US President Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Syracuse, New York, US, October 9, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
President Donald Trump told rallygoers he doesn’t “give a damn” if critics accuse him of bragging about big oil money while Americans struggle with high gas prices. His critics were happy to take him at his word.
“We’re making money like we’ve never made before,” Trump said in a clip posted by Acyn Torabi on X. “They’ll say: President Trump is bragging about all the money they’re making while people are suffering at the pump. I don’t give a damn. We’re making a freaking fortune.”
In the clip, Trump also claims oil prices are “temporarily high” and will be “falling dramatically in a short period of time.”
Ryan Grim, a Drop Site News reporter and co-host of “Breaking Points,” said Trump “does a widdle baby voice to mock people who are complaining about high gas prices.” He wrote that Trump was “explaining that the oil and gas industry is making ‘hundreds of billions, trillions.’”
“It’s never been clearer how much he hates the people who voted for him,” Grim wrote.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom chimed in: “Congratulations to Big Oil on their very successful, record-profits presidency.”
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) wrote, “HEADLINE: trump is bragging about making money while people are suffering at the pump. November is coming.”
Melanie D’Arrigo, a progressive activist and former New York congressional candidate, summed up Trump’s message to drivers with an expletive-laden paraphrase that put “I’m making money!” in his mouth. “Just run this as an ad,” she wrote.
New Yorker staff writer Susan Glasser called the line “the epigraph for the entire Trump 2.0 presidency.”
Zeteo founder Mehdi Hasan quoted “I don’t give a damn” and wrote, “Trying to imagine what would have happened had Joe Biden just screamed this out at a public rally.”
“The government tells us they hate us every single day,” wrote Ana Kasparian, co-host of “The Young Turks.”
Ron Filipkowski, editor-in-chief of MeidasTouch News and a former federal prosecutor, argued that Americans are paying the price.
“We are making the oil oligarchs rich. We are making Trump and his cronies rich. It is literally at our expense every day,” Filipkowski wrote. “There’s no trickling down happening. And Trump is bragging about it knowing nobody in the Republican Party will stand up to him and say enough.”
The MeidasTouch account put it more simply: “Put a fork in it.”
Noted Dem strategist David Axelrod also chimed in, sarcastically giving Trump "credit for leveling with the American people."
"HE's making money like he's never made before. And he doesn't give a damn about high gas prices," he wrote, adding, "Not a great closing message, though."
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