Donald Trump seems to think that cuts to food assistance means cheaper and more abundant food for everyone.
“You campaigned on lowering the price of groceries. How can you justify cutting food assistance in this [budget] bill?” a reporter asked the president on Capitol Hill Monday after he emerged from a meeting with House Republicans.
The president’s response didn’t make any sense.
“Let me just tell you, the cut is going to give everybody much more food because prices are coming way down. Groceries are down,” Trump said, adding, “You know that eggs now? Way down. Everybody’s buying eggs. Grocery’s down. Energy’s down. Gasoline? They’re now buying—they’re buying gasoline now for $1.99.”
Reporter: How can you justify cutting food assistance?
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 20, 2025
Trump: The cut is going to give everybody much more food because prices are coming down.. pic.twitter.com/63sEsQdx3M
First of all, gasoline is not selling for that price anywhere in the U.S., except possibly wholesale markets. And cuts to the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, commonly referred to as food stamps, would not lower food prices. As the head of a Nevada food bank told NBC last month, “These reductions don’t just affect people facing hunger—they also hurt the retailers, farmers, and businesses that supply fresh, local food to our region.”
The president’s answer seems to miss the point of the question, which was calling into question Trump’s campaign promise of lowering food prices, in contrast to Republican plans to cut food aid and shift the cost to the states. The Republican budget would threaten benefits for close to 42 million low-income Americans, and would have little effect on overall food supply or prices, which the president would know if he understood basic economics.
But, Trump’s mismanagement of the economy, as seen in his nonsensical, flip-flopping tariff policies, demonstrate that he doesn’t know what he’s doing. His decisions are already causing food prices to go up, and retailers like Walmart are complaining. Trump and his allies are responding to their concerns with threats, and no recognition that they’re responsible for the problems.