Maybe if the poor got off their behinds and worked, they would not get poorer as you state. Hand outs don't make people rich it just keeps people in a poor dependent state.
Good Grief...
As a child, my family spent a lot of time above and below the poverty line. Unemployment, Food Stamps, welfare, you name it, that can be the life of a construction worker in Ohio. Some years were ok, others were more difficult. When you are a union trade worker, that is your life. Finding other work requires you turn in your union card.
I vowed to myself that that was not the life for me. Grants and loans put me through school. I guess that you would call that a hand out. But there is more to that story as it is likely that I will have a career that will end without a day of unemployment.
But I understand that there are people that do struggle with work, and sometimes it is because there is no work available.
The government has enjoyed a wonderful return on its investment in the form of the taxes that have been paid.
The problem with a lot of people is that they cannot relate to the challenges faced by others. Trump is one of those. Empathy is not in his vocabulary, nor does it appear to be in yours.
Welcome back, Joe, we missed you!…. That did not age well.
I don't give a crap why anyone voted for this idiot. It doesn't give him the right to be a dictator or king. And it is amazing to me that transgender keeps popping up by Republicans. Transgender issues are such a minimal issue It's amazing they keep bringing it up to his base to distract from all his other crap and it keeps working. He stopped the signing of the largest bi partisan imigration bill in history. He likes to create problems so he can solve them. He is using military force against Americans. That is what dictators do. He is killing the economy and making the poor poorer and rich richer. You don't get the points.
Maybe if the poor got off their behinds and worked, they would not get poorer as you state. Hand outs don't make people rich it just keeps people in a poor dependent state.
Hell of an assumption man. The poor are also made up of elderly folks that can't work. Or the physically impaired, or mentally impaired. But you clearly didn't think of that. You apparently think that anyone that is poor can work like they did when they were much younger and/or healthier..
Three years ago, I had a serious heart problem. Didn't discuss it here. But they told my wife to say goodbye to me, That they didn't think I was going to make it. Well, I made it and now I do a few things to keep my sanity. No, i'm not poor or broke at all.. But I clearly need something to do to stay somewhat sharp. (I'm in my seventies) But before I got better, there was nothing I could do. I couldn't walk 10 feet without stopping to catch my breath. But you think that person with the same ailment I had should be working.
You seem to not be able to think beyond the tip of your nose. You believe what the Right Wing Nut Jobs tell you and you don't seem to question it.
Don't tell me about Christians. I don't want to hear it.
Ok so you want handouts. Got it. I don't understand why you think being a Christian means anything about the government should or should not give handouts. If you want the church to help out, please attend on a Sunday. They cannot help what they do not know about. That does not make sense. There are able bodied people and quite a few of them being a drain on the entire system. Socialism does not work. Never has and never will. It actually destroys every Country that attempts it. I guess being a Christian means to accept destruction and shut up huh?
T
That's the dumbest thing I've ever seen you write. You love putting words in peoples mouths,, How in the hell is it giving handouts to US Citizens,, OUR OWN PEOPLE, to those that can't work.. for whatever reason...
Honestly, to read into what I said and come up with that crap makes you sound really crazy.
WHAT WOULD JESUS DO? Would Jesus help those that need help?
Are there able bodied people our there that can work, I would guess so. But I'm not dumb enough to assume everyone is.
That's what MAGA does all the time with everything. It's always one size fits all...
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe." Damanshot
Might be true , might not. How can anyone believe anything he says? Could have been a fishing boat. You cannot believe anything he says good or bad. that is a problem he created.
Might be true , might not. How can anyone believe anything he says? Could have been a fishing boat. You cannot believe anything he says good or bad. that is a problem he created.
Something tells me this was fully vetted. Especially, if the US Military was involved.
As a bonus, I guarantee a drug trafficker will now think twice before attempting to deliver drugs on open waters.
I don't give a crap why anyone voted for this idiot. It doesn't give him the right to be a dictator or king. And it is amazing to me that transgender keeps popping up by Republicans. Transgender issues are such a minimal issue It's amazing they keep bringing it up to his base to distract from all his other crap and it keeps working. He stopped the signing of the largest bi partisan imigration bill in history. He likes to create problems so he can solve them. He is using military force against Americans. That is what dictators do. He is killing the economy and making the poor poorer and rich richer. You don't get the points.
