President Donald Trump keeps touting the fact that Walmart’s promotional Thanksgiving meal basket is cheaper this year than it was last year. But Trump hasn’t mentioned that this year’s basket is different than last year’s – in particular, that it contains significantly fewer items.
This year’s basket contains 15 products, six fewer than the 21 products in the 2024 basket. If you’re counting each individual item (like each can of green beans) separately, it’s 22 items this year compared to 29 items last year. In addition, items from Walmart’s “Great Value” store brand make up a greater percentage of this year’s basket than last year’s, which included a larger proportion of name brands.
Trump has been discussing “affordability” in the wake of Republican defeats in various state and local elections Tuesday in which many victorious Democratic candidates campaigned on the cost of living. To support his frequent false claim that grocery prices are “way down” since he returned to office, Trump said Wednesday and Thursday that Walmart announced that its Thanksgiving meal basket this year is 25% cheaper than the Biden-era 2024 version.
Walmart did announce a 25% reduction. It is offering this year’s basket for under $40, down from last year’s price of around $55.
But aside from the fact that any one company’s holiday promotion is not a good measure of the state of US inflation, the price of Walmart’s Thanksgiving basket is an especially poor proxy – because the...
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