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Hi everyone, and welcome to this week’s edition of Receipts. Today I’m writing about ground beef, Walmart, and the president’s insatiable need to take credit for anything that might make him look good . . . including a superstore summer sale.
It might seem like a silly story, at least on its face. But Trump’s decision to hawk Walmart hamburger meat says a lot about where we are as a country, as well as the president’s respect for free markets and rule of law.
Got another example of a private-sector development Trump took credit for? Leave it in the comments. And if you’re not already a member of Bulwark+, I hope you’ll consider joining. It’s a steal of a deal, even if the president doesn’t think so.
–Catherine
The Price of Staying on Trump’s Good Side
A classic trick in the Trump playbook: take credit for a company’s sale or investment that was already in the works.
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GREAT NEWS! THERE’S A BRAND-NEW marketing hack, courtesy of our salesman-in-chief. If you need free advertising, just claim you have a terrific deal, and say Donald Trump convinced you to do it. He won’t be able to resist hawking your wares.
Earlier this week Walmart found itself enlisted in such a marketing campaign, when President Trump posted that at his administration’s “request to celebrate our great Country’s 250th birthday” the company would be “dropping the price for a pound of ground beef by almost 15%, among many other products.”
This is a huge deal for the many millions of Americans who, smartly, shop at Walmart, which is a truly patriotic Company who loves the U.S.A.
There are a few things worth noting about this.
First, if you’ve ever shopped at Walmart—or really any major superstore—you know they have sales and promotions all the time. Especially around midsummer. In fact, consumer analysts sometimes refer to the doldrums of July as “promotion week,” as retailers offer deep discounts to lure errant, sunshine-soaking shoppers back indoors.
In Walmart’s case, a spokesperson told me that the retailer began one of its regular price “Rollback” events early last week—i.e., the week before Trump blasted out his claim that price cuts were imminent and would be happening at his request.¹
The backstory, according to unnamed sources cited by the Wall Street Journal, is that a USDA official had a phone call with Walmart, Kroger, and Albertsons in the days before July Fourth to discuss beef prices.² During that call, per the Journal, Walmart said that it “already had plans to reduce prices on many items for the summer, including beef.”
USDA, which has been arguing for months that beef prices have been artificially inflated, relayed that information to Trump, who seems to have misunderstood the timing, blasted out the news, and claimed credit for the price cuts.
When contacted for comment, Walmart referred me to a statement it had released minutes after that Trump post on Monday. The statement read like pretty much every other superstore press release, promoting price cuts at Walmart and Sam’s Club for select summer cookout staples like hot dogs and a store-brand ice cream.
The statement did not mention Trump, and a Walmart spokesperson declined comment on the record further.
In a normal democracy—one with, say, free markets and the rule of law—a major retailer should have no issue publicly confirming that it made pricing decisions for business reasons only, and not under any sort of political pressure. Firms should be able to say that they are prioritizing shareholder interests (as they are legally required to do) rather than the president’s ego. But we do not live in that kind of democracy at the moment. We live in Donald Trump’s America, where corporations might reasonably fear retribution if they contradict his preferred message—or worse, embarrass him.
After all, last year, when Walmart executives merely acknowledged the obvious fact that higher tariffs would feed into higher prices, Trump fired a warning shot at the retailer.
“Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain,” he posted on Truth Social. And then, echoing the greedflationists among the populist left, he complained about how much money the company was making: “Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year, far more than expected. Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, ‘EAT THE TARIFFS,’ and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!”
If you believe in quaint notions like the rule of law, and if you think companies ought to be able to lower prices without looping in the president, you’d fit right in here. Consider signing up for a Bulwark+ membership and joining our growing pro-democracy community.
Trump’s Everyday Low Vices
THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME that Trump has amplified, and claimed credit for, a company’s promotions, with or without its consent. In fact it’s not even the first time he did it with Walmart.
Last Thanksgiving, he claimed credit for what Walmart touted as its “best offer yet.” At multiple rallies he cheered that “Thanksgiving this year will cost 25 percent less than Thanksgiving last year under Sleepy Joe Biden.”
In that case, Walmart’s Thanksgiving bundle had indeed gotten cheaper—because the bundle included different brands and fewer food products than the previous year’s deal. So not quite apples to apples (or turkeys to turkeys, or whatever). But who cares about pesky methodological considerations, given the potential for mutually beneficial free advertising?