Send This To Your Grandma, Dad, Or MAGA-Supporting Family When They Ask You How Trump’s Economy Is Going
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Hi there, my name is Alexa, and for each month of Donald Trump’s presidency, I’m tracking the real numbers achieved by his administration on BuzzFeed.
(AKA, the unemployment rate, cost of eggs, gas prices, inflation, the Dow Jones, whether citizens received a stimulus check, and Trump’s overall approval rating.)
Let’s chat about all things Politics
Now, I’d like to add an amendment to the margin: “Calling out the gaslighting.”
Because, if you didn’t know, our 78-year-old commander in chief has been claiming “groceries are down” in price and that tags on eggs, specifically, have dropped “87 percent.”
One look at your latest re-stock receipt, I’m sure, is likely to tell a different story — and so, too, will the data in this report.
Regardless of who is sitting in the Oval Office — whether they pledge to lower grocery prices and end wars on day one or not — I think we can all agree that holding candidates-turned-presidents accountable for their promises is important.
And if the numbers turn in Trump’s favor, I’ll continue to report on it and cheer for a thriving economy.
So without further ado, here’s how Trump’s March played out:
Note: Data on inflation is released weeks after each month has ended, so our reports will look at the previous month’s numbers.
Who knew 2025 would be marked as the year we all learned EXACTLY how often we use eggs? My local store’s price seemingly refuses to dip below $8.99 per carton of 12, but the national average jumped from $5.90 in February to $6.23 in March.
Unfortunately, the US Agriculture Department predicts the price of eggs can increase by more than 40% this year.
Perhaps a larger necessity than eggs, the price of gas has seen a month-over-month increase as well. For all the commuters out there, your pockets have likely felt a little lighter as the US Energy Information Administration reports March gas prices were about $3.223 on average.
Look, our first bit of good news!
As the world braces against the back-and-forth of global tariffs, it seems the economy has to budge on something. Luckily, that something appears to be inflation, which dropped from 2.8% in February to 2.4% in March.
(Although I hate to act as the Ghost of Inflation’s Future, experts say any progress made in inflation is at risk as the end of Trump’s 90-day tariff pause looms.)
No, there is still no chat of a stimulus check. But hey! The Department of Education recently announced that it will start referring student loans that have gone into default to collections beginning May 5. So that’s bound to help struggling Americans, right? … Right?
According to Gallup, Trump’s approval rating took another dip. This time, it sat at 43% in March. I wonder how rising costs will affect this in April?
Those are our stats for March. Now, let’s look at comments we received on our last edition in a little section I like to call 
Comment Corner.
It’s a bit trickier than Biden vs. Trump’s fault when it comes to our current economy:
As with every president, Joe Biden inherited Donald Trump’s economy when he walked into the 2021 White House doors. We were in the throes of COVID-19, the unemployment rate was 6.4%, but gas prices had previously fallen as people feared leaving far from home and commuted less before return-to-office orders. At the same time, businesses also shuttered. It was all very new and strange.
By the time Joe left —shortly after the US government officially declared an end to the COVID-19 pandemic — he had become the first US president to see monthly gains in employment throughout his entire presidency, and unemployment saw a 54-year low in 2023. However, it’s undeniable that his presidency also saw inflation, inflation, inflation. And just as Trump’s lower cost of living can be partially attributed to the pandemic’s aftershock, so, too, can the later call-and-response rise in cost of living, experts say.
TLDR: The pandemic partially caused wins and losses for both Trump and Biden. We saw what Biden did with what Trump gave him — now it’s time to see how Trump handles the good and bad of his inheritance.
