Several times a week, without fail, the legacy media gives the front-page RedState writers ample reason to remind our readers that you simply do not hate the media enough. They make it so easy to ding them, seriously. And Saturday brought just the latest example, this time from the Associated Press (AP), on what should be a perennial piece of benign journalism about how the prices of Super Bowl party food for 2025 compare to what Americans paid in 2024.
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You’ve likely seen these kinds of stories before, which also pop up around major holidays like Independence Day and Thanksgiving–the latter of which my colleague Jim Thompson wrote about last year:
CNBC: The Beating Will Stop When Morale Improves – Thanksgiving Turkey Will Be Historically Cheap
Anyway, the convoluted headline on AP’s Twitter-X post didn’t exactly signal a strong game plan:
In case you can’t see the post, it reads:
Winging it for the Super Bowl? Broccoli might be a cheaper party snack this year
Understandably, since many users of social media don’t bother to click on and actually read the story–based on the high number of comments leaning in one direction–some people were under the impression that the culprit that the wire service writer was set to vilify was meat and/or anyone who eats it.
Before we get to that part, let’s back up and look at how the AP came up with such a strained thesis:
Economists with the Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute found a surprising spread in prices for popular game-day ingredients and prepared foods so finding a balance between more expensive items and those that have dropped in price can help keep the budget from running out of bounds.
They’ve pegged the price for a Super Bowl party menu for 10 people at around $139 this year, just 0.1% more than last year.
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Here’s where the broccoli/chicken example comes in. They compare the price of the veggie going down (7.2 percent), and include other less-expensive foods, like celery and shrimp, while highlighting the fact that chicken wings have gone up (seven percent) from last Feb.
A review of data from NielsenIQ, which tracks food scanned at retailers across the U.S., shows that celery and broccoli are the best veggies for dipping this year, as both have seen price decreases. Potato chips, frozen shrimp and cauliflower also have seen decreases.
…
Chicken wings continue to be a favorite, but they come at a premium this year. They’re up by more than 7%, an increase that reflects not just inflation but also a sustained consumer demand that supports higher prices.
Even if you read the whole article, you’ll see that there’s no mention of the mass culling of poultry due to bird flu concerns pushing up those prices–a sign of total journalistic malpractice. As we wrote in December 2024:
Nearly 100 million chickens and other poultry have been killed this year to stop the spread of the disease, and they show signs of wanting to go after cattle because birds or something.
Earlier on Saturday, I shared that Pres. Trump held to his word and followed through on imposing new tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China in a new executive order:
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Just the facts on tariffs:
NEW: Trump Follows Through on Holding Canada, Mexico, and China Accountable, Signs EO
Trump to Impose Hefty Tariffs on Canadian, Mexican Imports—As Soon As the Weekend
Anyway, surprisingly, the legacy hacks aren’t trying to vilify meat here, but the new Trump tariff policy…and on top of that, using the stale fear tactic of insinuating that the higher cost of the spread for “big game” get-togethers this year will be Trump’s fault. Here’s how they couched it:
The Associated Press claimed that consumers hoping to side-step inflation while shopping for party snacks would face “even more of a challenge as the Trump administration looks for opportunities to impose more tariffs.”
So no, the story is not a sop for vegetarians, but a creative new angle to pin former President Joe Biden’s failures on Donald Trump’s nascent term. They truly want to attack the president any way they possibly can, and they hit on one of the most viral topics right now–the Super Bowl–to try to turn Americans against the new administration’s plans.
Totally ridiculous. Not only haven’t the tariffs gone into effect, but the AP is continuing to use the shell game of claiming food prices are only up slightly, since the rate of inflation has eased. And the Federal Reserve took a pass on lowering rates just this week. Regular readers know that the propaganda is nothing new for Biden-Harris apologists on the left, who continue to pretend that inflation slowing on Americans’ grocery items is the same as prices going down.
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The problematic headline the AP chose here is likely to draw very few readers, so they aren’t even getting their larger point across. As I said, leave it to the media to make it to the one-yard-line, down a touchdown in the fourth quarter, and make such a boneheaded snap leading to a turnover–on what should be a super simple weekend economics story.
Read related: More Heat From the Ragin’ Cajun: James Carville Brutalizes Kamala Campaign With Vicious Football Metaphor
