Donald Trump spent years publishing assorted messages to the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, but he literally never wrote a tweet that included the word “affordability.”....

The day after Democratic election victories, Trump assured the public, “Affordability is our goal.” That was followed by a related online rant: “2025 Thanksgiving dinner under Trump is 25% lower than 2024 Thanksgiving dinner under Biden, according to Walmart. My cost [sic] are lower than the Democrats on everything, especially oil and gas! So the Democrats [sic] ‘affordability’ issue is DEAD! STOP LYING!!!”

Whether the president understands this or not, Walmart lowered the cost of its Thanksgiving dinner by reducing the number of items included in the package and replacing brand-name products with value products. It was not, in other words, the result of the White House’s awesomeness.

As for the idea that the underlying issue is “dead,” the president seems to know better. Consider his exchange with Bret Baier during the Republican’s Fox News interview Wednesday night.

Link to tweet

.......By Trump’s reasoning, GOP officials and candidates have struggled because they haven’t talked about the cost-of-living challenges facing American consumers. That might make him feel better, but the underlying issue isn’t rhetorical, it’s practical.

Republicans can use “this new word” all the time and it won’t change the fact the party, with total control over federal policymaking, has failed spectacularly to address one of the key issues that elevated them to power in the first place.

Democrats scored election victories, not by mentioning “affordability,” but by shining a light on the GOP’s substantive failures on the issue and offering an alternative.

The longer Trump fails to understand this, the more often he and his party will suffer political and electoral consequences.