President Donald Trump once again denied that Americans are suffering under the weight of prices for everyday goods as he faced questions from reporters during a meeting with Hungarian President Viktor Orban.
He complained about not receiving credit for lowering egg prices, which had spiked due to a bird flu epidemic, saying that reporters started “screaming” at him over eggs just two days into his second term. (When he told the same story earlier this week, the incident occurred three days into the term.)
“The only problem is the fake news, you people don’t want to report it,” Trump said of his perceived successes.
Eggs, specifically, have gone down in price. But other foods — including meats — along with energy and other daily necessities remain high.
“The reason I don’t want to talk about affordability is because everybody knows that it’s far less expensive under Trump than it is under Sleepy Joe Biden,” Trump claimed.
Trump cited a Walmart statistic on the cost of a Thanksgiving dinner — down from last year — but neglected to acknowledge that the estimate includes fewer items of food and omits brand names.
He eventually called in White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt to answer the question, saying that “it was asked in such a fake, disgusting manner by the fake news.”
Questions about the cost of living are, of course, perfectly legitimate. Voters who overwhelmingly backed Democrats on Election Day earlier this week cited the economy as one of their main concerns.
Leavitt said that Trump inherited a rough economy from former President Joe Biden. (Biden, in turn, had pinned the cost-of-living crisis in large part on unchecked corporate greed.)
However, Trump appeared annoyed at having to field multiple questions on the topic in the first place. He attacked an NBC News reporter for working for a “fake news” outlet and refused to take a question from her later on.
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He appears to be struggling with messaging on an economy whose outlook has only gotten bleaker as the government shutdown stretches into unprecedented territory.