parts more expensive.” Trump’s tariff decrees clobbered farm exports, resulting in America having the largest agricultural trade deficit in history last year. Iowa farmers’ crop receipts were down sharply last year, and farm bankruptcies shot skyward.

Almost 70% of Americans believe Trump’s tariffs have already boosted the prices they’re paying. When Amazon considered explicitly showing US tariffs levied on their imported products, Trump personally phoned owner Jeff Bezos to complain. Press Secretary Leavitt denounced the “hostile and political act by Amazon,” and the company caved. Team Trump can run but not hide from the impact of his unpopular “beautiful” tariffs.

There was minimal change in real disposable personal income per capita between November 2024 and November 2025 ($52,324 vs. $52,557). But those Federal Reserve income statistics omit tariffs’ impact, which could leave most Americans worse off. Yale Budget Lab estimates Trump’s tariffs cost average households $1,800 a year.

Trump prattles about his successes as if he deserves a Nobel Prize for Economic Triumphs just like he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. But consumer confidence this month plunged to the lowest level since 2014, per a Conference Board survey. More than half of voters say Trump has “made life less affordable” for them and their families, and only 34% approve of his handling of “the cost of living.”

Does Trump believe he can dictate how Americans think about the economy? Making people feel like fools or ingrates for not feeling prosperous is a political suicide mission. Presidential bluster cannot overturn the tens of millions of daily “fact checks” in Americans’ lives. Dubious DoorDash data points won’t save Trump from a Bidenesque crash-and-burn.

James Bovard is the author of 11 books, including “Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty.”