Maybe if the poor got off their behinds and worked, they would not get poorer as you state. Hand outs don't make people rich it just keeps people in a poor dependent state.
Hell of an assumption man. The poor are also made up of elderly folks that can't work. Or the physically impaired, or mentally impaired. But you clearly didn't think of that. You apparently think that anyone that is poor can work like they did when they were much younger and/or healthier..
Three years ago, I had a serious heart problem. Didn't discuss it here. But they told my wife to say goodbye to me, That they didn't think I was going to make it. Well, I made it and now I do a few things to keep my sanity. No, i'm not poor or broke at all.. But I clearly need something to do to stay somewhat sharp. (I'm in my seventies) But before I got better, there was nothing I could do. I couldn't walk 10 feet without stopping to catch my breath. But you think that person with the same ailment I had should be working.
You seem to not be able to think beyond the tip of your nose. You believe what the Right Wing Nut Jobs tell you and you don't seem to question it.
Don't tell me about Christians. I don't want to hear it.
Ok so you want handouts. Got it. I don't understand why you think being a Christian means anything about the government should or should not give handouts. If you want the church to help out, please attend on a Sunday. They cannot help what they do not know about. That does not make sense. There are able bodied people and quite a few of them being a drain on the entire system. Socialism does not work. Never has and never will. It actually destroys every Country that attempts it. I guess being a Christian means to accept destruction and shut up huh?
T
That's the dumbest thing I've ever seen you write. You love putting words in peoples mouths,, How in the hell is it giving handouts to US Citizens,, OUR OWN PEOPLE, to those that can't work.. for whatever reason...
Honestly, to read into what I said and come up with that crap makes you sound really crazy.
WHAT WOULD JESUS DO? Would Jesus help those that need help?
Are there able bodied people our there that can work, I would guess so. But I'm not dumb enough to assume everyone is.
That's what MAGA does all the time with everything. It's always one size fits all...
I do not want the government deciding who gets to keep what. They should not have that type power. We live in a Capitalist society where the amount you get is determined by how hard and smart you work for it. The government should not take from some to give to others. I am all for helping the poor. There are places like churches and other institutions that can help the poor. Our government should not be involved. I can make better decisions with my money than the government can. Plain and simple.
"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples' money." Margarat Thatcher
I'll pretend to be having a normal conversation with just you - because the other poster you're responding to isn't interested in a legitimate conversation or solution:
The work churches and private charities do is great —they provide not just aid but also community and connection in a way a government never can... and at a local level. We should absolutely support and encourage that.
However, the scale of need is simply too big for any charity(s) to handle alone. Government, for all its flaws, is the only mechanism we have that can operate on the scale needed to ensure no one starves, no elderly person is without medicine, and no child is without food, regardless of where they live or if they've found a helping church. AND - let's not forget that our churches often discriminate against some parts of society. The LGBQT poor and under privilaged also are in need and deserve assistance. We've already seen the other poster marginalize that group - so his "charity" only goes to some that meet his white privalaged ideals.
It's not really an 'either/or' choice. Think of it this way: the government's role is to provide a basic, structural safety net—the floor that prevents anyone from falling into utter destitution. Then, churches and charities can do their best work by stepping in to provide the relational, spiritual, and personalized support that lifts people up even further. It's about both justice through our systems and charity through our communities working together. The idea that it should ALL be loval and church/charity based is simply 100% not viable.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
I donate to one of the largest local food assistance programs both in my area and globally. They are not affiliated with any religion. What I don't support is that you are required to be indoctrinated in order to be fed. I'm not saying all religions tie that into giving people assistance but often times that's the case. I am not willing to spend the time separating the wheat from the chaff in that regard.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
“We will protect the Judeo-Christian principles of our founding,” President Trump said to the White House Religious Liberty Commission at the Museum of the Bible. "We have to bring back religion in America, bring it back stronger than ever before.” - Donald Trump
Trump says he’ll direct Education Department to protect praying in public school
Trump reiterated plans to protect religious freedom in schools, a promise he made throughout the 2024 campaign.
