Donald Trump has gone silent on working class cost of living issues
For the past two years, Donald Trump has spread fear about the state of the United States and championed himself as the only man capable of saving the country from itself. Only he could bring down the price of groceries and gas. Only he could fix the broken health care system. Only he could fix the broken immigration system. Only he could end the wars in Ukraine and in the Middle East.
Now that the voters have drunk the Kool-Aid, the jig is up. The grift is over and the prize of the presidency is won. But will the buyers of the golden sneakers have buyer’s remorse? I suspect that for all but the most cult-following MAGA lemmings, the answer to that question is yes.
Despite two years of constant finger-pointing at the Biden administration for rising grocery prices that were actually decreasing during that time, since the election, Trump has gone dead silent on the issue of working class cost of living issues. His only comment on grocery prices was during his interview with Time magazine for his man of the year article in which he admitted that there isn’t much he can do to bring grocery prices back down to the levels of 2019. Economically, the only thing that will do that is a strong recession that no one wants. He has said virtually nothing about the cost of gasoline, in large part because the prices were already falling to four-year lows before the election and have continued to fall since.
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2025/01/12/trump-has-gone-silent-on-working-class-cost-of-living-issues-opinion/77519031007/Open linkView original on lemmy.world
Too bad he can't go silent permanently.
Another Mangione could help
We need to make Mangione'd a new verb.
I saw someone calling it "blue shelling" for when the little guy is able to strike a fatal blow to the guy in 1st place.
The guy in last place still isn't going to get 1st but maybe it'll give the 1st place guy something to think about.
TBH I don't think Mangione did any good, but if Ryan Wesley Routh or Thomas Matthew Crooks had landed their shots then we'd be talking.
He can and he will. He will go away forever one day.
Not soon enough.
Agreed.
And how many people do you think are in line to be the face of the same idealogy? Our society is made by, made for and rewards sociopathy. There is no bright future until we start looking at these issues that start in childhood. Kids are being raised thinking if they bully everyone in their path then they can be the president. How about we start teaching kids that increasing quality of life for future generations so they can flourish and make more advancements is a much better idea than being a massive piece of orange colored shit.
The one saving grace is that Trump's whole thing has been a cult of personality, and nobody else in the MAGA movement has been nearly on his level in that regard. There's a good chance the whole thing falls apart without him.
Agreed. He unites the whackos.
I understand what you are saying, but that's the way it has always been. This is not new.
Thing is, we are now seeing where that approach will always lead. The ideology of "you need to fight everyone else for your piece of the pie, and theirs too if you can get it" has created immense suffering in American society. It has only been like this for the relatively short time that the American ideology has been teaching people this. It can be changed, and in my more optimistic moments I'd see we're seeing early signs of a change even now.
Dude, that's a crazy take to say it's only a recent thing when owning another human being used to be a thing. This country was founded on stealing shit from others who cannot defend themselves.
It's not new. It's something to address, yes. We need to change it, but it's not new.
Sorry, I meant that in the course of human history it's not new, though this attitude has always been present in the relatively young history of the USA. I was trying to be optimistic that it can be changed, even if it's hard to see how right now.
Hey man, people used to sacrifice virgins to the sun god for a better harvest. It was once normal to consider women as less than men. We had separate water fountains, bathrooms, bus seats for different races. Progress is about progressing. It doesn't matter how long people have been stupid, the point is to always improve, not stagnate or reverse.
I agree that stepping backwards is not ideal, but I do believe that there will never be a straight path to utopia. There is going to be some struggle from those who have to give up privilege along the way. Large ships don't turn very quick, but as long as they are headed in the right direction, that's all that matters. Although it may seem we aren't headed in the right direction, in the grand scheme of things, I believe that we have the ability to bear in the correct direction.
There is no utopia because everyone's biological soup is different. Best we can do is utilitarianism and voting in a literal criminal isn't a small step back, that's a taco bell beer shit on progression
There's a bigger picture
There are ways to hurry that along.
They tried a few times already
Im still not certain they tried. I mean, how can you miss such a big target at such a distance?
Here is my well reasoned and thoughtful response:
Duh.
NORM!!!
I downvote your downvoter with this comment
With peace and love: All the comments saying this should reconsider next time. Saying “duh” to oppression normalizes oppression.
The worst most bigoted most bootlicking red-voting person you know is happy chatting about the evil that is H1Bs and how we are annexing Greenland and Panama right now. They need to hear that the person they voted in has dropped his support for helping them through their struggles to feed themselves.
Generally, we are all saying “duh” to the wrong things. All the top comments here are “duh” while no one yada yada’d the Greenland annexation theatrics.
Again I am being blunt so no hate to you specifically, you are just the top comment representing a larger pattern.
The prices have not been decreasing, the rate of increase has been decreasing. But grocery prices were and are still going up. Source: the article you linked.
Everything goes up. That's inflation. It's part of a healthy economy.
You don't want prices to go down. Prices going down is deflation. Money stagnates as businesses and individuals sit on cash because any investment is bound to lose, and stagnating money is devastating to an economy.
