Donald Trump just went from claiming gas prices were as low as $1.99 a few months ago and even a week ago to $2.50 now. He advertised it as a huge cut despite the obvious spike. But the funnier part is that actual gas prices are nowhere near those figures.
When Trump announced the government’s reopening this week, he took the time to boast about his war against inflation, too. Except, it only came out as a war against statistics. “Again, costs are way down. Energy is way down. Gasoline is at $2.50 a gallon, versus $4.70 for the Democrats. And we think we’re going to hit pretty close to $2 a gallon,” he announced. Sounds all good? Let’s pin this against his statement from a few months back.
In July, Trump claimed that “We had $1.99 a gallon today in five different states. In the free market, we have gasoline getting down to the low twos, and in some cases, even breaking that.” Unsurprisingly, the data showed that no state had gas prices averaging $1.98 in July. The actual national average in July was about $3.14, with the cheapest price sitting at $2.72 in Mississippi (via Politico)
Retail prices have not once touched $1.99 in any state. The only way to reach Trump’s numbers is to cite wholesale futures, not what Americans pay at the pump. So, his demented brain first advertised gas prices at below $1.98, and then revised the fiction upward to $2.50, as though the lie itself needed inflation. The real average gas price in the U.S. currently is around $3.00–$3.10 per gallon (via Forbes).
According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), AAA, and other industry trackers, no state in America is averaging $2.50 gas prices, let alone flirting with $2. But this isn’t some rounding error. It’s a pattern of Trump’s truth inflation. He isn’t lying accidentally. He’s lying so aggressively that he’s now contradicting his own previous lies.
But common people did the math that Trump couldn’t. “If gasoline is at $2.50 now… then it INCREASED 52 cents from $1.98?” one user on X wrote. “So it went up 25% since July??” they asked, proving Trump “lies about his lies.” Even his supporters are left blinking at the arithmetic that collapses under the weight of its own performance. And at this point, everyone knows they can’t buy his fake facts.
“I wish I lived in the same country as this guy, sounds way nicer than how expensive things are here in the US,” one user poked fun. Another recounted driving across the country and paying between $3 and $4 everywhere. “And I have the receipts,” the user wrote. The numbers Trump presented as proof of his policy’s success turn out to be fictional after just one Google search. And despite making everything up, he still can’t keep a straight narrative.
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