President Donald Trump on Monday said that the Department of Education would soon be instituting new guidelines on the right to prayer in public schools.
Speaking from an event at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, Trump said there are “grave threats to religious liberty in American schools.”
“For most of our country’s history, the Bible was found in every classroom in the nation, yet in many schools today students are instead indoctrinated with anti-religious propaganda and some are punished for their religious beliefs. Very, very strongly punished,” Trump said. “It is ridiculous.”
Trump did not detail what the new guidance will include, but during the 2024 campaign he promised to “bring back prayer” to public schools.
In a statement to POLITICO, Savannah Newhouse, press secretary for the Education Department said, “The Department of Education looks forward to supporting President Trump’s vision to promote religious liberty in our schools across the country.”
While religion is not banned in public schools, the Supreme Court ruled in 1962 that state-sponsored prayer in public schools violates the First Amendment.
During his first term, Trump required local educational agencies to confirm that their policies did not prevent students from expressing their religious beliefs in order to receive federal funding.
He had also issued new guidance clarifying that students are allowed to organize prayer groups, express their religious beliefs in their assignments and can read religious texts or pray during non-instructional periods. The guidance was similar to that of 2003 guidance instituted under former President George W. Bush.
On Monday, Trump vowed to protect Judeo-Christian principles.
“We have to bring back religion in America, bring it back stronger than ever before as our country grows stronger and stronger,” Trump said. “To have a great nation, you have to have religion.”
Why is Trump backtracking on the Hyundai immigration raid? Joel Mathis, The Week US Tue, September 16, 2025 at 1:39 PM EDT
President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration efforts have bumped up against the limits of his “buy American” economic goals. His administration’s detention of hundreds of South Korean Hyundai employees in Georgia now threatens Trump’s attempts to encourage manufacturing investment in the United States — and Trump himself is trying to walk back the damage.
The president is trying to “limit the fallout” of the raid on the new Hyundai plant, said CNBC. Foreign companies investing in the United States should “bring their people of expertise for a period of time to teach and train our people how to make these very unique and complex products,” he said Sunday in a Truth Social post. “We welcome them.” The damage may already be done. While officials say that many of the workers detained in Georgia were working in the country on the wrong types of visas, the raid “could lead to other foreign businesses reassessing their workforces” in the United States, said CNBC.
The incident “provoked national outrage in South Korea,” said Axios, which had been expected to invest billions of dollars “building auto and battery plants,” as well as “restoring the U.S. shipbuilding industry.” Trump’s statement is a concession that America needs outside help to “make many of the goods at the heart of the administration’s push for foreign investment.”
What did the commentators say?
The Hyundai raid was a “massive own goal” by the Trump administration, said The Economist. The state of Georgia wooed the company to “breathe life back into agricultural counties” that were losing young people to cities with more and better jobs. This shift was good for local businesses: More than 20 new companies that sell “materials or component parts” to Hyundai have sprung up within an hour’s drive of the new plant. The raid will not end those efforts, but it could “make other companies more skittish” about investing in the United States.
South Korea “just learned a deep lesson about dealing with Donald Trump,” Allison Morrow said at CNN. Trump had recently met in the Oval Office with South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung to tout the country’s $350 billion in investments in American manufacturing. The raid “landed like a slap” in Seoul’s face, with images of workers “shackled at the wrists, waist and ankles” being loaded onto buses. The lesson? “Any deal you strike with Donald Trump’s government comes with a giant asterisk.”
Attracting foreign investment is one of “favorite economic-development tools” for Republican governors, Ed Kilgore said at New York. “For some, it’s all they know how to do, other than cutting taxes, to create wealth.” The raid was an “embarrassment” to those efforts.
What next?
More than 300 of the workers have returned to South Korea by plane after a week in custody. Only one decided to stay in the United States after being “kept in cramped and unsanitary conditions” during the detention, said Time. Said Jang Young-seol, an engineer who worked for a subcontractor at the plant, “Nobody is going to stay and work when it’s like this.”
All of this could have been handled between the American and S. Korean government to straighten out the confusion on those visas. But that can't happen when you're putting on an anti immigration reality show.
