Trump was useless when we needed him

 Trump: NATO Was Useless When We Needed Them, But Actually We Didn't Need Them

 

Now do the U.S. Mail

 Mamdani: We're Being Told A City-Run Grocery Store Is Implausible While Spending $500 Million A Day To Kill People In Iran

My morning coffee, my Sunday hamburger, my Italian tomatoes, pasta and olive oil, and now even my salad

I coulda mentioned salad the other day, but I didn't.

The average price made a new record high in 1Q2026. 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why BLTs and salad just got more expensive — tariffs, war send tomato prices soaring

This story is about fresh tomatoes, not salad, and it is interesting, but the average price of tomatoes in 1Q2026 still hasn't surpassed 1Q2016.

Adjusted for inflation since 1Q1980, tomatoes could cost $2.64 per pound, but they were only $1.98 in 1Q.

As the story says, canned tomatoes are much cheaper. I make my sauce from stewed whole plum tomatoes from a can, preferably Italian, preferably San Marzano or Parma, but there are many acceptable American brands to choose from. 

New high prices for coffee and ground chuck

 

The cost of making a banana bread at home for breakfast spiked 57% in 2023 and 70% in 2025 from Jan 2020, and is still up 31% in Jan 2026

The ingredients in the data below come from the Gold Medal Flour Best-Ever Banana Bread recipe printed on the package, minus the (small amounts of):

vanilla (1 teaspoon), baking soda (1 teaspoon), salt (1 teaspoon), and the nuts (1 cup, optional anyway), for which I do not have the data.

It could be worse: If the average price of coffee in this chart had kept up with inflation since Jan 1980, the average price in Jan 2026 would be $13.42 instead of $9.37

 Soaring coffee prices rewrite daily routines...

 ... Coffee prices in the U.S. were up 18.3% in January from a year ago, according to the latest Consumer Price Index released on Friday. Over five years, the government reported, coffee prices rose 47%. ...

 

The cost of a traditional American breakfast in Jan 2026 is up 55.3% since Jan 2020

 Menu:

 

Coffee with milk

Bacon and eggs

Toast with butter

Orange juice

 

 

 

I can no longer has cheezburger under Donald J. Trump

 100% ground beef hit a new all time high average price of $6.752/lb in Jan 2026.

 

 

On the eve of the election Trump promised cheaper grocery prices, but breakfast costs nearly 8% more in Jan 2026 than it did then

 

A basket of bacon and eggs, whole wheat bread and butter, coffee and whole milk, and orange juice cost on average $32.47 in the United States in 3Q2024. Stretched out over a week, your breakfast cost you $4.64 a day.

That same basket in Jan 2026 is now $35.00 on average, up $2.53 or 7.8%.

Stretched out over a week breakfast now costs $5.00 a day.

Meanwhile OJ hit a new high, and despite removing some coffee-related tariffs, coffee hit a new record high price in Jan 2026, too.

 

 

Don't order the fried calamari

 

OLIVE GARDEN cook dies after going 'head first' into deep fryer; Cops say suicide...

100% ground beef averaged a record $6.089 in year one of Trump 2.0, and hit a record high $6.687 in Dec 2025 to celebrate the New Golden Age for them, not for you

 Like many other such graphs, the graph for 100% Ground Beef won't show the 2025 average because the government shutdown meant no figure for October in the data.

The average $6.089 in 2025 is for eleven months without October, with October obviously a high figure, too, which means the annual average is no doubt higher than $6.089.

 

 

Food at home inflation was 2.4% year over year in Dec 2025, and there has still been no food deflation like there was in 2009 or 2016 to relieve the have-nots of America

 

food at home inflation 2.4% yoy

food inflation 3.1% yoy

Three in four Americans say groceries are so expensive they’ve been forced to cut down on entertainment, travel, clothing, and food and drink away from home

 

 Reported here.

So, what do those of us cut, who long ago completely cut out entertainment, travel, food and drink away from home, and mend the clothes we cannot replace?

Drink period, for starters:

THE alcohol industry has faced financial hardship in 2025, leading to several distilleries filing for bankruptcy as Americans are drinking at the lowest levels in history. ... An August poll conducted by Gallup found that 54% of adults say they consume alcohol, which was down from 58% in 2024 and 62% in 2023. Gallup said the 54% finding is “the lowest by one percentage point in Gallup’s nearly 90-year trend.” ... Gallup found that 53% of Americans said having one or two drinks a day is bad for one’s health, while 37% say it makes no difference and 6% say it’s good for one’s health. ...

More. 

 

 

Trump reduced tariffs on coffee in early November, but it made a new record high average price in November 2025 anyway lol

 October 2025 is missing.

Eggs averaged $1.39/dozen in 2019 under Trump I but were $2.86 in November 2025 under Trump II, 106% higher

 

Trump cuts food prices by slashing tariffs which he increased in the first place, but apparently not on Italian products like pasta, olive oil, and tomatoes

 

Trump cuts tariffs on goods like coffee, bananas and beef in bid to slash consumer prices

  

Trump tariffs are helping drive U.S. beef prices to new highs

 

 

Victor Davis Hanson wouldn't know chaos if it walked up and introduced itself

 

Democrats Wielding Chaos as a Strategy

Victor Davis Hanson, American Greatness

 

This guy is delusional. 

 

I thought we were going to invade Greenland, Canada, and Panama at the beginning of the year, but instead we've actually gone to war in Yemen, Iran, and now Venezuela and maybe even Nigeria, all in nine months. But yeah, the Democrats are responsible for all the chaos.

 

I thought we were going to cut federal spending with Elon Musk at the helm, but all we got was a phony Republican tax and spending plan for the Fourth of July which has put us $2 trillion more in debt just four months later. But damn all those fired government workers who showed up in Virginia this week to vote for a Democrat for governor.

 

Everyday it's some new bullshit from Mad King Ludwig, but this egghead is upset that the public is reacting negatively to each new pile of it.

 

The administration and MAGA do not talk enough about . . . tolerable inflation . . . a calmer Middle East . . .

 

Good god, man, Joe Six Pack can't afford a lousy hamburger at McDonald's and the Red Sea is no longer safe for free trade.

 

 

 

  

Prices of 20 food items posted new all time highs on a quarterly average basis under Donald Trump in 3Q2025

 The 20 foods shown making new all time highs represent 43% of the 46 foods I have been tracking in the FRED database at the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank. Prices are per pound unless otherwise noted.

Beef Products:

Round Roast $8.182

All Uncooked Roasts 8.72 

Choice Chuck Roast 8.839

Round Steak 9.04

All Uncooked Steaks 12.12

Choice Sirloin Steak 14.003

Ground Chuck 6.43

100% Ground Beef 6.298

All Uncooked Ground 6.593

 

Other Meats:

 

Whole Chicken 2.072

Pork 3.716

 

Dairy Products:

 

Ice Cream 6.425/half gallon

Cheddar Cheese 6.071

 

Other Foods:

 

Orange Juice 4.682/12oz. frozen

Coffee 8.808 

Sugar 1.043 (two quarters in a row)

Bananas 0.664

Potato Chips 6.84

Chocolate Chip Cookies 5.179

Beer 1.832/pint 

The food inflation rate year over year under Trump I averaged 1.89%, under Trump II in September 2025 it is 3.1% or 64% higher

 

Don't forget to turn down the thermostat before you leave for work after your 66% more expensive Trump breakfast

 Piped utility gas used to average $1.04 per therm under Trump I.

Under Trump II it's $1.61 in September 2025, 55% more.