Trump haunted by resurfaced post as fuel costs reach all-time high

A resurfaced online post from President Donald Trump came back to haunt him Friday after U.S. diesel prices hit an all-time high amid the deeply unpopular U.S. war against Iran.

For the first time in history, the average cost for a gallon of diesel reached $5.85 on Friday according to the American Automobile Association, breaking the previous record set in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Trump’s war against Iran and its disruption to oil flow through the Strait of Hormuz is widely seen as the leading cause of energy price hikes.

Amid the unprecedented spike in oil costs, Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) flagged an online post published by Trump in 2012 to use his own words against him.

“Gas prices are at crazy levels--fire Obama!” Trump wrote in a social media post on X — then known as Twitter — on Oct. 22, 2012.

According to USA Today, the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline on Oct. 22, 2012 was $3.68. As of Friday, it stood at $4.15, nearly $1 higher than where it stood a year earlier.

“Gas prices were $3.68 when Trump posted this,” Thanedar wrote in a recent social media post on X. “Today, they're $4.13 due to the evil war he started to enrich his sons through their $6.3 BILLION Pentagon contracts.”

The rising cost of energy is expected to impact Americans’ pocketbooks far beyond the pump, with higher diesel prices also meaning “higher transportation costs for a long list of everyday goods,” the Associated Press noted in a report published on Friday.

“More expensive fuel is increasing bills for businesses across sectors — some of which have already passed on costs to consumers in the form of added fees on online orders and packages in the mail,” the Associated Press’ report reads. “And shoppers may see more and more sticker shock trickle down to store shelves.”

Trump was warned “repeatedly” ahead of launching his war against Iran that doing so would likely cripple traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Wall Street Journal, but repeatedly dismissed said warnings, believing that Iran “would likely capitulate before closing the strait.”