“Americans must learn to adjust to a lower standard of living,” he told the crowd before suggesting a specific solution to prices hiked by his tariffs, which he continues to insist are a success. “You can give up certain products. You can give up pencils…You don’t need 37 dolls for your daughter. Two or three is nice.”
The problem is that even if at some level they realize this, self-deceit and denial is an easier way to deal with the feeling that maybe their whole world view has been a bad mistake, than admitting their whole world view has been a bad mistake and changing it.