President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday that gas prices were down to $1.98 a gallon — and it triggered hilarity.
Fact-checkers and online commenters immediately reacted as Trump added that gas prices are $1.88 in three states. “Can you believe it?” he asked.
According to the American Automobile Association, which charts national gas prices, the lowest price comes closer to $2.61 a gallon for E85 gas. Regular unleaded gasoline is $3.18, AAA's data shows.
CNN fact checker Daniel Dale wrote about Trump's post with the headline saying, "Trump keeps making up gas prices."
In response to Trump's question, "Can you believe it?" Dale responded, "No, because prices weren’t close to $1.88 in any state."
CBS News also called the claim "misleading."
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Responding to Trump's quote directly, CBS said, "That is not true; on average, gas prices are around the same as when the president took office in January."
Politifact similarly issued a fact-check reporting it was "False."
Steven Rattner, former head of President Barack Obama's Auto Task Force, wrote, "Trump promised that ‘drill baby drill’ would lower gas prices and boost the economy, but crude prices are falling and rigs are being taken offline." He provided two graphs, showing U.S. crude oil futures are down below $60 a barrel. The other showed Permian oil rigs slightly increased at the end of April after beginning a downswing at the end of February.
"I'm sorry MAGAs, even Fox News is saying gas prices went up since Trump was elected," said software engineer Alex Cole. He included a clip of a Fox report saying that gas prices were up since Inauguration Day.
On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox that low gas prices are "an automatic tax cut for the American people." It prompted one individual to ask whether an increase in gas prices means an automatic tax increase on people.
