Trump is Trying to Cover His A** On Gas Prices Ahead of the Midterms

Washington, DC — In a midnight tirade on Truth Social, Trump claimed that he directed the Department of Justice to investigate Big Oil companies for “gouging” customers at the pump. This message conveniently came only a few hours after he said in a speech in Pennsylvania that “we got to win the midterms.” Trump’s war of choice in Iran has sent inflation soaring to multi-year highs, with experts agreeing that relief is not likely to come anytime soon. Americans have already spent $450 per household on gas and energy since the start of Trump’s war. Just one month ago, Trump insisted he doesn’t care about Americans’ financial situation, and has repeatedly called affordability a “hoax.” But now that Trump’s war and high gas prices are a political liability for Republicans in the midterms, Trump is singing a different tune. From the very beginning, Trump has cozied up to Big Oil while families have paid the price, and now he’s hoping that Americans will forget. 

“Trump’s top priority is himself, not the American people. He created a crisis that sent gas prices through the roof,” said Jay Inslee, Former Governor of Washington and Climate Power’s Co-Chair. “But as always, he put his oil and gas donors ahead of the American people. He didn’t care about struggling families until his poll numbers took a hit. Now that he knows this could hurt him in the midterms, he’s singing a different tune.”

Don’t buy the spin: Trump has always put Big Oil profits above Americans:

• In April 2020, Trump brokered a deal with Russia, Saudi Arabia, and OPEC to deliberately increase oil prices, which directly benefited his largest donors in the U.S. oil industry.
•  In April 2024, Trump promised the oil industry a laundry list of their priorities on “day one” after asking them for $1 billion in donations to his campaign.
• In the 2024 election cycle, Big Oil spent $450 million to influence Trump and congressional Republicans.
• Trump once celebrated rising gas prices thanks to his war of choice in Iran, saying: “When oil prices go up, we make a lot of money.”
• In the first month of Trump’s war in Iran, fossil fuel companies, including Chevron and ExxonMobil, raked in $30 million an hour.
• In Q1 of 2026, twenty-seven oil and gas companies raked in more than $40 billion in profit, up 21% from Q4 of 2025. 
• American consumers have paid $34 billion more on gas because of Trump’s war of choice in Iran.
• Americans have spent $450 per household on gas and energy since the start of Trump’s war, but Trump insisted he doesn’t care about Americans’ financial situation.