Someone has a Tin Ear and I don’t mean the Tin Man
Allison Silberberg's Plain Talk
By Allison Silberberg
December 11, 2025
Someone has a Tin Ear, and I don’t mean the Tin Man.
There’s a lot of talk these days about affordability.
But President Trump keeps claiming that the affordability issue is a Democratic hoax. If Trump doesn’t agree with something, he dismisses it as a hoax. With the affordability issues, he is digging a hole for himself, because the people of our country know what they see every time they spend money. Trump is digging a hole and maybe we should just let him keep digging.
Mr. President, have you gone to a grocery store or Target lately? If you had, what you would see is pretty shocking.
Everything is more expensive. One bag of staples at a grocery store can easily cost $30. Meat prices are way up, and so is coffee. Electricity is up over 13%. Everyone is suffering because of the combination of inflation and tariffs. Months ago, after dire warnings about the impact of tariffs, Trump sarcastically said that our children will be fine with one or two dolls instead of 30. But he totally missed the point. What if many families can’t afford basics, much less a doll, this holiday season?
Our farmers are struggling because of Trump’s ridiculous tariff schemes. Ask the farmers how they like the tariffs. This week’s Trump infusion of $12 billion to the farmers sounds awesome until the farmers share that they have actually lost over $48 billion due to the tariffs. So Trump’s infusion is no gift after he inflicted such a severe wound on our farmers, and caused food prices to soar for all of us. This infusion is a political band-aid on a gaping wound.
Restaurant owners are feeling the pinch as well since increased food prices have caused a drop off on customers’ ability to dine out. Tariffs and inflation have a ripple effect that is felt throughout our economy.
Like all of us, I go shopping to restock essential items such as cleaning products and personal care products. It is shocking to see the escalation of prices on these items that all Americans purchase for daily living.
Tin Ear Trump is focused not on the struggles of Americans but rather on enlarging his White House ballroom for more lavish parties, all while living in his own gilded bubble. He makes King Louis XIV look like a choir boy. In fact, Trump sometimes sounds like Marie Antoinette. Instead of saying to the American people, “Let them eat cake,” Trump seems to be saying that We the People are making it all up and that things are going great. Things are great for whom?
Here’s the deal. Trump cannot talk his way out of this mess. His policies are an economic disaster. The tariffs are a disaster. Unless you are building a data center or you run a chip plant, the business community is reeling.
Starting two nights ago, Trump has embarked on a slew of stops in red-state cities to tout how great he thinks the economy is doing. Well, I have news for our rapidly aging leader: you cannot convince the American people that the economy is treating them well, especially when it’s not.
Interviews with Trump supporters who attended these rallies reveal that many were not persuaded by his rambling monologue, nor that Trump understands what his policies have done to average Americans. Perhaps the public, and even some Republican leaders, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, are waking up to the falsehoods that Trump is spewing and the devasting impact they are having on Americans.
And now we are beginning to see the impact of Trump’s plan to end the ACA health care subsidies, which have enabled tens of millions of Americans to finally afford health insurance. Just wait until everyone’s health insurance bills hit. Families are preparing to drop their health care coverage due to the loss of these subsidies. One friend’s monthly premium basically tripled from just under $350 to well over $1,000. Others have it far worse. And let’s be clear: whether or not you have health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act, it won’t matter. Everyone’s health insurance premiums will be affected and will go way up. Our fragile health care system is taking an unnecessary gut punch.
Realizing the health care disaster that is about to unfold, Republicans on Capitol Hill put forward a last-minute alternative for those using the Affordable Care Act for their health insurance. Their main goal appears to be to avoid talking about the subsidies and create some new, untested plan to avoid discussion of the elimination of the subsidies. The Republican plan would have a massive deductible, making a person’s health insurance very painful when medical care is needed.
Add the loss of health care to the growing food insecurity in our nation, and now we will soon see a tsunami of tragic proportions. If families are not able to maintain a healthy diet, this will add to their health challenges.
Of course, Tin Ear Trump doesn’t care about the body blows Americans are taking due to these policies. While We the People are suffering, according to recent press reports, Trump has made over $800 million since taking office, using the Office of the President as a way to enrich himself and his family, not to mention those in the administration and various friends of the family.
Trump has obliterated the Emoluments Clauses, which are Constitutional provisions that are supposed to keep a president or any public official from benefiting or profiting from foreign or domestic governments. Trump has repeatedly used the presidential office to enrich himself and his family while accusing the media and the rest of us of exaggerating the pain we are feeling as he embodies an unprecedented level of greed.
The people are mad. Even if some Americans are doing well, they should be angry as well because what is happening is not right and it’s not fair. The American people know all of us deserve fairness.
It’s the holiday season, and Trump continues to shout at us all that he is doing a great job and that our concerns are nonsense. He is thumping his chest at us with his own “Bah! Humbug!” The growing divide between the haves and have-nots is blatantly obvious. Tin Ear Trump doesn’t care.
Allison Silberberg is a writer and public affairs/public policy consultant. She served as mayor of Alexandria, Virginia, 2016-2019. Her work includes working on staff on Capitol Hill for Senator Lloyd M. Bentsen (D-TX). She is the author of “Visionaries In Our Midst: Ordinary People who are Changing our World,” which hit #1 on Amazon’s List for Philanthropy & Charity. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Dallas Morning News, on PBS.org. To learn more, please visit: www.allisonsilberberg.com
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