These workers had visas. It just appears they weren't the kind of visas they were supposed to have. That could have easily been straightened out. It's not like they were crossing the Mexican border with a backpack full of drugs. And that's not what was happening either.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Promises, promises……Hiring down, prices up,up,up. Inflation out of control. Tariffs tariffs tariffs. War pigs run amok. Social security income still taxed. Abuse of power. Accusing others on the exact things he does. Govt shutdown looming. We deserve the leaders we choose. Thank you Goper’s. We don’t applaud you. What goes around comes around.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Thomas Jefferson.
Trump Rages At Private Company To Fire Employee In Frothing Friday Night Rant
President Donald Trump raged at Microsoft to “immediately” fire former Deputy Attorney General and current President of Global Affairs Lisa Monaco in a social media rant that referenced the company’s government contracts.
After several posts that included a promise to consider releasing the Amelia Earhart files Friday night, Trump fired off a post strong-arming Microsoft to fire Monaco:
Corrupt and Totally Trump Deranged Lisa Monaco (A purported pawn of Legal Lightweight Andrew Weissmann), was a senior National Security aide under Barack Hussein Obama, and a Lawfare and Weaponization obsessed Deputy Attorney General under Crooked Joe Biden and Lisa’s Puppet “Boss” Attorney General Merrick Garland, who were all the architects of the worst ever Deep State Conspiracies against our Country (RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, the January 6th Hoax, the Illegal Raid on Mar-a-Lago, the Biden “Autopen” Scandal, the Documents Witch Hunt, and more!). Monaco has been shockingly hired as the President of Global Affairs for Microsoft, in a very senior role with access to Highly Sensitive Information. Monaco’s having that kind of access is unacceptable, and cannot be allowed to stand. She is a menace to U.S. National Security, especially given the major contracts that Microsoft has with the United States Government. Because of Monaco’s many wrongful acts, the U.S. Government recently stripped her of all Security Clearances, took away all of her access to National Security Intelligence, and banned her from all Federal Properties. It is my opinion that Microsoft should immediately terminate the employment of Lisa Monaco. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DJT
Monaco was among a raft of former Democratic officials whose security clearances Trump revoked earlier this year.
Conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer was quick to claim credit, writing on Twitter that “After I alerted President Trump to the fact that @Microsoft has hired Lisa Monaco to be their new President of Global Affairs, he has just called on Microsoft to terminate her employment.”
Trump Calls for Microsoft to Fire Former Biden Aide Lisa Monaco
(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump called for Microsoft Corp. to fire Lisa Monaco, the company’s president of global affairs, the latest in a series of moves targeting former government officials he perceives as political opponents.
Trump has long been critical of Monaco, who was US deputy attorney general under former President Joe Biden, accusing her of using that post to push various investigations into his conduct.
He revoked Monaco’s security clearances and access to classified information in March, and cited that decision on Friday to argue that she should be dismissed from Microsoft, claiming her position at the tech giant gave her “access to Highly Sensitive Information” that made her a “menace to U.S. National Security, especially given the major contracts that Microsoft has with the United States Government.”
“It is my opinion that Microsoft should immediately terminate the employment of Lisa Monaco,” Trump added.
Monaco’s position at Microsoft was reported in June. Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump’s call for Monaco’s firing comes just a day after the US Department of Justice indicted former FBI Director James Comey, a dramatic illustration of how the president has moved to seek retribution against government officials he says have wronged him.
Yet another person trump considers a political enemy targeted and all while trump brings up Microsoft's government contracts into the discussion. Blackmail is not attractive. Didn't Republicans used to sat that government should not be interfering in private businesses? Oh that's right. That's when they were Republicans and not trumpians.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Trump White House raises shutdown stakes with mass firings threat
A government shutdown is fast approaching on Oct. 1, and the White House is using the threat of more federal workforce firings to pressure Democrats.
WASHINGTON – The stakes of an impending government shutdown just got much higher.
In a memo sent to federal agencies Sept. 24, President Donald Trump's White House Office of Management and Budget warned of potentially yet another round of mass firings if government funding lapses next week.
"Programs that did not benefit from an infusion of mandatory appropriations will bear the brunt of a shutdown," the notice said.
Days before a shutdown is set to begin after midnight on Oct. 1, the warning from the Trump administration sent a clear message to Democrats: This shutdown won’t be like others.
