President Donald Trump is trying out a new strategy: trying to convince Americans he’s not responsible for skyrocketing energy prices.
But Americans aren’t buying it and are already sending him a message he can’t ignore.
During a campaign event Sept. 16, in Gastonia, North Carolina, the president astonishingly denied he’s responsible for surging prices at the pumps.
He started by making a false claim he’s made before about the number of conflicts he insists he’s solved.
“I ended eight wars, and the one that’s the toughest is Russia-Ukraine. They have, the two leaders hate each other so much,” Trump said wonderingly as if he was truly baffled.
Then, in an offhand remark, he added, “Hatred is very interesting. War is very interesting, but it’s too bad.”
Suddenly, though, an idea struck him. He veered off script and invented a head-scratching explanation for the high gas and diesel prices that is provably false.
“Actually, that’s the war that’s driving up the diesel prices,” he astoundingly claimed. He was referring to Russia and Ukraine, apparently hoping voters believe him as the midterms quickly approach.
Gas prices in the U.S. were below $3 a gallon before Trump launched an unapproved and deadly war on Iraq in February. His administration had not planned for the Islamic Republic’s next move: shutting down the crucial oil shipping route through the contested Strait of Hormuz.
The closure sent shock waves through the global energy market, sending prices soaring, not Russia’s war on Ukraine. Moscow attacked its neighbor in 2022, well before Trump was re-elected.
But as if that wasn’t enough, Trump once again told struggling Americans that exorbitant fuel prices are no big deal.
“You have a little higher, you have a higher gas, it’s a very inexpensive price to pay for what we’ve done,” an out-of-touch Trump whined.
“It’s a little more, frankly, even if it was a lot more, but that’s going to come tumbling down. That’s going to be like a rocket ship in reverse,” he crowed. He has randomly said in recent weeks without explanation that he expects fuel prices to drop after the upcoming mid-term elections.
Americans are pushing back against what Trump’s opponents call his constant lies and his habit of blaming others for problems he created.
The New York Post is reporting that stickers are popping up on pumps around the country with a smiling Trump pointing up at the gas price section with the words, “I DID THAT.”
Social media wasn’t having any of it, calling out Trump and pointing out the obvious.
“Wrong, you orange fool. It is your war against Iran that has driven up prices,” an angry commenter wrote on X.
“Typical Trump move divert and throw blame elsewhere when he’s to blame for the situation America is in,” X user Trevor Hoyte observed.
“Trump trying to blame Ukraine for driving up diesel prices is laughable. He has never and will never accept responsibility for anything unless it makes him look — which is never of his own doing,” another commenter stated.
This poster noted, “He is simply incapable of telling the truth and incapable of accepting accountability or an ounce of blame for anything. This is a sickness. Trump has been mentally ill his entire life.”
Earlier that week, he tried a new tactic that his MAGA faithful have fallen for previously. He blamed the high prices on everything from food, housing and energy on former President Joe Biden. Trump has been back in office since January 2025.
In a post on his social media platform on Sept. 14, Trump claimed high prices have been caused by Biden and “not by ‘TRUMP.’”
He also incredulously made another provably false claim that “Oil was higher under Biden than it is right now.”
When Trump retook office in 2025, gas averaged $3.11 a gallon, according to Triple A. By early February 2026, it had dropped as low as $2.75 a gallon.
Fast forward six-and-a-half months, the national average for a gallon of regular gas has shot up to $4.43 a gallon, Triple A reported. Diesel is hovering at a record-breaking $6:39 a gallon.
