Corporate media thought they had Trump on ropes over egg prices

The corporate media believed they had President Donald Trump trapped in a corner when it came to rising egg prices, but the costs of eggs soon dropped dramatically.

Despite the media’s groaning, the price of eggs dropped over 61% since Trump took office on January 20, which went down significantly from an all-time high cost of $8 a dozen in the first week of March. The average cost of eggs amounted to $6.41 on Jan. 21, Trump’s first full day of his second term, and that number currently stands at $2.57 as of Friday, according to Trade Economics.

In an attempt to shift criticism from former President Joe Biden to Trump regarding egg prices, corporate media outlets highlighted expensive egg prices, tried to fact-check Trump’s statements on prices and repeatedly predicted that Trump would never be able to bring down the costs.

The Associated Press wrote on March 7 that the Democrats believed that rising egg prices were their “road to recovery.” It noted that the Department of Agriculture expected egg prices to go up by 41% in 2025, and quoted Democrats pinning the rising prices on Trump.

PBS News also published an April 10 article titled, “Egg prices increase to record high despite Trump promises and curbing bird flu outbreak,” which attempted to claim that Trump did not uphold his promises to lower egg prices.

“Trump tried to take credit for the lower wholesale egg prices the USDA reported in recent weeks. But experts say the president’s plan to fight bird flu by focusing on strengthening egg farmers’ defenses against the virus is likely to be more of a long-term help,” the piece, written by John Funk, said.

In February, The New York Times published the headline, “Inflation Is Trump’s Problem Now,” which claimed that Trump inherited a “strong economy” and would have to “contend” with rising egg prices due to bird flu. It quoted Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at LPL Financial, stating that the rise in egg prices was the “largest increase in roughly a decade.”

Several outlets attempted to “fact-check” Trump as he touted the prices of eggs coming down. The Times continued to try and highlight the egg prices under Trump even when they dropped by more than half of a percent within just a few months of his second term. Linda Qiu, a reporter for the Times, wrote that the wholesale price of eggs were not yet “reflected” in the retail price, making consumers still pay high prices for eggs.

CBS News and CNN both accused Trump in April of lying about the rapid decrease in prices. CNN claimed on April 23 that Trump lied when he touted that the wholesale cost of eggs had gone down by 94% since he began his second term.

“A decline of 93% or 94% from the national average consumer cost of a dozen large Grade A eggs in January, about $4.95, would mean that eggs are now costing consumers under 38 cents per dozen. Any grocery shopper can tell you that is nowhere close to true; in March, this national average price hit a record high of about $6.23 per dozen. It’s very possible the April average is lower — the data will be published in May — but clearly not nearly as low as Trump said,” the CNN piece said.

In a separate article, CNN claimed on Feb. 27 that while Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins provided a detailed plan to lower egg prices, the outlet argued that American consumers should not “expect relief” on egg prices.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins laid out her “comprehensive strategy” to lower egg prices in a Feb. 26 op-ed in The Wall Street Journal. Her five-step plan included dedicating $500 million to help poultry farmers with biosecurity measures, provide millions more in financial relief for farmers impacted by the avian flu, research vaccinations and therapeutics for egg-laying chickens, remove unnecessary regulations on egg producers and temporarily import eggs from other countries.

As egg prices began to drop, NBC News claimed that grocery shoppers were bracing to pay more for eggs and other food items. A Reuters article from April 3 suggested that Trump’s tariffs would cause egg prices to soar just as they started decreasing from record-high levels.

USA Today columnist Rex Huppke published an op-ed on April 19 claiming that Trump “ruined Easter with his astronomical egg prices.” The op-ed claimed that the president “failed” to lower egg prices, had lied about egg prices going down and made prices soar even more from his tariffs.

“If there’s one thing that can be said with certainty, it’s that President Donald Trump has ruined Easter for all Americans. Despite near-constant campaign promises that he would swiftly lower the price of groceries ‒ namely eggs, a rather key component in Easter egg hunts ‒ Trump has failed,” Huppke complained. “Eggs hit a record high of $6.23 a dozen in March … Good job voting for Trump. Now get out there with the kids and tell them to enjoy their Easter potato hunt! Maybe later they can come inside for some scrambled nothing and a side of brightly colored hash browns.”

The media spewed this same kind of rhetoric on television. “The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg falsely claimed during an April 9 segment that egg prices had not fallen by “one cent” since Trump took office, though in reality, the costs of eggs had fallen 44% at the time since the start of 2025.

“[Trump] did promise to lower the price of groceries, I have not seen an egg fall one cent since this man got in,” Goldberg said, with co-host Sunny Hostin falsely adding that they were going up.

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Over at MSNBC, “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough claimed during a March 7 segment that egg prices were going up under Trump’s watch.

“I don’t know if anybody has noticed, but the price of eggs, the price of meat, the price of groceries [are] continuing to go up and that is going to continue certainly while there’s uncertainty around tariffs,” Scarborough said.

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CNN host Abby Phillip aired a fact-checking segment for Trump on April 23 as he said that the “cost of eggs has come down like 93, 94%,” though she still had to admit that egg prices had fallen despite Trump having exaggerated the numbers.

“Not even close. The national average for a dozen eggs, as I’m sure you know, is above $6. That is a decline of 55% from a year high, but not nearly 94%,” Phillip said.

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CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale also emphasized that Trump exaggerated how much egg prices had dropped, and said that egg prices had risen to a “record-high” during an April 24 segment of “The Lead.” He told CNN host Jake Tapper that consumers were still spending a costly amount on eggs at the grocery store even as wholesale prices went down.

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MSNBC’s Ari Melber highlighted how Trump vowed to lower prices, including the cost of eggs, at the beginning of his term, but gleefully claimed that Trump had failed to fulfill that promise during a Feb. 25 segment.

“And while overall inflation has continued from, of course, the prior administration and while President Trump has only been in office for one month, this is one of the promises he has kept yet,” Melber said.

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Melber then aired a clip of Trump during a November 4 rally, where he promised that the costs of groceries would go down. The MSNBC host said that “more and more Americans” are concerned about egg prices under Trump, and that he could not live up to his promises.

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