Donald Trump is the Bacon Warrior the Country Doesn't Need Right Now

As with most things Trump, his hyperbolic statements are untrue by 180 degrees.

Mmmm….Bacon and Ice Cream. Hormel Food Corp

by Jeremy Novak

Donald Trump has bacon on his mind.

For about a couple months now at least, he’s been consistently mentioning bacon and using it as the barometer for not just food prices, but the general well-being of all Americans.

Here are some examples:

From his Mar-a-Lago press conference on Aug. 9:

You have millions of people dying financially, because they can’t buy bacon, they can’t buy food, they can’t buy groceries, they can’t buy anything.

From a Fox and Friends town hall interview session on Aug. 7:

I think in the history of our country, food prices are up 50%, sometimes more. You look at bacon, bacon has quadrupled. You can't order bacon, you can't order anything. We're living horribly….

And one from his interview with Elon Musk just this past Tuesday, Aug. 12:

I think we have the worst inflation we've had in 100 years... bacon costing four or five times more than it did a few years ago

Here’s one from a rally on July 9:

We don’t eat bacon any more

It seems likely, given his reported eating habits and obvious physical appearance, that he personally likes to eat bacon. It’s probably also true that his hotels are cutting back on, or spending more on bacon, and he’s noticing. After all, he spends most of his time living at his own resorts and likely eats from the same menu. And I assume he cares about his profit and loss statements, and bacon prices are one potential culprit edging into his bottom line.

As with most things Trump, if he’s talking about it, it’s not some strategically placed data point in a stump speech written by a team of speechwriters. So, like Georgia, bacon is definitely on his mind. And he’s not happy about the bacon situation. Not at all.

What, if anything, is the matter with bacon?

In short, it doesn’t appear that anything particularly bad is going on with bacon.

First, it’s true that we had a rough bout of inflation. It peaked in mid-2022, and has since leveled off to much more tolerable rates, but has done so more slowly than we all would’ve liked. That said, inflation has been a global problem, and the U.S. had one of the lowest levels of inflation during this time than every other developed country.

It is also true that the 2022 inflation peak and its aftermath is the worst inflation our economy has seen in 40 years. Although it needs to be understood that this inflation was much more short-lived and much lower than those levels 40 years ago, when our country was mired in the Stagflation economy of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

So any claims you may hear about this being the worst inflation in history, or the worst in 100 years, is verifiably untrue. Sure, it was painful, prices went up and stayed up, we are still feeling the effects of it, and it’s not fun. But it was short and relatively mild, wage increases actually surpassed the inflation rates, and we managed it better than most other countries in the world.

Bacon experienced what almost every other product went through during this time. Bacon prices went up, in line with the high levels of inflation the country and the world have been experiencing. From March 2021 to July 2024, the price of bacon has gone up 17.6%. This is roughly the equivalent of about $1 more per pound (it’s actually a bit less).

But Trump’s claim was that bacon prices “quadrupled”. He didn’t give a timeframe for this purported price increase, but for the sake of argument, I’m going to assume he wasn’t comparing today’s price of bacon to its price 35 years ago when it was $1.72/lb. Had they quadrupled, they would cost about $24/lb. on average now. But it’s actually now just below $7/lb. on average as of July 2024.

According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI (inflation) report, in the most recent year from July 2023 to July 2024, the price of bacon rose 8.4%. This is a significant one-year jump. Although, the price levels during this time are actually lower than the high mark in Oct 2022. Bacon prices do jump around a lot, after all, as do many grocery goods.

But there’s great news on the horizon for Trump, and for America! In the same BLS report, the data show bacon prices have dropped substantially from the previous month, a 1.1% reduction in price from June to July! Could we be seeing a bacon renaissance?

We’re actually already in one.

The Great Bacon Renaissance

Bacon is a good that has followed the basic trajectory of recent inflation trends. It has gotten more expensive, and perhaps caused some pain for all those bacon lovers out there. So people must be making the tough choice to cut back on bacon, right? As Trump suggested, “no one is eating bacon”. Is this correct?

In short….no.

Bacon is actually at its pinnacle in our country’s culinary culture and is expected to continue to grow substantially. People love bacon and continue to consume it without issues; its consumption levels have steadily grown each year for the past 14 years. It is available in more forms than ever. If it’s not eaten directly, it’s flavoring our other foods at high rates. Other forms of bacon are up and coming, including “healthier” versions, such as nitrate-free bacon.

Here’s what some industry experts have to say about the state of the bacon market, taken from an article in Progressive Grocer:

“Eighty percent of people say they like or love bacon,” asserts Patrick Fleming, new business development manager at Midan Marketing, in Chicago. “What else as a country can we agree on? Even when there are down-market conditions, demand stays strong. Bacon complements so many meals, it’s an ingredient, and it always delivers on flavor. I’ve done bacon interviews for a long time, and people will ask, ‘Is the bacon trend over?’ No, it will never be over. There is always innovation, a new daypart, new thickness, new flavor.”

I could have pulled many more quotes from this article and others from googly-eyed adults drooling over bacon, literally and figuratively. But you get the point.

Bacon is in demand as much as ever, despite its higher prices. It seems no one cares about how much it costs. Consumers continue to demand bacon in any and all forms, driving strong market growth and innovation.

Trump misses the bacon grease mark

Considering that the Kamala Harris campaign’s message of hope and joy is resonating so well, and Trump is stumbling around with his dark and angry messaging, will his message on the demise of bacon backfire?

It depends on how much attention he keeps putting on this “issue”, but considering how much joy bacon brings to the public, the answer is yes. Add another thing to the list of grievances people don’t understand, or just plainly don’t want to hear about. They want—and are getting—bacon ice cream, bacon coffee, strips of bacon, crumbles of bacon, sprinkles of bacon; hell, people will probably start mainlining bacon in the near future, just to get another form of bacon into their systems.

They don’t want to hear about how hard it is to get bacon and don’t want to fight for bacon. They want it, are happy to pay for it, and are getting it. If Trump really wanted to make inroads here, he would promise America free bacon. But I don’t want to give him any ideas.

As with most things Trump, his hyperbolic statements are untrue by 180 degrees. Not only are people not “not eating bacon”, bacon may have emerged as a new third rail of American politics.

Trump may learn the hard way that you don’t mess with bacon.

Read an excerpt of the latest for Banter Members and get 50% off a Banter Membership:

Trump Demands Free Campaign Advertising, the Press Complies

Are they really going to do this again?

When Trump calls the press, they come running.

by Justin Rosario

Donald Trump is still barely campaigning, a story the press has bizarrely neglected to report on. He only held seven rallies from the beginning of June to the middle of July, and since then Trump has held one more. 

Clearly Trump’s light campaigning schedule is a choice. Or perhaps not a choice, but a necessity. Trump is, after all, 78 years old and in poor health. One does not spend decades living a sedentary lifestyle with obesity without paying a price.

When his opponent was President Joe Biden, this wasn’t exactly an issue for him. Trump was confident that he could either win outright in November, or the Republican plan to use the courts to overturn the results would succeed if the margin was small.

But with Vice President Kamala Harris taking over, things have changed. Not only is victory no longer assured, Harris is receiving overwhelming support from the public. Even the press is having a difficult time putting a negative spin on its coverage (although it is working very hard to find an angle of attack). 

So what is a rabid narcissist to do? Summon the press like well-heeled dogs, of course…

This is an excerpt from today’s Members Only piece. To continue reading, get 50% off a Banter Membership and go here:

Trump Demands Free Campaign Advertising, the Press Complies