Trump’s Claims for Thanksgiving

#1. Trump’s ‘Irrefutable’ Thanksgiving Claim Hit With Brutal Fact Check (Daily Beast):

“President Donald Trump boasted the price of a Thanksgiving dinner from Walmart had dropped under his administration. He conveniently leaves out the catch behind the bargain meal . . . ‘Walmart just announced that Prices for a Thanksgiving Dinner is now down 25% since under Sleepy/Crooked Joe Biden, in 2024,’ he wrote. ‘AFFORDABILITY is a Republican Stronghold. Hopefully, Republicans will use this irrefutable fact!’”

Kareem’s BRIEF TAKE: 

The problem with Trump’s math is that Walmart’s Thanksgiving 2025 bundle features 22 items while their 2024 meal had 29 (no pecan pie or sweet potatoes this year). In reality, if this year’s Thanksgiving bundle included all the items from last year, it would be more expensive. Average grocery prices are about 2.7% higher than they were a year ago. For more context on Trump’s false claims, he said the beef was the only grocery item whose price has increased. However, the Consumer Price Index shows dozens of other grocery products are more expensive this year. In addition, “Consumer sentiment dropped to a three-year low and close to the lowest point ever recorded by the University of Michigan one month into the government shutdown, with pessimism over personal finances and anticipated business conditions weighing on Americans.”

(“Consumer sentiment tumbles close to record lows in latest U Michigan survey”) 

FYI: Amidst Trump’s insistence to not fund SNAP, which helps feed about 40 million Americans—he went to SCOTUS so he wouldn’t have to fund it—Trump threw a couple of lavish parties to rub food insecurity and wealth disparity in the country’s face.

First, there was the Gatsby Party (“Trump hosted ‘Great Gatsby’ Halloween party hours before SNAP funding lapsed”).

Second, there’s the opera party (“Trump Throws Decadent Opera and Truffles Rager at Mar-a-Lago”).

While many critics pointed out that this kind of excess is insulting and tone deaf to most Americans, there is another message being sent that is more relevant—and frightening. These parties are advertisements for Trumpism as well as an implied threat to those who don’t join him: “Trump advocates reap the benefits of being in charge. Those who support us will also reap those benefits. Those who defy us will forever be on the outside, dirty faces pressed up against the glass, helpless and hopeless to do anything but whine.” Message received, Donald.