Previously, federal workers have been temporarily furloughed until lawmakers reached deals to turn the government’s lights back on − with Congress later voting to ensure the employees are paid during their time away. During the most recent 35-day shutdown, back in 2018, about 380,000 workers were furloughed while another 420,000 were on the job without pay (they were guaranteed back pay, though.)
While that may still happen in many cases this time around, the OMB memo underlined Trump's willingness to use a shutdown as an opportunity to slash more government jobs and put pressure on Senate Democrats whose votes are needed to ensure the lights stay on.
Fears of further federal workforce reductions − amid already painful cuts enacted by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency − had Democrats on edge during a moment of brinksmanship earlier this year over government spending. The executive branch has historically had large sway in using its spending powers during a shutdown, which led Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and nine more Democrats to join their GOP colleagues in voting to keep the government open.
“It would be devastation like we have never seen,” Schumer said on “The View” in March. The White House, he argued at the time, “could cut off anything they want simply by saying it’s not essential.”
More than six months later, Democrats feel differently.
After facing intense criticism for working with Republicans last time around, Schumer and many in his party are eager to use what little leverage Democrats have in a GOP-controlled Washington to push for concessions from Trump, particularly around health care.
With Musk pushed out of the administration and DOGE's influence waning, some onlookers predicted in the weeks leading up to the shutdown deadline that the White House would be less eager to terminate more jobs. The federal government is already on track to lose roughly 300,000 workers this year, officials have said. After announcing mass layoffs, many agencies eventually rehired for positions that were initially eliminated.
The OMB memo is nothing more than a scare tactic, Schumer said the day it went out.
“This is an attempt at intimidation," he said in a statement. "This is nothing new and has nothing to do with funding the government. These unnecessary firings will either be overturned in court or the administration will end up hiring the workers back, just like they did as recently as today.”
Trump blamed Democrats when asked in the Oval Office Sept. 25 why the administration would push for layoffs in the event of a shutdown, rather than just furloughs.
“This is all caused by the Democrats,” Trump told reporters. “They asked us to do something that is totally unreasonable. They never change."
The main union for federal workers, the American Federation of Government Employees, urged Republicans and Democrats to come together instead of scaring hardworking Americans.
“Federal employees are not bargaining chips," the union's national president, Everett Kelley, said in a Sept. 25 statement. "They are veterans, caregivers, law enforcement officers, and neighbors who serve their country and fellow Americans every day. They deserve stability and respect, not pink slips and political games."
Are Republicans and Democrats any closer to a deal?
Despite the White House's layoff threats, Democrats aren't yet budging. Republicans don't seem to be, either.
GOP lawmakers and the president want to pass a stopgap measure that funds the government at current levels until just before Thanksgiving. Democrats say that's a nonstarter – unless Republicans help them extend expiring Obamacare subsidies and reverse recent Medicaid cuts.
Republican leaders, worried about rising health care costs for their constituents, have expressed openness to dealing with at least some of those issues, just not when government funding is about to run out.
"I'm happy to have the conversation," Senate Majority Leader John Thune told CNN on Sept. 24. “This is not the time and place to do this."
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters this week that verbal commitments from GOP leaders won't be enough to satisfy Democrats.
"There's no trust that exists between House Democrats and House Republicans given the fact they've consistently tried to undermine bipartisan agreements that they themselves have reached," he said. "Any agreement related to protecting health care has to be ironclad and in legislation."
Trump was scheduled to meet this week with Schumer and Jeffries, but he canceled after deciding their demands were "unserious and ridiculous." Schumer has said Democrats are still open to sitting down with the president to negotiate.
Video from Mike Flood town hall-this is a +13 trump district. I saw a longer video on tik tok that was a lot rougher than this was. You can easily look up the whole 90 minute town hall if you can google. It ended with the crowd in unison chanting "Vote him out"
The GOP and what the have become………….. Guardians of Pedophiles.
So, your saying they are guardians of Democrats?
They shut down a prison for Maxwell to have a private meeting. Tell me trump doesnt know about that. Seriously what is going on that they shut down for the entire prison for a pedophile? Put her in a real prison behind bars where she belongs.
