Hoax: An act intended to deceive or trick; something that has been established or accepted by fraudulent means; a deception for mockery or mischief; a deceptive trick or story; a practical joke.—American Heritage Dictionary
If you’ve been paying attention, you know one of Trump’s go to’s each time he doesn’t like something, but is factual, is to call whatever is happening a hoax. The investigation that Russia helped him in 2016—hoax. COVID—hoax. His involvement with Epstein—hoax. Attempt to bribe Ukraine into helping him win—hoax. Apparent help in inciting an insurrection—hoax. Climate change—hoax. Grocery and other prices are up—hoax.
With Trump and this Republican administration, we never know if Trump believes these are hoaxes or saying they are as a distraction and/or for political expediency (I think most fall into this category). However, I think he may actually believe that grocery and other prices are up is actually a hoax.
Before you stop reading or wonder what happened to me, please bear with me for another moment.
I think he actually believes it is a hoax that groceries are becoming unaffordable for so many. To get there we have to look at the people he actually is around all the time—billionaires and ultra-wealthy. To get there we have to look at Trump’s life as a whole. To get there we have to accept the fact that Trump reads very little and tends to pay attention to a media loop that says nothing but good things about him and his brilliance. None of which ties him to the common people.
Trump, from what we know of his life, has never had to worry about paying the rent. Paying for childcare. Paying to fix a broken down car. Deciding upon paying the utilities or buying medicine. Covering a medical bill or paying down co-pays. Worrying about what will happen if he misses a day of work for a sick child. Worrying about buying clothes, paying school book fees, covering field trip fees, or paying for school lunches. I didn’t say he hasn’t had to pay for some of these costs, just that he didn’t have to worry about them.
He didn’t have to worry because he comes from a wealthy family, has always been wealthy himself, and has “people” who are hired to take care of the things we can’t take for granted, but are considered mundane by the ultra-wealthy.
Things just happen.
A personal chef makes the meals who either does the shopping or has someone do it for them. A nanny is hired to help with taking care of children. If they have a car to drive, since most have drivers, it is someone else’s concern to keep it up and running. Stores bring clothes to them to look at or are custom made. They can pay for the best medical care out of pocket. All the usual bills are not their concern. I would imagine the ultra-wealthy don’t give any thought to the day-to-day expenses many of us worry about from the time we get up to go to one or more jobs until we fall asleep from exhaustion and anxiety.
To Trump and his ilk, who most likely have never in their lives set foot in any store, let alone a grocery store. The ultra-wealthy have no concept of the price of anything (even many of those who came from lower income families often forget the struggle they grew up with once they become part of the ultra-wealthy). The fact that someone has to worry about the price of milk, eggs, baby formula, hamburger, etc., is beyond their grasp of thinking. Many lack empathy or emotional intelligence, so they lack the ability to even consider the life of anyone unlike them.
A person on public assistance, who works in a factory, has a job that AI will soon take over, lives paycheck to paycheck, or struggles in some other way because they don’t make a living wage or due to the cost of living right now, needs to wakes up to reality. The sooner they see the reality that Trump and the ultra-wealthy, the billionaire class, don’t give a rats ass about us, the sooner we can get out of this mess Trump and his cronies have created. The longer the 31% of people earning less than $50,000 a year, and the 40% earning $50-100,000 a year, who approve of his performance live in denial of Trump caring about them, the longer we’ll remain in this nightmare in which we currently find ourselves.
The sooner the 77 million people who didn’t vote in the last election wake up to the fact they helped cause what is happening in our country and around the world, the better. If they don’t do politics, I hope they are realizing politics is still doing them. If they sat out in protest, I hope they are realizing the Trump regime has caused more harm than good for whatever they had been protesting against. I hope they realize they need to get to the polls and become informed voters in 2026 and beyond.
The sooner the three million people who voted for a third party presidential candidate wake up to the fact they too helped cause what is happening in our great country and around the world. I do empathize with those wanting to vote third party as in a perfect and healthy voting environment, a third party vote would have more meaning than essentially being a protest vote. I hope they wake up to the reality of the voting environment in which we live, that there is no perfect candidate (and never will be), and that sometimes we have to make hard choices to vote for the candidate or party who has the best chance of winning and has pledged to protect and help all Americans. A protest vote, a third party vote, sadly, gets us leaders like Trump, who based on his actions and his actual words, cares not a lick about most of us.
Join me in standing up and peacefully fighting back. For rights. For freedoms. For liberties. For justice. For all of us.
Personal Reflections of a Middle-Aged Man 