“We just lost an election, they said, based on affordability. It’s a con job by the Democrats,” President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday, two days after Republicans lost key races.
He said Democrats lie, that his side had “done great on affordability,” and that “our groceries are way down. Everything is way down, and the press doesn’t report it.” He accused the press of reporting “whatever the con people say.”
What the numbers show
The claim sits awkwardly with exit polls. A CBS News poll found that voters most worried about the economy backed Democrats Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger in Virginia, and Spanberger won that group by more than 20 points. An Associated Press poll found 6 in 10 voters thought their finances were “holding steady,” but most said they were not “getting ahead,” and about a quarter said they were “falling behind.”
Truthout, which reported the remarks, put grocery prices up 2.7 percent since about this time in 2024, with beef, eggs, juice and bread among the items that have risen.
The SNAP fight
Trump spoke as the federal shutdown approached its 40th day. Funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, ran out on November 1. Truthout reported that the administration declined to use an existing contingency fund, that a federal judge ordered the program to resume, and that the administration then said it would pay half the usual benefits.
On Thursday, District Judge John McConnell ruled that the White House must pay full benefits, using the contingency money and funds from other programs. He said the administration had chosen to underfund the program for “political reasons.” “This should never happen in America,” he wrote.
The administration appealed right away to the First Circuit and asked for a stay of his order.
Crystal FitzSimons, president of the Food Research & Action Center, said the group was “outraged.” In her words, “at a time when food insecurity is rising due to increasing grocery prices,” the appeal sends the message that the well-being of vulnerable Americans is not important. She said it also adds “another layer of confusion and chaos” for recipients and for the states running the program.