IRS Direct File won’t be available next year. Here’s what that means for taxpayers
WASHINGTON (AP) — IRS Direct File, the electronic system for filing tax returns for free, will not be offered next year, the Trump administration has confirmed.
An email sent Monday from IRS official Cynthia Noe to state comptrollers that participate in the Direct File program said that “IRS Direct File will not be available in Filing Season 2026. No launch date has been set for the future.”
The program developed during Joe Biden’s presidency was credited by users with making tax filing easy, fast and economical. However, it faced criticism from Republican lawmakers, who called it a waste of taxpayer money because free filing programs already exist (though they are difficult to use), and from commercial tax preparation companies, which have made billions from charging people to use their software.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is also the current IRS commissioner, told reporters at the White House on Wednesday that there are “better alternatives” to Direct File. “It wasn’t used very much,” he said. “And we think that the private sector can do a better job.”
The Center for Taxpayer Rights filed a Freedom of Information Act request for IRS’ latest evaluation of the program and the report says 296,531 taxpayers submitted accepted returns for the 2025 tax season through
Direct File was rolled out as a pilot program in 2024 after the IRS was tasked with looking into how to create a “direct file” system as part of the money it received from the Inflation Reduction Act signed into law by Biden in 2022. The Democratic administration spent tens of millions of dollars developing the program.
Last May, the agency under Biden announced that the program would be made permanent.
But the IRS has faced intense blowback to Direct File from private tax preparation companies that have spent millions lobbying Congress. The average American typically spends about $140 preparing returns each year.
The program had been in limbo since the start of the Trump administration as Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency slashed their way through the federal government. But The Associated Press reported in April that the administration planned to eliminate the program, with its future becoming clear after the IRS staff assigned to it were told to stop working on its development for the 2026 tax filing season.
As of Wednesday, the Direct File website states that “Direct File is closed. More information will be available at a later date.”
The Washington Post and NextGov first reported on the email to state comptrollers confirming the program would not be offered next year.
Adam Ruben, a vice president at the liberal-leaning Economic Security Project, said “it’s not surprising” that the program was eliminated.
“Trump’s billionaire friends get favors while honest, hardworking Americans will pay more to file their taxes,” he said.
The rich already pay most of the taxes. How about not being a drain the US economy. Free stuff is not really free.
Duh.
If you earn more, you pay more tax. It's a simple concept, so why is it quoted as some profound "gotcha"? It's exactly how the system is designed to work.
But let's look at what proportion actually means:
The top 1% owns over 30% of the nation's wealth. The bottom 50% combined owns about 2.0-2.5%.
That means the top 1% holds more than ten times the wealth of the entire bottom half of the country.
Now, on taxes:
The top 1% paid 40% of federal income taxes. The bottom 50% paid an effective tax rate of about 4%.
So, while they pay the largest share of the tax bill, their tax burden isn't ten times greater than their share of the wealth— as a % it's not close. This, before we even get into how the wealthy use loans and legal loopholes to shield that wealth from being taxed in the first place.
And let's be clear: when someone earning $12,000 a year pays no income tax, it's not a loophole—it's survival. To frame that as unfairness to the wealthy is to miss the point entirely. "The rich pay the most tax" is a fact, but it's not the whole story. It's the bare minimum you should expect.
Yes - the rich pay more tax... Go Figure.
Last edited by mgh888; 11/11/2504:04 AM.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
President Donald Trump went on a lying spree about inflation last week.
Grocery prices. Gas prices. Prescription drug prices. Overall prices. Over just three days, Trump made false claims about all of them.
Trump was discussing the issue of “affordability” after Democrats won state and local elections Tuesday in part by campaigning on the cost of living. He argued that this theme was “a con job by the Democrats” given how successful he said he has been in lowering prices.
But Trump repeatedly used inaccurate statistics and assertions to make his case that Democrats were dishonest. Here is a fact check.
Prices are up during this Trump presidency
Over and over, Trump claimed overall prices have fallen since he returned to office in late January.
“Every price is down,” he said Thursday. “Everything is way down,” he said at another Thursday event. “Prices are down under the Trump administration, and they’re down substantially,” he said Friday, adding, “Everybody knows that it’s far less expensive under Trump than it was under Sleepy Joe Biden. And the prices are way down.”
