Trump bizarrely calls groceries ‘old fashioned’ when confronted over high costs: ‘We’ve got prices way down’

The president is now seizing on the use of certain vocabulary to explain the Republican Party’s major losses on Election night.

After Republicans suffered major losses in Tuesday night’s general elections up and down the ballot, President Donald Trump is now seizing on the use of certain vocabulary related to the economy to try to turn the tables.

When asked about the election results, in which Democrats dominated his party, Trump appeared to suggest Republicans performed poorly because they didn’t talk enough about one word: affordability.

“They have this new word called affordability, and [Republicans] don’t talk about it enough. The Democrats did, and the Democrats make it up because we took over a mess,” Trump told Fox News the day after the election.

The issue of affordability was a major driver for Democrats, particularly in New York City, where now Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani ran on a platform to tax the rich to lower the costs of groceries, child care, and housing.

But affordability wasn’t the only word Trump opined over to describe his party’s defeat. When presented with a question about the high price of groceries from a North Carolina woman who voted for him three times, Trump said, “I think of groceries. You know, it’s an old-fashioned word, but it’s a beautiful word.”

Trump, who promised to lower prices on “day one” during the 2024 presidential campaign, went on to falsely claim that grocery and energy prices have decreased.

“We’ve got prices way down…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 said.

According to a CBS News analysis of food price data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the cost of all food is about 18.2% higher than it was in January 2022. Overall inflation has also climbed in recent months.

Trump’s economic tariffs on foreign exports have been largely blamed for the instability in the U.S. market, which has resulted in higher prices on goods and led to businesses laying off employees.

The tariffs and tax policies have especially harmed Black households and threatened the sustainability of Black-owned businesses, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

“Taken together, this agenda hurts low- and moderate-income people, families, and communities of all races and Black people, families, and communities especially,” said a report from the Center. “The Trump Administration’s extreme tariff scheme will cost jobs, raise the price of many goods, and create an uncertain environment.”