Trump's Soaring Gas Prices are a "Good Thing" for Anyone but You

Trump claims “we” stand to make a ton of money off the war in Iran. But the “we” does not include you.

Trump, in his latest spiral, just tried to rebrand soaring gas prices as a good thing.

“The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money,” he wrote on Truth Social.

Who is “we?” I’ll tell you who it’s not: the voters who put this guy in office. Trump isn’t even trying to hide it anymore. When he says “we” make a lot of money, he means oil executives, and he means himself. Because that’s all Trump cares about. How he can put more money in his own pocket and deliver a payout for his billionaire cronies.

According to petroleum analyst, Patrick DeHaan, Americans today will spend roughly $250 million more on gasoline than they did 30 days ago. That’s over $1.5 billion per week.

That right there is the Trump gas tax.

Welcome to the Trump War Economy™

Trump is the king of branding. It’s his whole business model: Slap his name on the thing, sit back and watch the cash roll in. But Trump is also the king of failed business models. Trump Steaks, Trump University, Trump Casinos, he drove them all into the ground. One embattled failure after another. It’s like everything this guy touches turns to shit. (Maybe that’s why his toilets are gold.)

If you look at Trump’s war economy by the numbers, we have on our hands, yet another flop.

Nevermind that the Pentagon said today that the war cost $11.3 billion in the first six days. As mind-numbing as that number is, it’s not surprising given the blank check this administration allocates to defense.

Let’s take a look at his claim that “we make a lot of money” because of high gas prices. Experts say that this is a short term windfall for your ExxonMobils, your Chevrons, your Shells. All oil producers that don’t rely on supplies from the Middle East.

But there’s another layer here. Each of those companies gave at least a half million dollars to Trump’s inaugural committee. And oil and gas interests donated $75 million to Trump’s 2024 election campaign.

That’s the quid.

Now, last week, Qatar - the largest supplier of natural gas in the world - shut down production due to military attacks on its facilities. With supply constrained, oil prices skyrocketed. And once those facilities are down, they take weeks to come back online. Experts say that if they stay offline into the summer, those US oil companies stand to gain $20 billion more in profit every week.

And that’s the pro quo.

No Endgame is the Game

Every day, when Trump comes out with a new and different incoherent reason for starting this war and refuses to come up with an endgame, which forces Republicans to tap dance rather than answer questions, it’s not just a sign of his rapid cognitive decline (that’s a given). Having no plan was the plan all along. Trump has every incentive to keep this going on as long as possible, because it makes his friends rich.

But don’t forget about his family (he certainly won’t). Just days after Trump started the war, Don Jr. and Eric announced they’d invested in a military drone company called Powerus. Don Jr. sits on the board of another drone company called Unusual Machines, which coincidentally announced a government contract worth $15.2 million right after he came aboard. They’re moments away from changing their LinkedIn titles to “war profiteer.”

That’s the whole point.

Pay No Attention

Once again, Trump is telling you not to believe your lying eyes. He tells you high gas prices are great for everyone. Meanwhile Americans are getting crushed by them, along with soaring energy costs, grocery bills, rent, health insurance… every single campaign promise Trump ran on, broken.

It’s going to backfire. Donald Trump himself exploited the Democrats’ gaslighting on the state of the economy to win the 2024 election. But now he’s fallen into the exact same trap, and the rest of his party is falling right in line, parroting his delusional belief that “everything’s great!”

Americans aren’t buying it anymore. That’s why we’re seeing double-digit swings to the left in places Trump and Republicans won handily in 2024. Trump is ignoring the fact that he’s decimating his support while lining his own pockets. And he and the Republicans are going to pay dearly for it, come November.