Trump Doubles Down on His Affordability Gaslighting in Texas Speech
tags
Trump’s loyalty to his big oil and gas donors was on full display as utility costs have skyrocketed by as much as 13% nationwide
Washington, DC – Today, Trump took the stage at the Port of Corpus Christi to brag about his regressive obsession with oil and gas — and it’s no surprise why. Fossil fuel interests poured nearly $450 million in campaign donations to support Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, along with Republicans in Congress. While Trump continues to line the pockets of his billionaire oil and gas donors, Texans and Americans nationwide have been left to foot the bill. At least 15 utilities in Texas enacted or proposed rate hikes totaling over $3.6 billion, affecting over 8.8 million customers. That means Texans are paying 8% more on their utility bills than they were before Trump’s disastrous second term. So let’s take a look at some of the facts:
Trump claimed his data center sham will protect Americans from skyrocketing utility costs and solve the data center energy demand crisis:
- FACT: By 2030, peak grid demand is forecast to reach 166 GW, six times higher than what was forecast three years ago. AI data centers could cause a 70% increase in electric bills by 2029 due to increased demand.
- FACT: Solar energy, onshore wind, battery storage, and energy efficiency are some of the most rapidly scalable and cost-competitive ways to meet the increased energy demand from data centers.
- FACT: Costs for wind and solar have fallen by 54% and 84% over the past 15 years, making them cheaper than new gas and existing coal plants, even without subsidies.
- FACT: A recent study found that data center emissions can cause breathing problems and premature death for residents living nearby.
- FACT: Tech companies specifically lobbied against the clean energy cuts in the Republican budget bill, saying “energy is the pacing challenge of our industry.”
Trump claimed that the prices of “almost everything” were down:
- FACT: Electricity prices have spiked by up to 13% in communities nationwide, with the average U.S. household paying $116 more on its electricity bills in 2025 than it did in 2024.
- FACT: Trump’s reckless tariffs cost the average American household $1,200 last year alone.
- FACT: Trump’s clean energy cuts are expected to increase electricity rates by up to 18% by 2035, resulting in an additional annual $170 increase in household energy bills.
Trump claimed he has made homeownership cheaper:
- FACT: Home Insurance costs are soaring nationwide thanks to climate change and extreme weather, both of which the Trump administration is unprepared to address.
- In 2025, polling found that nearly all Texas homeowners, 92%, were concerned about the cost of home insurance premiums.
Trump claimed that his regulatory rollbacks have helped the American people and saved jobs:
- FACT: The 31 EPA pollution and public health protections that Trump has rolled back would have saved $275 billion and prevented 30,000 deaths annually. Five of the EPA-targeted protections alone were estimated to deliver $200 billion in net benefits.
- FACT: By 2030, Trump’s clean energy cuts in his GOP budget bill are expected to result in a $980 billion loss in cumulative GDP and cost 760,000 jobs, rising to 900,000 by 2032.
Trump claimed that under his leadership, America is in an “energy boom”:
- FACT: Trump’s war on clean energy has stalled more than $61.41 billion in clean energy investment, resulting in the loss or delay of 172,988 clean energy jobs.
- These attacks have hurt Texas’s clean energy economy, resulting in the cancellation of 28 clean energy projects, 52,332 lost jobs, and $6.7 billion in lost investment statewide.
- FACT: Trump’s attacks on clean energy have already taken nearly 25 GW of planned energy generation off the grid, and Trump’s clean energy cuts are anticipated to take another 340 GW.
- Trump’s clean energy cuts were projected to take 77 GW of generation capacity off the grid in Texas