You do want prices that were part of a bubble to go back down to sustainable levels, that isn't deflation it's market correction. The bubble created by the pandemic and supply side restrictions isn't natural or part of regular healthy inflation. Excessive inflation is just as bad as stagnant money for an economy, it just looks healthier on the outside until the moment it keels over.
It would be ironic if Trump actually "Made America Great Again" by being the direct cause of his base rising up against him, the billionaire class and the current status quo leading to systemic reform and a more equitable society.
The problem is that they would probably just put in another, stupider, dictator in his place. Worse, someone who actually knew what they were doing desiring to consolidate power.
JD Vance enacting Article 2, Section 4...
That didn't happen last time, despite people hoping for it back then too.
It's a bit of a paradox, but he actually stayed clear of a total crash last time by not doing his job. He used most of his time scamming the system for money by doing everything at his estates, but it's remarkable how little he actually fucked up because he was occupied with those small amount scams. He's not just a bad businessman, he's also incompetent as a scammer.
I expect the following years to be another golf tour for him, and that's probably the best outcome. Again.
People keep expecting Trump's followers to suddenly wake up and realize they've been scammed when they see what he actually does in office. Most of their support for him is based on obvious lies and they have seen how he really behaved as president. Either they know he's been lying and don't care or they have deluded themselves into ignoring reality altogether. Watching him stab them repeatedly in the back in not going to change their opinions. And if he hurts people they don't like badly enough, they will still consider that a win.
Yeah the "told you so" stuff falls on deaf ears. Trump is an internet troll. His supporters have come to embody that. They are content rolling in their own shit. Anyone is welcome to join.
There's no reasoning or out trolling trolls. No going low or going high. You're supposed to ignore trolls. Ultimately they are the lone fool rolling in their own shit. The time to do this was in the 2016 campaign. Should have ignored him and elected an establishment Republican. Donald would be shilling steaks or whatever right now.
Dixon White's future MAGA 2029 videos seem only to be half a joke. For all we know, Queen Elonia just hasn't cracked her egg yet.
I mean, no surprise. All of his policies last time were for the wealthy. But more importantly, all of the things Elan is planning to cut are going to hurt the poor and they didn't say they were going to give any of that money to people, just that they were going to cut the deficit. If running the country like a business, you never cut income, even if you cut expenses. Businesses with monopolies keep the profits from reduced expenses, not pass them on to customers, that would be dumb.
Who would want the government to be run like a business? Businesses exist for profit. Where's the profit gonna come from? The companies and wealthy elite that invested in the campaign? Fat chance.
You want the government to be run like a steady NFP. Not a corporate for-profit business.
He spent his entire campaign saying how expensive things were and his plan to fix is was to raise prices on everything. Not sure what they were expecting.
They'll make it up when the vast majority get those sweet income tax raises.
nah nah, it's ok, they're not in that vast majority, they're sure of it.
If Americans suddenly realize they've been taken for fools, that's why they have their precious 2nd Amendment.
They always bring it up when the issue of gun control comes up for any reason, but they never actually use the 2nd Amendment for what it was original intended, incl. removing dangerous leaders. Trump is the first true, crystal-clear use case.
That must mean most Americans still haven't understood they've been took, or they really dig fascism even at their own expense.
Hey!!! Whoa!!! That's not fair at all!
......you forgot about that guy on the roof in PA who missed by inches.
I did not. In fact, I keep wondering why this guy's memory hasn't been elevated to Luigi status. For some really odd reason I can't fathom, he's been forgotten almost immediately after his attempt.
I guess he'll be remembered when the dark age America is entering finally ends.
Because trump survived.
You remember John Wilks Booth, and Lee Harvey Oswald. But nobody remembers the guy who shot reagan.
Yeah but the weird difference is, the media and people talked about the guy who shot Reagan for weeks. The guy who shot Trump fell into complete oblivion pretty much within hours. I've never seen anything like this.
Aspiring musician John Hinckley? Ya know, he can’t seem to book a venue anywhere for some reason.
Jodie Foster will never forget what John was willing to do for her.
Because he wasn't successful, over half the voting country supported the person he tried to assassinate, and he wasn't trying to make a political statement. The evidence pointed to him just chasing clout and going for the most prominent target he could. He looked up several different rallies as well.
I mean, he failed, is why he's not lionized
So did Stauffenberg. That doesn't make him any less of a hero.
Did we ever learn anything about that guy? It seemed like a huge unsolved mystery.
The media machine didn't wanna stay on that one though, I imagine cause they didn't wanna give people ideas. Another attempt happened a little later but it was even less successful.
Those same ones who cry 2nd amendment are the ones who got taken.
Unfortunately, the ones who told these idiots that they were idiots are also the same people who want to "take away their guns" and aren't generally the type to use the 2nd amendment as it was intended. :/
Lol the point of the second amendment wasn't to fight tyrannical governments. It was to control the slaves and prevent/quell uprisings and runaways. Says it right there in the text. "Security of a free State".
