With an estimated net worth of between $5 billion and $7 billion and a penchant for coating every surface in the White House with what he says is 18-karat gold leaf paint, President Donald Trump isn’t exactly an expert on cutting personal expenses.
But after the uber-wealthy former real estate developer claimed record toy prices caused by his tariffs were fine because girls “don’t need 37 dolls” and could do with “two or three” instead, his official spokesman was left reeling when asked to defend the eye-popping remarks.
Asked about Trump’s claim that Americans could “give up certain products” and limit toy purchases because the tariffs have caused prices to go up on the 80 percent of toys on the American market that are imported from China, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt first told reporters that the president’s comments were intended as an exhortation to buy more expensive ones instead of those made from America.
“Maybe you’ll pay $1 or two more, but you’ll get better quality, and you’ll be supporting your fellow Americans by buying American and that’s what the President was saying,” she said.
But when The Independent pressed on whether it’s appropriate that one of the richest men in the country should be lecturing cash-strapped parents about how many dolls their children need, Leavitt irately pivoted to reframe Trump’s wealth as a positive while ignoring the substance of the question.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Washington (AP)
“You think the people in that room in Pennsylvania that the President was speaking to don’t know that the President is a billionaire? I think that’s a well-established fact,” she said.
Leavitt continued her monologue by claiming that Trump’s billionaire status was an integral part of why voters chose to return him to the White House in last year’s election over then-vice president Kamala Harris.
“In fact, I think it’s one of the many reasons they re-elected him back to this office, because he’s a businessman who understands the economy and knows how to fix it, and he’s doing it right now, just like he did in his first term,” she said.
Despite Trump’s claims that he has lowered the cost of living for Americans since returning to the White House in January, voters are unhappy with his performance on affordability issues so far.
According to a recent Gallup poll, only 36 percent of voters approve of his performance as president, giving him the lowest rating of his second term. A A politician a poll released this week showed 46 percent of respondents said the cost of living in America is worse than they can remember at any point, including 37 percent of voters who pulled the levers for Trump last year.
Nearly half of respondents also said they blame Trump — not Biden or Harris — for the current condition of the economy.
But at the same time, Trump continues to tout his own record, such as it is.
In an interview with A politician this week, he told correspondent Dasha Burns that he would give himself an “A-plus-plus-plus-plus” when she asked him to rate his own record on the economy so far.
And at the same time, Trump dismissed the Democrats’ focus on “affordability” heading into next year’s midterms as a “hoax” while he claimed that “the prices are very low” and accused the Democrats of having “caused” the high prices to persist almost a year into his second term in office.