President Donald Trump has failed in his promises to deliver lower grocery costs, MSNBC's Chris Hayes said on Thursday's edition of "All In" — whatever he might say to the contrary.
This comes as Trump, who has put pressure on prices with a series of draconian tariffs, moves forward with a plan to import large amounts of beef from Argentina to try to control prices, which has proven highly controversial among Republican lawmakers representing areas dependent on ranching, which would suffer from the competition.
"If you've been to the grocery store lately and you're wondering why the heck the price of beef is so expensive, you can thank those tariffs on Brazil, at least in part," said Hayes. "Trump's tariffs are not just hurting farmers. They have upped the prices on all kinds of ordinary goods for everyday consumers, even as Trump insists over and over that 'groceries' is his favorite word, possibly one that he invented. And the single issue that won him the election." He played a clip of Trump giving an interview.
"I won on groceries," said Trump in the clip. "It's a very simple word, groceries, like almost, you know who uses the word? I started using the word groceries. When you buy apples, when you buy bacon, when you buy eggs, they were double and triple the price over a short period of time."
"That was back in December 2024, and nearly a year later, the cost of living groceries continues to be the biggest pain point for most Americans," said Hayes. "It's out ofcontrol all across the country.Prices are up nearly 6.5 percent in Florida, Iowa, Montana and theDakotas, up nearly 7 percent in West Virginia, up over 8 percent in Pennsylvania. Again, groceries,that word, that magical word.It's gotten so bad it hasforced — get this — a handful ofRepublicans to actually breakwith Trump on a vote ... The Republican-controlled Senate over the lastfew days voted three times toend Trump's Tariffs on Braziland Canada."
They did this, Hayes theorized, "because they know it's becoming a political liability. Inflation and the cost of living consistently rank as Trump's worst issue in the polls. A new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows him with just 27 percent approval on it. Meanwhile, the chair of the Federal Reserve is clearly worried about the potential for stagflation in the near term."