None of that is true.
Prices are up during this administration. Average prices were 1.7% higher in September than they were in January, according to the most recent figures from the federal Consumer Price Index, and 3% higher than they were in September 2024. There has been inflation every month of the term, and far more products have gotten costlier than cheaper. Inflation has accelerated to 3%
Trump claimed Friday: “We have almost no inflation. We’re down now to 2%.” He said at the same event: “Inflation is almost nonexistent.”
Those claims are slightly more accurate than Trump’s late-October claims that “we don’t have any inflation” and that “we’re down to 2%, even less than 2%.” But the new claims are still wrong.
Inflation not only very much continues to exist but has been accelerating since the spring. As of September, the year-over-year inflation rate had increased for five consecutive months.
The September rate, 3%, was the same as the rate in January, the month Trump returned to the White House. Inflation of 3% is simply not inflation of 2%. (Core inflation, which omits volatile food and energy prices, was also 3% in September.) And this “2%” claim wasn’t a one-time slip by Trump; he claimed in late October, “We’re down to 2%, even less than 2%.”
Grocery prices have increased, not decreased
Trump claimed on both Wednesday and Thursday that “groceries are way down.” But grocery prices are actually up. Average grocery prices rose 1.4% between January and September, Consumer Price Index figures show, and they rose 2.7% between September 2024 and September 2025. The 0.6% increase in average grocery prices from July 2025 to August 2025, meanwhile, was the biggest month-to-month spike in three years – and it was followed by a 0.3% increase from August to September.
It isn’t just beef. Dozens of grocery products have gotten more expensive
Trump has repeatedly claimed that beef is the only grocery product whose price has increased this term. “Groceries are way down, other than beef,” he claimed Wednesday. “We have much lower prices than (Democrats) do, and we only have one thing, beef,” he claimed Thursday.
This is also false. The prices of dozens of individual grocery products increased from January to September. A smattering of products got less expensive over that period, most notably eggs, but a far greater number of products got more expensive; you can see a list here. Prices increased from January to September in five of the six overarching groups of grocery prices tracked by the Consumer Price Index.
Prescription drug prices can’t come down ‘1,200%’
Trump continued to use mathematically impossible figures when making claims about how much he is supposedly reducing prescription drug prices. “We’re bringing drug prices down to levels nobody ever thought was possible, tremendous cuts, 200%, 300%, 500%, 700%,” he claimed Thursday, adding later, “now we’re cutting it 1,000%, 1,200%.”
Trump has had some success in pushing drug companies to cut the prices of some medications; he made these comments at an event announcing reductions in the prices of certain blockbuster obesity drugs. But far more medications have not had their prices slashed – and regardless, Trump’s professed reductions in excess of 100% make no sense even if he is talking about a small number of specific drugs. A price reduction of 100% would make a drug cost $0, so a reduction of 200% or more would mean Americans would be getting paid a substantial amount of money to acquire medications. That is not happening.
Gas prices aren’t the lowest in two decades and aren’t close to $2 per gallon
Trump has been making false claims about gas prices for months. He claimed Wednesday: “Gasoline prices have plummeted to the lowest in two decades.” That was not even close to true given that the national average on Wednesday was $3.08, according to data provided by AAA – higher than it was on various days under Biden in January of this year, as well as during 2020 and early 2021 (amid the Covid-19 pandemic) and during much of the 2000s and 2010s. “Plummeted” is also a stretch given that the AAA national average was $3.12 per gallon on the day Trump returned to office in January and $3.10 per gallon one year before Wednesday, both just barely higher than Wednesday’s $3.08 per gallon.
It’s possible Trump was attempting to refer to the federal Energy Information Administration’s estimate in September that drivers will this year spend “the smallest share of their disposable income on gasoline since 2005.” But that’s an estimate, not a certainty, and it’s simply not the same thing as Trump said about gas prices alone; “there’s a big difference between ‘lowest gas prices in 20 years’ and ‘least amount of your paycheck going to fill your tank in 20 years,’” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, noted to CNN. It’s not necessarily your paycheck, either. The federal estimate is based on overall disposable income in the economy, so some Americans have less than the estimate while others have more.
