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Trump making pitch that Thanksgiving meal is cheaper this year; it’s not

Crystal Graham
thanksgiving pecan pie whipped cream food grocery store
(© MSPhotographic – stock.adobe.com)

The president is working overtime to convince Americans that the cost of this year’s Thanksgiving meal will be less expensive than last year.

Spoiler alert: it’s not, but you already knew that.

With less than three weeks before the annual feast, Walmart released its annual meal deal complete with 23 items this holiday season for approximately $40; last year, there were 29 items on the list.

So, if you are willing to trim your shopping list this year, then yes, you could actually save a couple bucks, just don’t buy the pecan pie, whipped cream or marshmallows.

The president is using the meal bundle from the national retailer to make the case that grocery prices are down, despite most consumers, you know, the people who actually shop at grocery stores, saying otherwise.

In a “60 Minutes” interview this weekend, host Norah O’Donnell tried to address growing grocery prices with the president, but Trump insisted that she was “wrong.”

“They went up under Biden,” Trump said. “Right now, they’re going down, other than beef, which we’re working on, which we can solve quickly.”

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) disputes the president’s current assessment of the economy.

“Grocery prices are not way down,” he wrote on social media in response to Trump’s comments at a business conference in Miami this week. “The only way to reverse inflation is to quit spending more money than we bring in, which means we must cut spending. The big beautiful bill increased spending.”


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family budget budgeting cost
(© Daniele Mezzadri – stock.adobe.com)

Massie isn’t the only one who disagrees with the president’s delusional stance that prices have decreased at the supermarket.

Exit polls this week showed that Americans are tired of the president’s rhetoric promising to make America great, while most people continue to feel the pinch of rising housing and food prices.

Trump appealed to many voters in the 2024 election with a promise to bring down costs if he was elected to a second term.

“When I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on day one,” Trump boasted on the campaign trail.

Most Americans believe he has failed to deliver on that promise. Recent polling data shows more than seven in 10 Americans rate current economic conditions in the country as poor. In a survey released Nov. 3, the president’s approval rating has sunk to just 37 percent.

Grocery prices have risen nearly 3 percent with Trump in the White House and some goods, coffee and ground beef as examples, have gone up double digits. Coffee prices have gone up as a direct result of Trump’s tariffs – a third of coffee in the US comes from Brazil.

Once a staunch supporter of Trump, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) has broken with the president and her Republican colleagues on a number of issues, including the economy.

“I go to the grocery store myself. Grocery prices remain high,” Greene told CNN. “Affordability is a problem.”

Greene said her constituents are having a hard time paying for groceries and rent, and many are relying on credit cards to meet their monthly expenses.

Mortgages, car loans, credit cards, student loans and other debt are now at a record high, according to a quarterly report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York released this week.

“I think Tuesday was definitely a referendum on how leaders in this country are leading,” Greene said. “You’re not going to convince them [voters] to go to the polls and vote by bailing out Argentina. And you’re not going to convince them to go to the polls and vote by continuing to fund foreign wars and foreign countries.

“You’re going to get them to go to the polls and vote when you show up to work and actually fix the problems that they face every single day.”

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Crystal Graham

Crystal Graham

Crystal Abbe Graham is a reporter and ad manager for Augusta Free Press. A 1999 graduate of Virginia Tech, she has worked for 25 years as a reporter and editor for several Virginia publications, written a book, and garnered more than a dozen Virginia Press Association awards for writing and graphic design. She was the co-host of "Viewpoints," a weekly TV news show, and co-host of "Virginia Tonight," a nightly TV news show, both broadcast on PBS. Her work on "Virginia Tonight" earned her a national Telly award for excellence in television. You can reach her at [email protected]