In recent months, Donald Trump has made some absurd comments about inflation, saying the affordability crisis is “a hoax” and “I won affordability,” a clumsy, questionable claim meaning that he somehow conquered inflation. Trump recognizes that affordability is a huge issue, and with his war against Iran proving to be a big political loser, he seems eager to score some political points by telling Americans that he’s moving boldly to cut living costs. But as with everything Trump says, people shouldn’t be tricked by his slick salesmanship.

Trump has boasted about cutting prescription drug prices, housing prices, food prices and gasoline prices. All that might be great public relations for Trump, but it’s grossly exaggerated nonsense. Trump’s much-ballyhooed efforts to fight inflation are essentially diddlysquat. Many of them are mini efforts that have had mini effects in reducing prices. They’re as meaningful as a degree from Trump University.

Trump often boasts that his egomaniacally named TrumpRX program will be a boon for Americans by supposedly bringing “the world’s lowest prices” for prescription drugs. But as of this weekend, TrumpRX covered only 61 of the country’s several thousand prescription medications – a drop in the ocean of high-priced prescription drugs. What’s more, Trump is flat-out wrong when he says TrumpRX is offering the world’s lowest drug prices. TrumpRX sells a medium dose of Wegovy, a weight-loss drug, for $349, while that same dose sells for $163 in Japan and $198 in Germany. According to a New York Times analysis, Xigduo, a drug for diabetes, is $116 cheaper in Germany than on TrumpRX; Xeljanz, a drug for auto-immune diseases, is $1,653 cheaper there.

The TrumpRX website is one big, glossy, government-paid advertisement for Trump and his ego, but for the vast majority of Americans, it will do nothing to cut their drug prices. TrumpRX is designed to help uninsured, cash-paying patients, but not the 85% of Americans who have........

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