MaddowBlog-The more Trump focuses on electricity prices, the more rising costs matter

[LetMyPeopleVote]

As electricity costs climb, Trump could try to avoid blame for the problem. He prefers to push an alternate reality in which the problem doesn’t exist.

As electricity costs climb, Trump could try to avoid blame for the problem. He prefers to push an alternate reality in which the problem doesn’t exist.

I continue to believe there’s a qualitative difference between regular ol’ lying and self-defeating lying. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-12-30T18:59:35.397Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/the-more-trump-focuses-on-electricity-prices-the-more-rising-costs-matter

As the editorial board of The New York Times recently explained, “Electricity prices are almost 10 percent higher than they were a year earlier, according to the most recent numbers.”

The editorial conceded that multiple factors have contributed to the rising costs, but the Times’ editors added that the Republican administration’s energy policies “are not helping — and will soon make matters worse.”

A new report in The Wall Street Journal pointed in the same direction.

Most Americans are paying more for electricity — and need to prepare their wallets for further pain ahead.

Data centers are getting much of the blame lately for rising power costs, but they aren’t the only catalyst and don’t always cause increases. The reasons our bills are rising are complex and varied. Hurricanes, wildfires, state renewable-energy plans and the replacement of aging or damaged grid equipment are all playing a role.

.....The curious thing about these developments is that Trump could plausibly explain why rising electricity prices are not entirely his fault. But instead of making the case to the public about why he doesn’t bear full responsibility for the problem, the president has decided to manufacture an alternate reality in which the problem doesn’t exist, and electricity costs are “way down.”

That the president is the nation’s most prolific liar is nothing new, but I continue to believe there’s a qualitative difference between regular ol’ lying and self-defeating lying. Often, when Trump peddles nonsense, the American mainstream isn’t immediately sure what to believe, and it falls to media fact-checkers to offer the public guidance on what’s true and what’s not.

But when the president tells Americans that electricity prices are “coming down … beautifully,” no one needs a fact-checker; they just need a bill from their local power company.