As millions of Americans struggle with rising costs, MS NOW’s Luke Russert said President Donald Trump’s “inflation crisis” has come for his MAGA merch. On Tuesday’s “The Weeknight,” Russert and co-hosts Symone Sanders Townsend and Michael Steele reacted to a new report from The Washington Sun that found prices for several Trump-branded items have surged in recent years, far outpacing U.S. inflation.

In 2015, Make America Great Again hats, now a symbol of Trump’s political career, sold for $25 on the then-candidate’s website. In 2026, the same hats cost $55. The Washington Sun also reported that the website has raised the price of Trump’s Victory 45-47 perfume twice since its February 2024 debut at $99. It now costs $249. “That reeks of impropriety,” Russert said of the 151.52% increase.

“I guess they thought they were going to be exempt,” Sanders Townsend said, adding, “This is what happens” when people believe “the consequences from this administration” won’t affect them. “Now the little nasty perfume is twice than it was before.”

Steele said Trump had long “tapped” into a market in which he could put his name on almost any product and expect it to sell. Trump thought, he said, “I’ll put my face on something, and that’s enough. They will buy it.”

“And they have,” Steele continued. “Y’all have made Donald Trump a very, very wealthy man.”

But as the prices climb, the MS NOW host said, even some of Trump’s most devoted supporters are feeling the squeeze.

“When you go to look at a rally, you can see people decked out to the nines in MAGA merch,” Steele said. “But that roost has come home for a lot of these people because now they can’t afford the stuff.”

When contacted by The Washington Sun, the White House directed questions to the Trump Organization, which the outlet said did not respond to requests for comment.

The White House has repeatedly denied the president has profited from his office.

You can watch the full discussion from “The Weeknight” here.

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MS NOW’s Mika Brzezinski called out Republican Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy for his “sick and depraved” ad targeting his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton. The “Morning Joe” co-host said the controversial video, featuring Acton’s estranged mother, “lumps Republicans in a whole pot of ugly,” and she questioned whether the ad could have “ripple effects” for the party far beyond Ohio.

In the 60-second ad, Donna Arthur, whose husband, Cledith Arthur, was indicted on charges of raping Acton when she was a child, called her daughter a “liar” and said she had “a serious problem.” Acton has not spoken to her mother in almost five decades, after she defended Acton’s stepfather. Cledith Arthur fled the state and was never tried or convicted. Donna and Cledith Arthur remained married until his death in 2004.

When it began to circulate online Monday, the ad’s origin was unclear, but the Ramaswamy campaign confirmed on Tuesday night that it was responsible. Axios reported that the Republican was investing $4 million to air it statewide.

“They’re doubling down on this sick, depraved effort to dirty up their opponent by using Amy Acton’s mother against her,” Brzezinski said on Wednesday morning.

She called the video “as sick as it gets” and “as low as I’ve ever seen it.” She added, “And that’s saying a lot in the age of Trump.”

“There seems to be no lie too ugly for them, no trauma they won’t weaponize, no line they won’t cross for power,” Brzezinski continued. “This is the same Ramaswamy campaign that blamed Acton for a nursing home death that the records contradict. This is also the same party that swore immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating people’s pets.”

“Elections do have consequences, decency being one of them, and Ohio voters have a choice to make on this,” she said.

The MS NOW host predicted that the ad would backfire on the Ramaswamy campaign but wondered “if this will go beyond the Ohio governor’s race.” Brzezinski argued that it might remind voters of the Republican Party’s repeated efforts to block the release of the Epstein files.

“This lumps Republicans in a whole pot of ugly, whether it be from Epstein on down to taking an abused child’s mother and using that mother against the adult child in her campaign,” she said.

You can watch Brzezinski’s full comments in the clip at the top of the page.

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