Trump Walks Back Promise to Bring Down Prices — After Months of Guaranteeing ‘They’ll Come Down Fast!’

President-elect Donald Trump changed his tune about bringing down prices “quickly,” telling Time Magazine it will be “very hard” but he “thinks” grocery costs will come down.

This week, Trump was named Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” for the second time — an achievement that was accompanied by a lengthy bombshell interview that included scores of newsworthy and otherwise provocative declarations and comments.

In one exchange, Trump was tentative about grocery prices coming down — and like President Joe Biden, blamed much of it on supply chain issues:

Do you have in mind what the first 24 to 48 hours will look like?

I’ll be looking at J6 early on, maybe the first nine minutes. I’ll be looking at oil prices bringing down, you know, coming down very substantially—meaning energy, energy costs coming down. And with energy comes everything else. S

…

We’ve had the inflation. They lost on inflation, they lost on immigration, they lost on—as a part of immigration, I think a very big part is the border, the border itself. You know, if you can self subdivide the word immigration. They lost on the economy. But it was a different kind of—it was the economy as it pertains to groceries and small things that are actually big things for a family.

If the prices of groceries don’t come down, will your presidency be a failure?

I don’t think so. Look, they got them up. I’d like to bring them down. It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up. You know, it’s very hard. But I think that they will. I think that energy is going to bring them down. I think a better supply chain is going to bring them down. You know, the supply chain is still broken. It’s broken. You see it. You go out to the docks and you see all these containers. And I own property in California, in Palos Verdes. They’re very nice. And I passed the docks, and I’ve been doing it for 20 years. I’ve never seen anything like it. You know, for 17 years, I saw containers and, you know, they’d come off and they’d be taken away—big areas, you know, you know, in that area, you know, where they have the big, the big ships coming in—big, the port. And I’d see this for years as I was out there inspecting property and things, because they own a lot in California. And I look down and I see containers that are, that are 12, 13, 14 containers. You wouldn’t believe they can hold each other. It’s like crazy. No, the supply chain is is broken.

The Huffington Post’s Arthur Delaney flagged several instances of Trump bluntly promising he would bring prices down quickly within the past several months:

“Prices will come down,” Trump said during a rally in August. “You just watch: They’ll come down, and they’ll come down fast, not only with insurance, with everything.”

“We will end inflation and make America affordable again, and we’re going to get the prices down, we have to get them down,” Trump said at a rally in September. “It’s too much. Groceries, cars, everything. We’re going to get the prices down.”

“We will cut your taxes and inflation, slash your prices, raise your wages and bring thousands of factories back to America,” Trump said at a Georgia rally in October, reciting a line he used in speeches at several other events.

Trump also specifically promised to get gas prices down: “I will cut your energy prices in half within 12 months.”

But Trump made this promise more recently — and frequently — than that. Here’s Trump less than six weeks ago making this promise 10 times — in a single day:

Reading, Pennsylvania – November 4, 2024

I will end inflation…

We will cut your taxes and inflation, slash your prices…

Raleigh, North Carolina – November 4, 2024

…I will end inflation.

…we’re going to cut your taxes, end inflation, slash your prices…

To rapidly reduce inflation…

Grand Rapids, Michigan – November 4, 2024

I will end inflation very quickly.

We will cut your taxes, end inflation, slash your prices…

To rapidly reduce inflation, I will end Kamala’s war on American energy…

Pittsburgh – November 4, 2024

… going to save America, we will cut your taxes, end inflation, slash your prices…

We got to get the prices down, and we will.

He also told the crowd at last week’s Fox Nation “Patriot Awards” event “We’re going to get your prices down.”

Watch above via Mediaite.