As many American consumers have probably noticed, beef prices have recently reached new heights. When Donald Trump returned to power early last year, the average price of ground beef in the United States was $5.54 per pound. As of two months ago, it was $6.75. (January is the most recent month for which there is available data.)
The price hike has also not gone unnoticed among Republican officials, though they don’t seem to know exactly what to say about it.
In the president’s State of the Union address last week, for example, he said beef prices are “starting to come down significantly,” despite the evidence to the contrary. A day earlier, Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi offered different guidance to consumers who are struggling with costs: “You know, you have so many proteins to choose from.”
The same week, one of the more controversial members of the White House Cabinet had his own unique advice. The New Republic reported:
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy is addressing the affordability crisis by asking Americans to eat more liver and less steak.
‘There’s a lot of good food in grocery stores that goes to waste. Most of the cheap cuts of meat are very inexpensive. If you buy a porterhouse steak … it is gonna set you back,’ the secretary said as he gave the keynote address at the ‘Eat Real Food’ rally in Austin, Texas, on Thursday. ‘You can buy liver, or the cheaper cuts of steak that are very very affordable.’
That really is what he said.
Soon after, Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of California pleaded with the White House via social media to deploy the conspiratorial health secretary to competitive districts during the midterm elections so he can “tell Americans to eat liver or cheap cuts of meat to cope with surging inflation.”
Stepping back, Republican commentary on beef has been tough to swallow in recent years. In 2019, for example, between stints in the White House, conservative commentator Sebastian Gorka publicly insisted that Democrats were determined to ban hamburgers.
That wasn’t true, of course, but then five years later, as Election Day 2024 approached, Trump was asked to respond to a question from a child about his favorite farm animal.
“I’ll tell you what I love, I love cows,” he responded. “But if we go with [then-Democratic nominee Kamala Harris], you won’t have any cows anymore.”
It was not a one-time thing. The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank noted that the GOP candidate repeatedly warned voters at a variety of events that his Democratic opponent wanted to “get rid of your cows.” Trump added at one gathering, “You know, this is serious.” (It was not serious.)
A year and a half later, however, the party’s messaging on beef has gotten even weirder.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
