The Trump administration released bad news about the economy on Wednesday: According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the economy shrank for the first time since 2022 in what is likely the first tangible sign for everyday Americans of the impact of President Donald Trump’s policies.

The news sent the stock market into a tailspin, while business owners warned that shoppers could start seeing empty store shelves.

But even as the bad news piles up, the Trump administration has decided to reassure panicked consumers with a chilling talking point: Poverty is good, actually.

Last month, as economists warned of the harm Trump’s tariff policies could cause, including drastically increasing the price of goods, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent attempted to dismiss those concerns by insinuating that being able to afford things is not important to Americans.

“Access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American dream,” Bessent said to a crowd of economists.

It turns out this assertion was only the beginning of the Trump administration’s vision for a new American dream.

From Trump telling reporters that he’s not worried about empty stores to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick saying during an interview that in his version of America, multiple generations will work in the same factories, it sure seems like the Trump administration is trying to prime Americans for accepting and even enjoying a drastically lower standard of living.

Photograph of workers and children in the alley outside of a garment factory, Baltimore, Maryland, 1921. Image courtesy US National Archives.

It’s a sharp contrast from where Trump was during the 2024 election.

Conventional Republican wisdom at the time said that former President Joe Biden’s policies had made everything from groceries to cars to houses more expensive, and a vote for Trump would bring some much-needed relief. “Make America Wealthy Again” has been a constant refrain, with Trump even holding an official event themed around the idea last month.

But now, Republicans seem to be saying, not only is relief not coming, but you shouldn’t complain about it either.

Lutnick

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