During an unexpected Q&A with reporters on Thursday afternoon, Donald Trump was asked about whether he was prepared to shift his tactics in the Middle East “now that gas prices are more than $4.50” per gallon. The president challenged the premise of the question.
Gas prices, he claimed, fell “very substantially” on Thursday, adding, “Gas prices are way down.”
In this reality, the evidence shows otherwise. According to AAA’s latest tally, gas prices actually inched higher on Thursday, reaching $4.56 a gallon, before easing by one penny, to $4.55, as Friday got underway.
A week ago, the average was $4.39 a gallon. A month ago, it was $4.16 a gallon. There’s been no “very substantial” drop, and gas prices are by no means “way down.” Energy policy can be complex, but this is pretty simple stuff.
Stepping back, it’s genuinely bizarre to see so many prominent Republicans peddle such brazen falsehoods. Last week, it was House Majority Leader Steve Scalise declaring on CNBC that consumers are paying $3 per gallon, which wasn’t even close to being true. 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.
This week, it was Trump trying his hand at gaslighting on gas prices.
But while prominent GOP leaders’ casual indifference to the truth might seem unremarkable, and “Trump says untrue thing” isn’t exactly an unusual revelation, what continues to amaze me about this specific line of argument is how neatly it dovetails with Trump’s lies about grocery prices.
American consumers go to gas stations all the time. In many areas, there are literal billboards reminding drivers about prices at the pump. People know they’re not paying $3 per gallon; they know prices don’t “continue to come down”; and they know prices aren’t “way down.” Republicans can’t simply wave their hands and Jedi mind-trick the public into believing otherwise.
People know better, not because the White House’s critics have made a persuasive pitch, or because news organizations have successfully set the record straight, but rather, because of their own life experiences. These claims, in other words, aren’t just lies; they’re self-defeating lies.
If Trump and his allies want to argue that rising prices aren’t his fault, they’re welcome to give it a try. If they want to claim that conditions will soon improve, some people might believe them.
But to tell consumers not to believe their own lying eyes about their own wallets is a recipe for failure.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
The post Gaslighting on gas prices: Trump points to ‘very substantial’ drop that didn’t happen appeared first on MS NOW.
