From Newsgroup: alt.atheism

Trump picks the wrong time to lie to the public about grocery prices

On Tuesday morning, the Trump administration acknowledged a spike in
grocery prices. On Tuesday afternoon, Trump played make-believe anyway.
Jan. 14, 2026, 12:00 PM EST
By
Steve Benen

Those hoping to see American consumers catch a break received another round
of discouraging news this week, specifically related to grocery prices.
Axios reported:

Grocery prices (or ôfood at home,ö as the Bureau of Labor Statistics
calls it) rose by 0.7% in December, the largest monthly gain since the peak inflation period in August 2022. Food inflation was evident at restaurants, too: Costs for dining out (or ôfood away from homeö) rose by a similar
amount, the largest monthly gain in three years. [à]

Grocery prices were up roughly 2.4% in December compared to the prior year. But that masks double-digit price increases for a slew of household staples over the past 12 months, including coffee (+20%), beef (+16%) and candy (+10%).

With these numbers having been released by his own administration on
Wednesday morning, Donald Trump had little choice but to acknowledge
reality a few hours later during his speech in Detroit about the economy.

No, IÆm just kidding. The president lied again anyway.

ôGrocery prices are starting to go rapidly down,ö the Republican president boasted, the same day his own administration told the public that grocery prices are now rising faster than at any time since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic.

About a month after Election Day, Trump offered a candid assessment of why
he won a second term ù and it had nothing to do with immigration, crime, transgender Americans or even the economy in general.

ôI won on groceries,ö he said on NBCÆs ôMeet the Press,ö adding: ôI won an election based on that.ö Looking ahead, the Republican went on to vow that
he and his incoming team would bring food prices ôway down.ö


More than a year later, the president keeps pretending he has successfully delivered on that promise ù reality be damned.

And while TrumpÆs dishonesty is obviously one of his defining traits, this specific deception remains one of his most self-defeating lies.

American consumers go to grocery stores all the time, and they know that prices havenÆt gone ôway down.ö Trump canÆt simply wave his hand and Jedi mind-trick the public into being happy about rising costs.

Common sense might suggest that any political leader in this situation
would have the good sense either to avoid the subject or to express some degree of sympathy for angry consumers. But Trump, reluctant to acknowledge his long list of failures, has instead decided to tell grocery-buying Americans not to believe their lying eyes ù or wallets.
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