Trump also made other false claims about gas prices last week. On Thursday, Trump claimed, “We’re at almost $2 for gasoline.” On Friday, he claimed, “We’re a little bit above $2 right now for gasoline.” Even granting Trump some wiggle room for the words “almost” and “a little bit,” there is no reasonable argument that a national average above $3 per gallon is “almost $2” or “a little bit above $2.” (De Haan said GasBuddy found one gas station, out of the tens of thousands of stations the company tracks, that sold gas for under $2 per gallon last week – and even that station only did so for a single day.)
Biden-era inflation was high, but Trump didn’t inherit the worst ever
Trump, echoing a claim he has made for months, said Wednesday that Biden “had the highest inflation rate in the history of our country.” Trump said Friday: “We took over a mess. The highest inflation in recorded history.”
It wasn’t the highest in history, as CNN and others have noted in numerous articles. Trump could have fairly said the inflation rate hit a 40-year high under Biden in June 2022, when it was 9.1%, but that was not close to the all-time record of 23.7%, set in 1920 – and Trump didn’t mention that it had declined to 3% by Biden’s last partial month in office in January, the same as the most recent Trump-era figure for September.
Trump’s claim was also incorrect if he meant the Biden presidency set a record for cumulative inflation over the course of a presidential term; the Biden-era increase was much smaller than the increase during President Jimmy Carter’s term.
Oil and gas prices are down, but not household energy prices
Trump claimed Friday: “Energy prices are way down from what they were last year.”
But the Consumer Price Index shows that household energy prices are up substantially over the last year – 6.2% higher in September 2025 than they were in September 2024.
It’s possible Trump was not meaning to refer to household energy. A review of his recent comments suggests he often uses “energy” to describe either gas prices at the pumps, which have fallen a little over the past year, or oil prices on world markets, which have fallen more substantially.
So we won’t label this Trump claim false given that he could have been talking about the price of a barrel of oil. But when he doesn’t define the term “energy,” and speaks about it while discussing consumer prices, he leaves his assertion open to a possible misinterpretation.
It wasn’t the highest in history, as CNN and others have noted in numerous articles. Trump could have fairly said the inflation rate hit a 40-year high under Biden in June 2022, when it was 9.1%, but that was not close to the all-time record of 23.7%, set in 1920 – and Trump didn’t mention that it had declined to 3% by Biden’s last partial month in office in January, the same as the most recent Trump-era figure for September.
Trump’s claim was also incorrect if he meant the Biden presidency set a record for cumulative inflation over the course of a presidential term; the Biden-era increase was much smaller than the increase during President Jimmy Carter’s term.
Oil and gas prices are down, but not household energy prices
Trump claimed Friday: “Energy prices are way down from what they were last year.”
But the Consumer Price Index shows that household energy prices are up substantially over the last year – 6.2% higher in September 2025 than they were in September 2024.
It’s possible Trump was not meaning to refer to household energy. A review of his recent comments suggests he often uses “energy” to describe either gas prices at the pumps, which have fallen a little over the past year, or oil prices on world markets, which have fallen more substantially.
So we won’t label this Trump claim false given that he could have been talking about the price of a barrel of oil. But when he doesn’t define the term “energy,” and speaks about it while discussing consumer prices, he leaves his assertion open to a possible misinterpretation.
I know people will yell about inflation under Biden. Of course that was during a global pandemic when every industrialized nation on the planet had similar and often a higher inflation rate than we did. Yes Biden brought inflation back down after the pandemic.
The only disease being fought now that is creating inflation is the economic pandemic of trump's own making. Biden didn't create Covid. Trump created a trade war. And we're all paying the bill for it with import taxes. He gave people a tax break in one hand then took it away from you with import taxes in the other hand. Basic slight of hand con game.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Why pay taxes just for the rich to give it all to the rich? MAGA?
There is zero reason to trust this admin for a damn thing but financial pain. Taxation without representation, that’s what his bs tariffs are. He’s all but pulled the rug on the social safety-net and allowed the wealthy to feed at the trough of greed without repercussions. Prices keep soaring, life is becoming nothing but survival mode for millions. And all indications are, it’s going to get much worse. Thanks MAGA.
