Gas prices rose 18.5 cents per gallon over the past seven days, and sit at $4.44 a gallon at this writing on Monday, according to data from GasBuddy, which also measures the price of a gallon of diesel at $6.49 a gallon, up 30.7 cents a gallon in the past seven days.
This, as Donald Trump tells us that high gas and diesel prices are an “inexpensive price” to pay to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Just to remind you, Trump claimed last summer, after launching air strikes on Iran, that the strikes had “obliterated” the nation’s nuclear capabilities.
Then, eight months later, he went to all-out war with Iran, which he said would be over in a few days.
We’re seven months into those few days.
Trump is also blaming Joe Biden for the high prices, which is what he does, but, fact check: the average for a dollar of regular unleaded was $3.11 a gallon when Trump took office last year, and diesel was $3.62 a gallon.
How, again, are the prices that we’re paying at the pump now the problem of the guy who handed over the keys to the White House to Trump 20 months ago?
You know, other than this Trump guy not being able to take responsibility for a single thing he’s ever done wrong – either his six business bankruptcies before somehow finding himself elected president, or running up $11 trillion in debt during his two terms?
Trump is the president now; he’s the one who promised to end the war in Ukraine, which is one major component in our high prices at the pump, on “Day 1”; he’s also the one who let himself get talked into going to war with Iran by Benjamin Netanyahu, who wanted war to be able to create a path for him to win re-election.
If Trump can just snap his fingers and end one or both, just do it, then.
Because, for the second time in the last decade, Trump inherited an economy that was doing well, and has run it into the ground, with bad policy choices.
“Average gasoline prices rose in virtually every state over the last week, with 45 states seeing increases of more than 3 cents per gallon,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “Diesel rose in every state, with five states seeing increases exceeding 50 cents per gallon, as continued strikes on Russian oil refineries tighten global diesel supply – a pressure further amplified in the Great Lakes by regional refinery issues. Any broader directional change will depend heavily on overseas developments, and with new Houthi attacks and fresh U.S.-Iran escalations, the outlook remains deeply uncertain.”
Joe Biden can’t do anything about any of that.