The biggest advocates for the second amendment, namely Madison, were big time slavers and worked for the plantations interests.
People seriously buy the whole spiel that the wealthy elite put a "in case of tyranny, break glass" button at the top of the list? I got a bridge to sell y'all.
It’s almost as if it was a siren call to have the plebs vote for him.
"How could we predict he'd betray us like that?" says people who've spent literal decades watching person in question be incredibly dishonest and slef-serving
Of course he has. He has neither a plan nor a chance to deliver here. All he can do is keeping as quiet as possible about it in hope that his MAGA sponge brains forget this was a thing he promised.
Oh he does have a plan.
He has project 2025, and when that's done, the ruins left that were once the USA will finally realize that trump (or just populist politics in general) maybe wasn't sucks a good idea
Hopefully the Americans will actually notice who ruined them...
Ooh will it be Nancy Pelosi?
There's no high ranking Democrat for them to use for a scapegoat anymore. It's gonna be like the Senate minority leader or Gavin Newsom.
Yeah, he'll just declare it "fixed" in two months.
Of course. Otherwise his crowd would expect him to fix stuff.
And in 1... 2... 3... 'he's hurting the wrong people'
This is what folks don't seem to understand: prices only go back to where they were five or six years ago if there's a recession, and a severe one at that. The Fed is trying to get inflation under control, but even if they're successful, that doesn't mean prices will come down, that only means prices won't go up as quickly. Getting inflation under control means prices go up 2% per year instead of 2.5% or 3%. Trump can't change any of this, and many of the policies he says he plans to implement would likely make it more difficult to get inflation down to the Fed's 2% target.
TLDR, shit ain't getting any less expensive unless there's a pretty bad recession, and Trump can't change that.
Demagogue: a political leader who seeks support by appealing to the desires and prejudices of ordinary people rather than by using rational argument.
I think his plan was deflation or something and I don't think it made any sense
We haven't had a major recession in a while... that could make things cheaper.
is that what would happen?
If things actually get cheaper via deflation, then a recession will definitely happen. The last time we had a major deflationary event in the US was the Great Depression. Disinflation can sometimes be good for the average Joe, but deflation is bad for everyone.
When government controls prices with direct intervention, that’s socialist policy. Isn't that what the talibangelicals claim to hate?
Everyone's a socialist when they're waiting in line at a pharmacy. My point is, they have no idea what these words mean.
Because they aren't bidding the price for priority?
https://www.npr.org/2020/08/25/905895428/republicans-blast-democrats-as-socialists-heres-what-socialism-is
I am well aware of what socialism is. My comment was sarcastic in reference to conservative propaganda that government intervention in anything is socialism while they expect trump to fix whatever economic problem like the price of eggs via government intervention. Y’know. Normal conservative hypocrisy.
Thank you for assuming I don’t know what socialism actually is.
https://www.npr.org/2020/08/25/905895428/republicans-blast-democrats-as-socialists-heres-what-socialism-is
Government regulation being called socialism is the wheelhouse of republicans. They’re the ones who have completely F’d up what socialism actually is. My comment was sarcastically pointing that out.
Overwhelming is a HUGE stretch.
Harris claimed to want to fix the economy for everyone.
Instead they chose a liar over the price of eggs.
Enjoy they leopards.
https://apnews.com/article/harris-economy-taxes-homes-food-prices-insurance-e1ad3f26f2ce8e6cb365a4ffe2ca3e6b
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8xqy0jv24o
https://kamalaharris.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Policy_Book_Economic-Opportunity.pdf
Considering it’s blatantly obvious republicans have weaponized and corrupted the word “socialism” beyond belief the /s isn’t required.
Whatever. The only thing happening here is you seeing what to want to see. Just more projection and accusation on your part accusing me of ignorance while you weaponize your own. Welcome to my blocked list.
Cult is gonna cult.
No shit
MAGAt near me that always had multiple batshit crazy trump flags at his house, and still did, up until his house burned down a few days back. T&P's homie. Karma can be like that.
Truly, this reporting is valid and important. Also, this is so totally predictable that all I can do is sarcastically clutch my pearls.
Awwww..........
What a ridiculous article. Trump's not even in office yet.
And I'm sorry, but groceries have gone up the last 4 years, and idc what any graph tells me, it doesn't matter if I'm still paying the same high amount for groceries. No idea how the data is laid out or what data was included, but reality is what I hand over to buy the food I need to survive. And it's too damn high.
Ya let’s conveniently forget about his first term as if it never happened.
You sure have a short memory.
You know what you get when you shout into an echo chamber?
Yes, usually.
Almost like every president in living memory
No.
He made promises to his tribe. He’s very clear on who he claimed he is working for. He is not in office because he was going to help everyone.
I was referring to the whole "improve the conditions of the working class" messaging that no American president actually follows through with in good faith. Have you really not noticed this?
Yes but slacking off >>> actively working against
Yeah the leaders of the most powerful country in the world are just "slacking off" 💀
Our lives aren't their priority
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