Donald J. Trump, like many politicians, made promises on the campaign trail. We know to ignore the absurd ones like, end the war in Gaza in the first 24 hours. It has taken over 6,360 hours to get a ceasefire, with an end to the conflict still yet to come.
Other promises we take more seriously. The ones his supporters really relied on were lowering grocery prices, lowering gas prices, lowering inflation, more jobs, and a better economy for all (not just the wealthy). Let’s see how he did.
• Continued inflation: Despite Trump's campaign promises to lower prices, food costs have continued to rise. The overall cost of food-at-home was up 2.7% year-over-year in August 2025.
• Specific price hikes: Certain imported items, which are subject to Trump's tariffs, have seen some of the largest increases.
o Coffee: Prices for coffee have surged, with one recent report showing a 20.9% increase over the past year.
o Beef and orange juice: Both are more than 10% more expensive than a year ago.
• Tariff impact: Economic analysts attribute some of the recent upward pressure on grocery prices to the tariffs implemented by the Trump administration.
• Consumer sentiment: Recent polls indicate that a majority of Americans find groceries harder to afford, a sentiment that has remained strong despite claims by the administration that inflation has been defeated.
• Gas prices: Gasoline prices today are $3.10 gal. While the president claimed in April that prices were $1.98 gal., a nationwide search found that not one state had prices anywhere close to that wild claim. Last October of 2024 the average cost of gas was $3.1367. So, Trump can now claim that, after nine months in office, he has trimmed fuel prices by around three cents. To put this in perspective, a car driving the 2,875 miles from Washington D.C. to San Francisco, that got 20mpg, would save $4.31. Let’s break out the champagne but know that bottle will now cost you more due to the tariffs and the price increase will wipe out that fuel savings.
• Unemployment: The U.S. unemployment rate was 4.1% in October 2024. This year, the last numbers were done in August and were at 4.3%. Federal worker firings will have a ripple effect and won’t show up in the statistics in the private sector for a while.
• Automobile prices: While imported cars will see the most significant increases with the tariffs, domestic products will also see a ten to fifteen percent increase. This will also increase the cost of ownership with higher financing, insurance premiums, and sales tax.
• Home prices: The tariffs have also meant higher construction costs for new homes. The National Association of Home Builders predicts an increase of $10,900 per home.
• American economy: The greatest overall effect of tariffs has been to sucker punch a healthy economy. With higher consumer prices, increased costs for businesses, reduced competitiveness, economic uncertainty, lower productivity, job displacement, and supply chain disruption, the current economy and its outlook are rather bleak. While we entered 2025 with an economy gathering steam, the future holds uncertainty. Business investments don’t like uncertainty.
• Farmers: The Trump tariffs have hit U.S. farmers hard. They have cut access to foreign markets while driving up the costs of farming operations. The quick loss of the Chinese market alone has caused crop prices to collapse which created a surplus that farmers now have to scramble for storage space. Fertilizer prices have gone up $100 a ton. Immigration crackdowns have cut available work forces by up to 40% and efforts by the Dept. of Labor to find American replacements for these low wage jobs has failed. Increased costs and crop losses will force higher grocery prices and farmers will not survive without a government bailout.
This snapshot just hits some of the high notes of the current Trump presidency. I won’t assign a grade here but, if you read the above and think he qualifies for a passing grade, perhaps you should scroll back to the top to see what you missed. PBS conducted a poll at the end of April assessing Trump’s first 100 days and he got an F from 45% of respondents, a D from 7%, and a C from 8%.
On the bright side, we haven’t seen tanks in the streets. Please don’t show him any video of Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989 where the Chinese government put down a pro-democracy protest. He might want to try it here.
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