CNN's Kaitlan Collins Calls BS on Trump's Affordability Push
By: Tommy Christopher (Mediaite)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins called BS on President Donald Trump for openly trying to co-opt "affordability" messaging after an Election Night bloodbath, pointing out "something that might cause a problem" with that strategy.
After an election night that saw Democratic landslides in races that were supposed to be close and losses for causes Trump heavily supported, the president gave a sort of anti-pep talk to Senate Republicans at the White House.
He acknowledged the negative effects of the government shutdown on Republicans and urged them to mimic Democrats' use of "this new word called affordability."
On Wednesday night's edition of CNN's The Source with Kaitlan Collins, the anchor led off with a package of news about the shutdown that included a succinct rejoinder to Trump's "affordability" play — "prices are actually up":
KAITLAN COLLINS: As we come on the air tonight, the deadlock here on Capitol Hill is about to potentially trigger an air travel nightmare across the country. We've now learned the FAA is going to reduce air traffic in the United States by 10 percent, across 40 high-volume cities, starting Friday morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN DUFFY, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: I anticipate there will be additional disruptions. There will be frustration. We are working with the airlines. They're going to work with passengers. But in the end, our sole role is to make sure that we keep this airspace as safe as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Now, the airlines themselves learned that this was coming about an hour before the Secretary made that announcement there. An announcement that happened to come as the political calculus has just shifted in a major way, here in Washington.
That message was delivered, after Democrats had a huge night in New York, Virginia, New Jersey and California. And President Trump's frustration with those big Republican losses was on clear display, as we were in the room this morning for his meeting with Senate Republicans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I thought we'd have a discussion after the press leaves about what last night represented and what we should do about it, and also about the shutdown, and how that relates to last night. I think if you read the pollsters, the shutdown was a big factor, negative for the Republicans, and that was a big factor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Now, the President, who has always been quick to sense what voters want to hear, seems to have picked up on the winning message for Democrats, last night. Affordability.
The President came into office, pledging to bring higher prices down, and today argued that things are better, and that Republicans should be saying that more often.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They have this new word called affordability, and they don't talk about it enough. The Democrats did. And the Democrats make it up. Because we took over a mess.
It's going to be affordable again at a really record pace. And you know, other people are going to take credit. All the mayors and all the governors, they're going to say, What a great job. They didn't do a damn thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Something that might cause a problem for that is that grocery prices are actually up since President Trump took office, back in January.
Now, for Democrats, this momentum comes after a year, where there was very little of it for their party. It's already jumpstarted conversations, here on Capitol Hill tonight, about what this could mean for next year's midterms.
Watch above via CNN's The Source with Kaitlan Collins.
He'll tell us affordability wasnt a word until he started using it. And no matter what happens, no matter how long it takes him to make things affordable, even a thousand years, its ok because he took over a "mess".
Even his everyday bullshit is getting weaker.
Does he even know what the word means? Affordability is a dozen eggs less than 3 bucks. Affordability is gasoline less than $2/gallon.
Trump is becoming more delusional all the time. And its only 10 months into a 48 month term.
Now Trump is putting that gold crap up on the outside of the White House
he's so tacky and tasteless
He's putting the Oval Office signage up outside the door so those that want to bribe him know what entrance go through.
Wait... I thought he was anointed by God. He can't fix one little "mess"?
www.mediaite.com /media/tv/trump-flatly-denies-pleading-maga-voters-cost-of-living-pain-prices-already-way-down/
Trump Flatly Denies When Fox Anchor Confronts Him With MAGA Voter’s Pained Plea: Prices ‘Way D ...
David Gilmour 3-3 minutes 11/6/2025
Fox News anchor Bret Baier confronted President Donald Trump with a plea from a loyal supporter who said she was “not happy” with rising prices, only for the president to insist, flatly, that the opposite is true and prices are “way down.”
The exchange came during a Fox News interview on Wednesday night’s Special Report with Bret Baier . Trump was weighing the damage from the GOP’s bruising losses the night before.
Baier read out a message from North Carolina retiree Regina Foley , a woman who has voted Trump “three times previously,” who warned that she did not “see the best economy now” and begged him: “Please do something, President Trump.”
“I want the Republicans to keep control of Congress in 2026, but something has to be done fast!” her statement continued. “I don’t see the best economy now – Wall Street numbers do not reflect Main Street money, please do something, President Trump.”
Trump, however, rejected the premise.
“Beef we have to get down. I think of groceries, it’s an old-fashioned word, but it’s a beautiful word. Beef we have to get down, but we’ve got prices way down,” he replied, launching into a long riff on energy prices. “Think of this, [Foley] drives a car, probably, and her energy prices are way down and energy is so all-encompassing it’s so big that when energy comes down, everything comes down. Everything follows it, and I have energy down to five-six-year lows now.”
He added: “I think they are coming down, but they are down already. I think the biggest problem is Republicans don’t talk about it. They don’t talk about the word affordability and the Democrats lie about it.”
Late October polling by Washington Post -ABC News-Ipsos suggests Americans’ cost of living is very much not “way down.” Roughly seven in 10 adults said they were spending more on groceries than this time last year, and 59 percent said they were paying more for utilities (only 6 percent said less).
The strain is bipartisan: nearly nine in 10 Democrats said grocery costs have jumped, and while that figure was lower among Republicans, a majority of GOP respondents (52 percent) said they too were paying more. In terms of political consequence, 59% of all U.S. adults said they blame Trump a great deal or a good amount for the current rate of inflation.
Watch above via Fox News .
Lying is an old fashioned word too.
But it's a beautiful word
Trump is a Lying old fashioned turd, yet a 'beautiful' old fashioned turd....
If Trump is clueless about groceries and falsely believes you have to show ID to buy groceries then he knows nothing about affordability.
Does Trump even have a clue as to the average salary of the average American?
He puts his appointed cabinet billionaires out on the talk show or news circuit babbling about how everything is great, jobs are fine, tariffs aren't taxes on consumers, and this is our Golden Age.
You cannot brainwash enough people who are negatively affected by harsh foolish economic policies without reality catching up eventually.
This election proved that the billionaire boys club fooled no one.
Has he EVER gone grocery shopping? I would doubt it. At one point he thought you need ID to buy bread ....
Doesn't have a clue and couldn't care less.
And MAGA believes everything he/they say.
Eventually is acceptable to him as long as it is after the next election.
Here's to hoping that lack of belief extends through next year. Retake the House, retake the Senate, and make Trump the only POTUS to have been impeached a dozen or so times.
This is why I find his success with populism so baffling and depressing. His supporters actually believe he can somehow relate to their problems. It’s impossible! He has never had to face the problems non-billionaires have to deal with.
Even crazier is his campaigning is also telling his cultists that he wants to take out the elitists in Washington.
Didn't everyone get the memo? Chuck Schumer (the scapegoat) and Democrats shut down the government over affordability. How could anyone have missed the reporting on Obamacare sticker shock?
While three elections and a proposition merit celebration, that hardly rises to the level of a bloodbath. Trying to out-Trump Trump is no way to beat Trump. And that's not going to be enough to avoid Democrats embracing the issue of affordability as justification for the government shutdown.