“[Before the war] we got the prices down and we got them down to numbers that in some cases people have not seen before.”

The price level did not fall before the war. The unadjusted consumer price index stood at 317.671 in January 2025, the month he took office, and at 326.785 in February 2026, the month the war began, a rise of about 2.9 percent. Over the 12 months to February 2026 prices were up 2.4 percent, and coverage of that release reported inflation holding steady rather than falling.

Some prominent items did get cheaper, which is the claim's best defence. In February 2026 eggs were down 42.1 percent and gasoline down 5.6 percent from a year earlier. That is a claim about particular items, not about prices generally, and it does not reach the superlative he used. No price series shows a general level lower than any people had seen before.