White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was widely mocked following a verbal gaffe she made when trying to explain President Donald Trump's plans to lower grocery prices.
It all started when Fox Business’ Edward Lawrence asked Leavitt the following:
“So now that the President Trump’s policies are starting to take shape, how long will it take to cycle through and get some of the actual prices that Americans are paying to come down?”
Leavitt responded:
“Prices at the store and at the grocery pump?”
The what now?
Asked when prices will actually start coming down, a flustered Karoline Leavitt says, "prices at the store and at the grocery pump?" and provides a non-answer
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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) February 5, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Lawrence confirmed he meant “all of the above” and Leavitt said:
"Well, the president is doing everything he can, obviously, to reduce the cost of living crisis as quickly as possible. That's why he signed a litany of executive orders across the board in the first couple of weeks here. He declared a national energy emergency, he committed to cut 10 regulations for every new one on the book."
"As you know working for a Fox Business-related outlet, deregulation and energy independence are huge drivers for reducing inflation in this country and I think Americans can be assured by the results President Trump had in his first term, when inflation was 1.4% when he left office."
But that didn't answer the question at all and when pressed, Leavitt couldn't offer any specifics for how exactly Trump plans to lower the cost of groceries:
"I don't have a time frame but the president is doing everything he possibly can to reduce cost of living for Americans at home."
But honestly, people were stuck on the whole "grocery pump" thing.
“The grocery pump” would be on tshirts within a day if anyone from the Biden admin had said this.
— Julie Sirrs (@juliesirrs.bsky.social) February 6, 2025 at 5:19 AM
Grocery pump? Press secretaries are supposed to be good communicators
— 𝔾𝕣𝕖𝕘 𝔹𝕒𝕣𝕟𝕖𝕤 (@gbmusicmaster.bsky.social) February 6, 2025 at 10:24 AM
What is a grocery pump?
— melaniasmerkin.bsky.social (@melaniasmerkin.bsky.social) February 6, 2025 at 6:34 AM
"The president is doing everything he can to reduce the cost of living..." He is literally making it worse with every step he takes 🥴🦆
— Roland 🏴☠️ (@undercoverpirate.bsky.social) February 6, 2025 at 11:05 AM
No the price at the windmill cancer clinic 🙄
— Good Trouble (@lebergerdavid.bsky.social) February 5, 2025 at 2:32 PM
What’s a grocery pump? Have I been shopping wrong this whole time?
— Johanna (@johannaapple.bsky.social) February 5, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Can someone please ask her how signing an executive order Banning trans athletes from competing is going to reduce the cost of groceries?
— 🇨🇦Squishy McTushy🇨🇦 🇨🇦(SHE/HER)🇨🇦 (@squishymctushy.bsky.social) February 5, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Indeed, Trump pledged for months that he would lower grocery prices. Trump has acknowledged this, saying in remarks to Meet the Press host Kristen Welker that "when you buy apples, when you buy bacon, when you buy eggs, they would double and triple the price over a short period of time, and I won an election based on that," adding "we're going to bring those prices way down."
But it's also worth noting that shortly after he said that, he admitted to Time magazine that it's "very hard" to actually lower grocery prices.
Despite his grand promises, when pressed on whether he could lower grocery costs once in office, Trump acknowledged that he couldn't simply wave a wand to make it happen, even though many of his supporters backed him based on his promises to reduce the cost of living.
AMC
