If you were born anytime after 1980, you’ve probably had an adult — be they a home-owning grandparent, a millionaire news host, or a billionaire receiving a tax cut — tell you that young people have it all wrong, and that the key to affording the American dream is simply to spend less money on things you don’t need. “When I was trying to buy my first home, I wasn’t buying smashed avocado for $19 and four coffees at $4 each,” Australian millionaire Tim Gurner said in a now infamous 2017 60 Minutes segment that became the subject of widespread mockery online.
Since then, the gap between prices and wages has only grown wider — particularly for young people. The median age for a first-time home buyer recently reached a record high of 40. On top of the persistent economic strain felt by most Americans, they’re also being saddled with acute price shocks caused by President Donald Trump’s erratic policies at home and abroad, namely the sharp spike in gas prices resulting from the Iran war.
Everything feels more expensive, especially if you rely on a car for your day-to-day needs. Trump’s popularity is cratering, almost matching that of former president Richard Nixon around the time of his resignation. With the GOP staring the midterms down the barrel and a deeply unpopular executive steering their ship into very sharp rocks, you’d think 2026 candidates would abandon ship. Instead, they’re doubling down. If your pockets are hurting, it’s not because the president caused a global oil shock, it’s because you aren’t managing your money right.
“Stiff upper lip. Maybe you take one less trip to Starbucks and so that gas goes a little further,” Michele Tayofa, who won the Republican primary for Senate in Minnesota this week, said in a March radio appearance that has resurfaced online now that she is the GOP nominee. “Until this thing is over and these gas prices come back down again, let’s just try to be patriots about this.”
There you have it folks, drink less Starbucks, stop eating avocado toast, and maybe consider driving instead of flying to Thanksgiving this year — that should balance the books right up.
It’s a laughable message to voters that fits right in with the president’s claim that the affordability crisis is a “hoax.” Tafoya is a former NFL sideline reporter who could presumably afford all the Starbucks she would like, and the comment was immediately criticized as out of touch with working class Americans.
“That is absolutely not how I would define my patriotism. I think this illegal war in Iran that has been incredibly unpopular, but also has, you know, raised our gas prices, our fertilizer prices has really devastated folks,” Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, Tafoya’s Democratic opponent in the Senate race, told MS NOW on Wednesday in response to the comments.
Funnily enough, days before the comments resurfaced, Christina Pushaw — communications advisor to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and a prolific poster — mocked the notion that buying less Starbucks would lead to a meaningful change in one’s economic condition.
“If you have a daily starbucks habit (IDK anyone who actually goes everyday, but for the sake of argument) you spend $2000/year on starbucks,” she wrote. “So if you stopped going to Starbucks, in only 40 years you’ll save enough money for a down payment on the median American home in 2026 🙄”
In a follow up post, Pushaw added that it was “frustrating when millionaire politicians are lecturing Americans about getting a coffee at a drive thru while our government is spending like drunken sailors trillions in debt.”
It’s the tale of Trump’s second term. Republicans can’t bring themselves to put a leash on the president, so instead they continue to ask Americans to tighten their belts.
