Credit: Getty Images.

“Our energy costs are way down. Our groceries are way down. Everything is way down. And the press does not report it.”

That was President Donald Trump on Nov. 6.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

A week or so later, he posted on Truth Social: “Cost, and INFLATION, were far higher under the Sleepy Joe Biden Administration, than they are now. In fact, costs under the TRUMP ADMINISTRATION are tumbling down, helped greatly by gasoline and ENERGY. Affordability is a lie when used by the Dems. It is a complete CON JOB. Thanksgiving costs are 25% lower this year than last, under Crooked Joe! We are the Party of Affordability!”

This is not an editorial about affordability. It’s an editorial about truth.

But it's the season of Thanksgiving — a holiday often symbolized by an overflowing cornucopia — and we idealize it as a celebration of abundance. So let’s start with that Thanksgiving dinner, which Mr. Trump holds up as evidence that there is no affordability crisis, and which we see as yet another play at an old propaganda game: If I say it often enough, they’ll believe it.

Mr. Trump has pointed repeatedly to a Walmart promotional basket as proof that “

© Times Union