Exactly two months ago, on the sixth day of the war in Iran, Donald Trump hosted a White House event intended to honor a championship soccer team, though the president took some time to comment on an issue on the minds of many.
“Yesterday, my administration announced decisive action to help keep down the oil prices,” the Republican declared. Moments later, he went on to say oil prices “have pretty much stabilized.”
It was never altogether clear what “decisive” actions the president was referring to, but two months later, it’s painfully clear that those mysterious moves failed to “pretty much stabilize” prices. MS NOW reported:
The average price for a gallon of gas in the U.S. reached $4.46 [on Monday] as the standstill in the Strait of Hormuz continues to strain global energy markets. The average price for one gallon of diesel fuel topped $5.64, according to national averages tracked by AAA.
A day later, that national average inched higher, reaching $4.48 per gallon, while the average for diesel climbed to $5.66.
Chart: Carson Elm-Picard / MS NOW; Source: AAA
An analysis published by Bloomberg News described the recent trend as the sharpest spike in pump prices in at least three decades, and while the president has continued to insist that prices will plummet after the war, the fact remains that (a) it’s far from clear when the conflict will be over; and (b) dozens of energy sites throughout the Middle East have been struck as part of the war; wells have to be reopened; and some infrastructure will have to be rebuilt, all of which will take time.
As for the politics, the White House and its allies appear to have no idea what to tell the public about this. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise appeared on CNBC last week, for example, and tried to argue that gas prices are lower now than they were in 2024.
“People will remember that two years ago, we were paying almost $6 a gallon for gas,” the Louisiana Republican said. “Right now, it’s $3.”
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He was spectacularly wrong on both points.
Around the same time, Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina appeared on Fox Business and told viewers, “Gas prices continue to come down,” even as gas prices continued to go up.
As for Trump, in March, he tried to pitch the public on the idea that higher prices were a good thing — a line that proves so foolish that even he didn’t repeat it — which gave way to the president saying in April that gas prices were “not very high.”
His latest line, offered on Tuesday morning, argued that higher prices at the pump are “a very small price to pay,” which is easy for him to say given he doesn’t have to worry about paying those prices.
As for the “decisive” actions he claims to have taken two months ago, that he said “pretty much stabilized” prices, Trump still hasn’t explained what in the world he was talking about, or why those undefined moves failed so badly.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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