The Hill
In shift, Trump downgrades soaring rhetoric on campaign promises
Brett Samuels – December 29, 2024
President-elect Trump on the campaign trail made grandiose promises to voters to bring down costs quickly, to end the war in Ukraine before he even took office and to use tariffs to bolster the U.S. economy and manufacturing.
Since winning November’s election, Trump has indicated delivering on those promises may not be as simple as advertised.
Trump in a recent “Meet the Press” interview said he could not guarantee tariffs would not lead to higher consumer prices.
He acknowledged in a Time magazine interview for his Person of the Year honor that it’s difficult to bring down the cost of groceries once they’ve gone up.
And in his first post-election press conference from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., Trump suggested ending the war in Ukraine would be more difficult than easing tensions in the Middle East.
While Democrats and critics accused Trump of lowering expectations or signaling he would not deliver on his campaign promises, the Trump transition and other allies argued it was the president-elect shifting from sweeping campaign rhetoric to the nuances and realities of governing.
“The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail. He will deliver,” said Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for the transition and the incoming White House press secretary, in a statement.
One Trump ally argued the president-elect was not contradicting his promises on the trail, but he rather was shifting away from the sales pitch rhetoric that is typical of campaigns.
Trump made improving the economy, and inflation in particular, a core part of his campaign for the White House in 2024. He frequently railed against the Biden White House for the high cost of groceries specifically, and he often told supporters he would bring down costs by increasing the energy supply, which would have a ripple effect on overall prices.
“Prices will come down. You just watch. They’ll come down, and they’ll come down fast. Not only with insurance, with everything,” Trump told supporters in North Carolina in August.
At a rally in Pennsylvania on the eve of Election Day, Trump said a vote for him meant “your groceries will be cheaper.”