A week after Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump proposed restricting food imports when asked how he’d lower the cost of food and groceries, many major newspapers, newswires, and broadcast news programs continue to ignore his proposal, which would lead to higher food prices for American consumers. And while broadcast news programs failed to report on the question and Trump’s long, rambling response, NBC late night host Seth Meyers and CBS late night host Stephen Colbert both highlighted Trump’s incoherence.

During a September 17 town hall in Flint, Michigan, an audience member asked Trump how he would “bring down the cost of food and groceries.” After Trump rambled about unrelated energy prices and Federal Reserve interest rates, he responded:

Media Matters noted previously that several economists explained that Trump’s proposal would raise food prices, not lower them. 

Some national news outlets, including Axios, noted that “Trump’s vow to lower grocery costs will backfire,” and writing in The Atlantic, the Cato Institute’s Scott Lincicome and Sophia Bagley described the folly of “Trump’s deranged plan to lower food prices by raising them.” MSNBC prime-time host Chris Hayes also mentioned Trump’s response to the food price question.

But many of the most prominent and influential major news organizations in the country failed to cover Trump’s comments at all. 

Factiva searches turned up no coverage at all from The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press, and Reuters between September 17 and noon on September 24. 

A SnapStream search of the same time frame also turned up no coverage from the broadcast morning and evening news programming of ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS, along with the corporate networks’ Sunday political talk shows.

Instead, CBS’ Evening News and PBS' NewsHour covered Trump’s farming-focused September 23 event in Pennsylvania, during which he threatened farm equipment manufacturer John Deere with 200% tariffs. 

NBC’s Nightly News and Today covered Trump’s prearranged visit to a Pennsylvania grocery store the same day, where he gave $100 to a potential voter as a campaign stunt (a possible federal crime). 

And The Associated Press reported on both September 23 events. These reports, however, failed to mention Trump’s incoherent answer on food prices from the previous week, even though he specifically mentioned that he would restrict imports of “farm product.”

Meanwhile, two of these networks’ late night comedy shows did cover his rambling response.

Both NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers and CBS’ Late Night with Stephen Colbert drew attention to the incoherent nature of Trump attempting, and failing, to explain how he would lower food prices, while their networks’ news programs ignored it. 

Seth Meyers even helpfully contextualized the actual reason that grocery prices spiked in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting both the incoherence of Trump's rambling response and the ease with which a news network could have informed its viewers about the topic.

Methodology

Media Matters searched print articles in the Factiva database from The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press, and Reuters for any of the terms “Trump,” “former president,” “nominee,” or “candidate” within the same headline or paragraphs as any of the terms “food,” “energy,” “interest” or “rate” or any variation of either of the terms “grocery” or “farmer” from September 17, 2024, when GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump answered a question about how he would lower food prices during a Michigan town hall, through noon on September 24, 2024.

We also searched transcripts in the SnapStream video database for all original episodes of ABC's Good Morning America, World News Tonight, and This Week; CBS' Mornings, Evening News, and Face the Nation; NBC's Today, Nightly News, and Meet the Press; and PBS’ NewsHour for for any of the terms “Trump,” “former president,” “nominee,” or “candidate” within close proximity of any of the terms “food,” “energy,” “interest” or “rate” or any variation of either of the terms “grocery” or “farmer” from September 17, 2024, through noon on September 24, 2024.

We included articles, which we defined as instances when Trump’s comments responding to a question about lowering the cost of food were mentioned in the headline or lead paragraphs in any section of the newspaper or newswire.

We also included segments, which we defined as instances when Trump’s comments responding to a question about lowering the cost of food were the stated topic of discussion or when we found significant discussion of the comments. We defined significant discussion as instances when two or more speakers in a multitopic segment discussed the comments with one another.