President Donald Trump once again doubled down on his claim that the affordability crisis is much ado about nothing.
During a Thursday event at the White House with Central Asian leaders, both Trump and Vice President JD Vance answered questions from reporters — several of which pertained to this week's elections in which Republicans lost by large margins to Democrats who ran on making groceries, fuel and healthcare more affordable.
Trump answered one reporter's question by repeating his debunked claim that Walmart's cost of Thanksgiving staples were down by 25 percent compared to 2024 prices — even though the 2025 list contains six fewer items (several of which are produce items impacted by tariffs). He then specifically harped on Democrats' use of the word "affordability" and criticized former President Joe Biden, whose administration coincided with the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic and the collapse of the global supply chain.
"I don't want to hear about the affordability, because right now we're much less," Trump said. "If you look at energy, we're getting close to $2 a gallon gasoline."
That quote set off a wave of criticism from various journalists, commentators and experts. SiriusXM host Joe Sudbay wrote on Bluesky: "Every winning candidate talked nonstop about affordability cause it's the top concern of voters So of course he doesn't want to hear about it now — but he sure did last year when he promised to solve it on day one."
Critics also seized on Trump's claim that gasoline was $2 a gallon. Bloomberg anchor David Gura observed that the national price for a gallon of gas is currently in excess of $3. Kai Ryssdal, who hosts the public radio program Marketplace, simply wrote "nope" in response to Trump's claim, and posted a chart showing that gas prices were at least $3 per gallon across the country (and roughly $4 per gallon for diesel).
"Getting to $2 would require something like a recession or, you know, pandemic," Bloomberg Opinion columnist Liam Denning wrote. "Trump cites this figure so often he seems to have no idea of how much gasoline actually costs."
"Trump’s lies about gas prices dovetail with his lies about grocery prices," MSNBC columnist Steve Benen observed. "Consumers already know his claims are false through their own life experiences, making the whole pitch oddly self-defeating."
Others noted that Trump's comment was likely going to be used as fodder ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. New York Magazine feature writer Kerry Howley wrote that Trump's "I don't want to hear about the affordability" quote is a "gift" for the anti-Trump opposition.
"This is bad on every level that it can be bad and, man oh man, Congressional GOP ignore this at your own electoral peril," wrote Anne Caprara, who is chief of staff to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D).
Watch the video of Trump's remarks below:
Trump: "I don't want to hear about the affordability, because right now we're much less. If you look at energy, we're getting close to $2 a gallon gasoline."
[image or embed]
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) Nov 6, 2025 at 8:12 PM