Trump's Asheville TicTac Trick

In a recent spectacle that can only be described as vintage Donald Trump, the former president took to the stage in Asheville, North Carolina, to enlighten us all on the perils of inflation. And what better way to do this than by brandishing a pack of TicTacs, of all things, to make his point? Yes, you read that correctly: the man who once described his nuclear capabilities as "the biggest and the best" is now reducing the complexities of inflation to the size of a mint.

As Trump rattled the TicTac box like a maraca, he warned the crowd that under President Kamala Harris's administration (because, of course, he’s already moved past the notion of a second Biden term), even these little breath fresheners would become unaffordable. This is Trump’s version of high economic analysis—forget graphs, charts, or actual data; just a pack of mints and some hyperbole, and voilà, you’ve got a financial forecast.

Now, it's easy to laugh this off as another one of Trump’s carnival tricks, but there’s something more insidious at play here. Trump’s TicTac tirade isn't just a harmless bit of showmanship. It’s part of his broader strategy to simplify, exaggerate, and manipulate complex issues into digestible sound bites that stick in the minds of his followers. Who needs to understand the actual causes of inflation, like supply chain disruptions or energy costs, when you can just shake a TicTac box and blame everything on Harris?

The irony, of course, is that Trump’s own economic policies contributed to the very inflation he now rails against. The 2017 tax cuts, which ballooned the deficit, and his trade wars, which disrupted global supply chains, are conveniently left out of the TicTac demonstration. But who needs historical context when you’ve got a crowd-pleasing prop?

This stunt also reveals a lot about how Trump views his base. He doesn’t see them as informed citizens capable of understanding complex economic issues; he sees them as a captive audience eager for simple answers to difficult problems. It's the same playbook he used in 2016, and he’s betting that a four-year dose of Trumpism hasn’t changed their appetite for easy solutions and grandiose promises.

But here’s the rub: inflation is a real and serious issue that deserves more than a cheap parlor trick. Americans are feeling the squeeze, and they deserve leaders who will tackle the problem with thoughtful policy, not empty theatrics. Using TicTacs to illustrate inflation might get a laugh or two, but it’s not going to put food on the table or keep the lights on.

In the end, Trump’s Asheville appearance was a masterclass in deflection and distraction. By focusing on a pack of mints, he managed to avoid any substantive discussion of the real issues at hand. But that’s Trump in a nutshell—or should I say, in a TicTac box? Always ready with a quip, always short on substance, and always, always inflating his own importance at the expense of the truth.