President Donald Trump made a big announcement before the Thanksgiving Holidays: This year’s spread would be cheaper than last year’s. “Walmart just announced that the cost of its standard Thanksgiving meal has been reduced by 25 percent this year from last year,” the president said. boasted at the Saudi Investment Forum 2025 last week.
On Tuesday, amid jokes that send two turkeys receiving a presidential pardon to the same infamous Salvadoran prison where he sent undocumented immigrants to be tortured, Trump continued to claim that the cost of goods is reaching historic lows. “[Prices] “They are at a level that we have not seen in a long time,” said the president, before fat shaming both turkeys and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker.
Walmart did announce that their Thanksgiving package will be cheaper than last year, but they left many things off the table, just as many Americans may have to do amid persistently high grocery bills, higher utility costs and a myriad of other expenses incurred by working families that have worsened amid Trump’s trade wars.
Walmart 2024 shopping list It consisted of “29 items and serves eight people for less than $7 per person” and cost $55. this year’s total It claims to serve “10 people for under $40,” but it only contains 22 items. Sweet potatoes, marshmallows, pecan pie, “frozen whipped topping,” cornbread, various vegetables, poultry seasoning and chicken broth have been discarded. Name brand items have been almost universally replaced by company store brand Great Value items. However, the 2025 list includes macaroni and cheese as a new addition. Several of the items that were on the list have also been reduced in quantity, including a smaller turkey, which has increased in price per pound.
The total price tag for Thanksgiving year depends on who you ask. The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank, found that the cost of Thanksgiving dinner increase by almost 10 percent compared to last year. An associated press report found that discount turkey prices are disappearing due to the higher cost of sides and garnishes. Meanwhile, the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), the price of its “classic” Thanksgiving dinner fell about five percent nationally – $55.18, compared to $58.08 in 2024, about a three-dollar difference.
Fox Business acknowledged last week that Americans would need to keep their Thanksgiving menus tight in order to save. “Remember, if you want to eat another protein like beef, the price is still high. It’s about five times last year’s price, so keep that in mind,” he said. recommended network. “Türkiye is probably your best option. Just stick with that option.”
As the U.S. economy continues to slow, consumers remain trapped in the pressure of high prices, slow wage growth, and the endemic unaffordability of life’s basic necessities. Trump and his administration find themselves in need of markers to back up their insistence that the economy is perfectly fine, even excellent. Walmart’s Thanksgiving package has been front and center in messaging, with everyone from Trump to the economic advisor. Kevin Hassert to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, citing the lower price (not to mention that Walmart reduced what’s included).
Bessent, who earlier this year scolded that “access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American dream” – touted Walmart’s dinner price as evidence of the decline inflation last weekend, warning that if Americans really want lower prices, they should move to red states. “Do you know the best way to reduce the inflation rate? Go from a blue state to a red state,” he told MSNOW. Meet the press. “Blue states’ inflation is half a percent higher, and that’s because they don’t deregulate, they keep prices high. Energy is higher.”
Following Democrats’ near-universal victories in the November elections, the White House is trying to reorient the president’s message toward affordability ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. It’s a tough sell, especially when the president is hosting. Great Gatsbythemed bacchanals at Mar-a-Lago and spend his time not remodeling the White House into a high-value Versailles cavorting with oligarchs eager to curry favor with him, his family, and his administration. It’s hard to convince the American public that saving perhaps $20 on a scaled-down Thanksgiving dinner is the reward for the president’s hard-won efforts to reduce the struggles of the working class.
According to ABC News in November/Washington Post/Ipsos surveySeven in 10 Americans report spending more on groceries this year compared to last year, and most Republicans, Democrats and independents reported an increase in grocery prices. According to the University of Michigan monthly consumer surveyConsumer confidence in the economy has fallen almost 30 points year over year and is approaching historic lows.
Over the past year, Americans have watched the Republican Party fight tooth and nail to kick millions of people off their health insurance, appeal to the Supreme Court for the right to deprive low-income children and families of SNAP benefits, and stand by while the president and members of his Cabinet engage in open corruption and personal enrichment.
Trump himself has already revealed the game. At the same press conference where he touted the price of Walmart’s Thanksgiving meal, Trump told reporters that he “doesn’t want to hear about affordability.”
“When you look at the 25 percent reduction in costs for Thanksgiving between me and Biden, meaning this administration, it’s a tremendous number. It’s tremendous, it’s the biggest cost.” [reduction] in the history of that graph, or whatever, they do that,” Trump says.
So enjoy your slightly cheaper Thanksgiving meal; If you put that $15 in a high-yield savings account, you might be able to pay for a single month of your new, more expensive health care premiums in a decade or two.
