President Donald Trump's confused reaction to the term "corner store" drew withering mockery and scrutiny from MS NOW's Katy Tur on Friday, who pulled it into a broader discussion of how Trump has lost his ability to look relatable to the common man.
"Donald Trump's had a remarkable ability in 2016 of making people believe he was like them," said Tur. "Ignore the private 747, the Fifth Avenue tower, the golf courses, the limousines, and all that gold. Donald Trump is just like us, they'd say. He gets us. He talks like us. He eats like us. He thinks like us. He's us if we were rich, and he's out there fighting for us, it worked so well. He has been coasting off that perception for more than a decade now, even making some truly hardscrabble working class politicians look like mealy-mouthed robots programmed with poll-tested talking points."
"But is that veneer of relatability breaking?" she continued. "First, it was the word 'groceries,' which he very strangely kept calling old-fashioned. Then affordability was a 'made-up' term, and now he doesn't know what a 'corner store' is." She played the clip of Trump speaking about it at his "No Tax on Tips" event on Thursday.
"The great Big, Beautiful Bill also slashed taxes on millions of Americans," said Trump in the clip. "Small businesses, including restaurants, dry cleaners, corner stores. What is the corner store? I've never heard that term. I know what a corner store is, but I've never heard it described as a corner store. Who the hell wrote that? Please?"
"There is a corner store or bodega on almost every block in this city," said Tur. "Sometimes at both ends. They've been here forever. How does Donald Trump not know it? Could he possibly be that insulated, that out of touch? I guess it could be something else. A loss of memory, perhaps."
"Regardless, it is another example of this administration filled with the very, very, very, very, very rich not getting what regular people are going through," said Tur. "Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins appeared to tell Americans not to worry about the rising costs of groceries, that they can eat a healthy, well-balanced meal for $3. HHS Secretary RFK Jr. urged people to buy liver or cheaper cuts of meat in response to surging beef prices. And remember when Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent addressed the housing crisis in this country and referred to mom and pop retirees buying five, ten or even 12 homes like it was somehow normal?"
"Super authentic for them, yes, but super relatable?" Tur added.