Gas prices merrily skip along, ever rising as oil prices go up, helped along by Worst President Ever Donald Trump and his Band of Morons, who continue to screw up Iran. This moment is notable because, for one of the first times in history, the general rule that presidents have little influence over the global price of oil and local gasoline prices is completely out the window. Trump totally owns this.
The standard Republican response to failures of any sort since Nixon has been to lie, lie, lie. We saw this with Nixon and Vietnam, Watergate, etc. Then we saw this with Reagan and his awful response to AIDS, Iran-Contra, etc. Then Dubya with Iraq War 2, Katrina, etc.
Heckuva Job, Brownie wasn’t a mistake, it was a strategy. Just like the Mission Accomplished banner, or The Morning in America bullshit. If you repeat a big lie enough, people will believe it, a strategic political move with some dubious origins.
One of the many examples of how Nixon-Reagan-Bush I/II-Trump is a logical progression in the recent history of the Republican Party is how Trump has taken open lies to a whole new level. With the Iran War and gasoline prices, the Trump White House has taken open lying to a higher level than he has ever before, which is saying a lot.
Part of getting a job at the Trump White House is being willing and able to lie about everything and anything. It doesn’t matter anymore if the lies are consistent. Iran is both a war and not a war, a Schrodinger’s War, if you will.
BRENNAN: A blockade is an act of war. Are we at war with Iran?HASSETT: Uhm. You know, I don't know what the definition of war is when we're not shooting and negotiating.
But none of this matches the recent lies about the price of gasoline. At first, the lies were subtle.
51 days ago Trump’s Energy Secretary Chris Wright (a shill for Big Oil) said elevated gas prices were “temporary.”
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@govpressoffice.gov.ca.gov) 2026-04-28T21:00:07.486Z
But now, the lies are getting more and more bold and ridiculous. Take for example, the quote below: “Now yes, we’ve seen some gas prices fluctuation. Gas prices will go back down. Remember — high gas prices are the work of the Democrats.” This is just plain insane, and it’s coming from a Republican elected official.
Rep. Buddy Carter: "Remember, President Trump promised he'd make us safer and more prosperous. He's made us safer. He's made us more prosperous. Now yes, we've seen some gas prices fluctuation. Gas prices will go back down. Remember — high gas prices are the work of the Democrats."
One might think that cooler heads in the party would pull this guy aside and say to him “Hey, you know, gas prices are on huge signs all over the place and people can actually see them.” But nope, they’re doubling down. First, we have Failed Representative Steve Scalise, who has a lie so insane that not even a CNBC host could take it.
AAA, in Dec. 2024 the nat’l average price of gas was $3.04 p/gIn interviews, Scalise doubles what the price of gas was 2 yrs ago. He is trying to convince us we are better off now, because the House has done nothing to help us & voters have defected.I paid $3.77 in Scalise’s district today. 1/2
— Jane Voter (@janevoter2018.bsky.social) 2026-05-01T00:12:08.666Z
And then we have Tim Scott, who, as a Black Republican elected official, has to humiliate himself quite often or else the GOP rank-and-file might think him a little too uppity. But this is wild stuff. He cannot believe this is true. But, he has to go along with the assigned propaganda, his personal respectability be damned.
Scott: "The fact of the matter is that all of the cylinders are kicking. It is good news. You can even feel in our environment how good things are getting. Gas prices continue to come down, which means your groceries will come down a little bit as well. We've got a lot of good signs in the economy."
Again, gas prices are not really something that the GOP can lie about and convince anyone outside of their warped base that they are low, because they are all over the place on big signs that anyone can see while driving. I will say that, like the number of people who believe that Biden was president in 2020, the people who buy the shit that things are great with gas prices are going to be the most deluded of delusional MAGAs.
Wait, you might say, some people think Biden was president in 2020? C’mon, surely that can’t be! Oh, it be. I’ve had this argument with plenty of people who refuse to buy the idea that there is a significant number of folks who don’t seem to understand that winning the election in November 2020 doesn’t make you the president in May 2020. You see, there are Republican Congresscretins running with this assault on reality.
Rep. Greg Steube: "The Census Bureau admits that during the Biden administration they shortchanged Florida and Texas. They made a mistake during covid under the Biden administration, so we should've gotten another seat."(Trump in fact was the president in 2020.)
Republicans really will lie about anything, no matter how stupid or ridiculous. But the problem with their little attempt at gaslighting about gas prices, the fact checks can be found along America’s roads, in bright glowing numbers.
The last word goes to John Mayall.