February 12, 2025 11:00 AM UTC

Trumpflation is Here

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• by: Colorado Pols

President Donald Trump campaigned heavily in 2024 on promises to lower the cost of groceries (including eggs) and gasoline if given another term in the White House.

Voters obliged, and then Trump promptly got started on…not doing a damn thing to lower costs for Americans.

As CNBC notes in a detailed chart, the cost of basically everything — from food and gasoline to textbooks and insurance — has risen significantly since the November election:

Inflation jumped in January on the back of higher prices for consumer staples like groceries and energy. Economists worry inflation has become entrenched above the Federal Reserve’s target, even as President Donald Trump’s policies around tariffs and immigration threaten to exacerbate it.

The consumer price index, an inflation gauge, rose 3% for the 12 months ending in January, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday…

…Price increases were “strong” almost across the board in January, in categories like groceries, gasoline, prescription drugs, vehicle insurance and repair, airline tickets and hotel room rates, Zandi said. The only major category with a decline was apparel, he said.

Grocery prices jumped by 0.5% from December to January, up from a 0.3% monthly rise from November to December, according to the BLS. [Pols emphasis]

Not only has Trump not been interested in tackling the high cost of goods — things are actually getting worse. And more pain is on the way.

Trump has been throwing tariffs around like ketchup in the White House dining room, which most economists expect will only make things worse for American consumers. Rising inflation will also make it difficult for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, which Trump has demanded.

In a not-unrelated move, Chevron announced today that it is slashing 20% of its entire workforce in a cost-cutting move. We’re unleashing American energy! Or whatever.

As The New Republic reports, help is not on the way:

Rent alone made up 30 percent of that increase, according to The Washington Post’s economic columnist Heather Long, who noted on X that the “core” consumer price index—which excludes the volatile prices of food and energy—had practically stalled since June.

But Americans were still feeling sticker shock for some key grocery staples in January, when the price of a dozen eggs soared by 13.8 percent and averaged $4.95 across the country—a price tag that’s still up by 53 percent from last year, according to The New York Times. Egg prices are only expected to increase amid a widening outbreak of avian flu, which has temporarily shuttered New York City’s poultry markets and skyrocketed the cost of a standard dozen eggs to more than $12 in Key Food and CTown supermarkets, amid a nationwide egg shortage.

But Donald Trump felt that there was only one person to blame. ““BIDEN INFLATION UP!” the president posted on Truth Social Wednesday morning.

On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly pledged to lower costs for American consumers on “day one.” But three weeks into his second administration, Trump has repeatedly avoided answering the hard questions on exactly how he’s going to provide relief for American’s wallets. [Pols emphasis]

The Trump honeymoon is most definitely over, and this is how you know: You can’t take credit for things you are doing as President but in the same breath blame the last guy for things that are going wrong.

Trumpflation is here.