President-Elect Trump may have promoted a falsehood while campaigning, a comparison between a transcript of an August 2024 rally and his December Time Person of the Year interview reveals.

On August 14th, Trump told the crowd assembled in Asheville, North Carolina that “From the day I take the oath of office, we will rapidly drive prices down and make America affordable again. We’re going to make it affordable again,” and “Prices will come down. You just watch. They’ll come down and they’ll come down fast. Not only with insurance, with everything,” among other pledges to tackle affordability issues affecting American households in the economic policy speech.

However during an interview this month with reporters from Time Magazine, Trump was asked “If the prices of groceries don’t come down, will your presidency be a failure?” to which he responded “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.”

Emphasis added to the part where Trump said “It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up. You know, it’s very hard,” as if to temper expectations of lower prices created by his campaign speech.