Maher: Food Is up a Lot Under Biden, But People Are Ignorant About Inflation Because We Didn’t Have It for 20 Years

On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher stated that while food prices have gone up significantly under President Joe Biden, 2024 Republican presidential candidate former President Trump is doing better among younger voters because he lies and “when you don’t know anything, you can’t compare it to what’s said.” And “we were just kind of lucky for 20 years, and there wasn’t much inflation. So, maybe you’ve never lived in a time when there was inflation. So, you think, oh, Trump, no inflation, Biden, inflation, me vote Trump.”

Maher said, “I have another question about the youth here…we were talking about why Trump is doing better, I would say it’s because he’s a great liar. And, again, if you don’t — if you’re not able to check the facts, here’s what he’s been saying about food, food that cost 40, 50, 60% more than it did a few years ago. Well, food is up like 20% since Biden became President, not all his fault. But not — Trump says bacon, up five times, well, it’s up 12%. See, this is a big problem, when you don’t know anything, you can’t compare it to what’s said. … I have a feeling Biden’s going to lose this election because hot dogs cost more.”

He added, “I don’t know if it’s just young people, The Washington Post sent a reporter out to talk to people in Wisconsin. Here are some of the quotes, ‘When Trump was President, there wasn’t inflation. We could afford food.’ ‘Trump[,] there was no inflation. Prices really skyrocketed since Biden took over.’ You see, we were just kind of lucky for 20 years, and there wasn’t much inflation. So, maybe you’ve never lived in a time when there was inflation. So, you think, oh, Trump, no inflation, Biden, inflation, me vote Trump.”

Maher concluded, “Reagan, of course, won in 1980, and we were in terrible economic shape, and he said he got the country back in the right way and Morning in America was the slogan in 1984. Inflation was 4.3 in 1984 when it was Morning in America, now, it’s less, 3.2. Unemployment, when it was morning, was 7.5, now, it’s 3.9. The interest rate was over 10% in the morning. Now, it’s half that, 5.3. The S&P 500 returned only 1.4% in 1984. In 2023, it returned 24%. A little bit is our expectations are different, is it not?”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett