Trump’s 2024 grocery photo op now haunts Republicans in the midterms

Bedminster: Two years after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump staged a New Jersey press conference flanked by grocery staples to spotlight inflation under Democrats, food prices are still rising despite his pledge to bring them down. The gap between promise and reality now looms as a vulnerability for Republicans ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Standing between tables piled high with fruit, beef, cereal, milk and other household staples at his Bedminster golf club on August 15, 2024, Trump blamed the Biden administration for sharp increases in groceries.

The spectacle, complete with charts showing higher prices, was aimed at undercutting the Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris, and highlighted Trump’s central promise: He alone could tame inflation and lower the cost of living.

Two years on, higher petrol and grocery prices are squeezing household budgets and turning the cost of living into the top issue for American voters. Voters now give Democrats a slight edge over Republicans in who they view as better stewards of the economy for the first time in nearly a decade, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling.

Sheila Carney, a 68-year-old Trump voter, punctuated her frustration with an expletive as she unloaded $US70 ($98) worth of groceries into her car outside a supermarket not far from Trump’s Bedminster club. The haul was modest: some meat, detergent and a 12-pack of iced tea.

For Carney, the receipt was evidence that the affordability concerns Trump has sometimes dismissed as a Democratic “hoax” remain a daily burden for many Americans.

“This is real. He can say it’s not, but it is,” said Carney, a hospital administration assistant who has delayed retirement while helping pay off her son’s student loans.