#gas-prices — Trump Fail

"This Is Imperialism": Eight Months After U.S. Special Forces Seized Venezuela's President in a Raid on Caracas, Trump Announced the United States Had Taken "Majority Control" of More Than 65 Billion Barrels of Venezuela's Oil — a Stake Second Only to Saudi Aramco — Struck With the Government That Replaced the Leader America Captured, to Paper Over the Record Gas Prices His Own Iran War Created

On August 28, 2026, Trump announced on Truth Social that the United States had secured "majority control" of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuela's proven oil reserves — through a new company, structured with private business, in which the U.S. would hold a 55% stake and the right to buy oil at cost, making it the second-largest corporate holder of proven reserves in the world after Saudi Aramco. He offered few details. The context is what gives the announcement its weight: in January 2026, U.S. special forces raided Caracas and seized Venezuela's president, Nicolás Maduro, spiriting him to the United States to face narcoterrorism charges. The oil deal was then negotiated with the government that took his place, led by acting president Delcy Rodríguez. So the sequence is: the United States removed a foreign head of state by military force, and then took majority control of his country's oil from the government installed in his wake — to lower American gas prices driven to record highs by Trump's own war in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz standoff. Michael McFaul, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia, named it in three words on MS NOW: "This is imperialism." Other analysts called it "colonial" and urged Congress to stop it, while critics called it "yet another Trump grift." A superpower seizing a weaker nation's oil after decapitating its government is the oldest story in the imperial book, and the United States just told it out loud.

The War Trump Promised Wouldn't Hurt Americans at the Pump Has Pushed Gas to Roughly $4.10 a Gallon — Up From $2.98 in February, Likely the Most Expensive August on Record — as His Own Strait of Hormuz Standoff Chokes Off the World's Oil Chokepoint, With Ship Traffic Collapsing From Around 130 Vessels a Day to Nearly Zero and His Officials' Promise That the Price Spike Would "Subside" Now Six Months Old

When Trump launched his war on Iran in February 2026 and the resulting standoff shut down the Strait of Hormuz — the waterway through which a fifth of the world's oil passes — his administration assured Americans the price spike would be brief and would soon subside. Six months later it has done the opposite. By late August 2026, the national average for regular gasoline had climbed to roughly $4.10 a gallon, up from $2.98 on February 28, and AAA indicated it was on track to be the most expensive August on record. The cause is not a mystery or a foreign plot: it is the direct consequence of Trump's own war and his refusal to end it. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which normally sees around 130 ships a day, had collapsed to a handful — five vessels one recent Saturday, none registered the following Sunday — while Brent crude pushed near $89 a barrel. Trump's response has been to escalate the rhetoric that keeps the strait closed, threatening to "bomb the shit out of" Oman, the country mediating a reopening. Every dollar added to a gallon of gas is a tax on every American who drives to work, and it traces back to a war launched on a threat the intelligence never found and kept going long after his own generals concluded it could not be won. The president who ran on lowering prices has delivered, through a war of choice, the highest summer gas prices in the country's history.

Trump Storms Out of Meet the Press Interview After Being Challenged on Election Lies: "You Are Either Crooked or You're Stupid"

Trump walked out of a taped Meet the Press interview with Kristen Welker on a Wisconsin farm after she pressed him on his false claims that the California primary was "rigged." When asked for evidence: "All I have to do is look, and I listen." When told there was no evidence: "You are either crooked or you're stupid." He then removed his microphone and left, saying "Thank you, darling." During the same interview he denied promising "no wars," said Jan. 6 rioters "should be compensated," called the Iran war "not an endless war — we've been doing this for three months," and was fact-checked by NBC on multiple false claims. His approval is at a record low of 34% — below his own first-term floor.

House GOP Cancels Iran War Vote Because They Were Going to Lose It — Then Sends Congress Home for Memorial Day

House Republicans pulled the Iran war powers vote after it became clear they didn't have the votes to defeat it — Democrats had unified with enough GOP defectors to pass it. Instead of allowing a vote on a three-month-old undeclared war, Speaker Johnson sent Congress home for Memorial Day. Combat veteran Rep. Pat Ryan erupted on the Capitol steps: "These chicken hawk motherfuckers" won't give "an up or down vote on continuing this war while Americans are paying $5 a gallon."

"I Don't Think About Americans' Financial Situation. I Don't Think About Anybody."

Asked whether Americans' finances motivate him to make an Iran deal, Trump said: "Not even a little bit. I don't think about Americans' financial situation. I don't think about anybody." He said this as inflation hit a 3-year high of 3.8%, gas reached $4.52/gallon, the war topped $29 billion, and his own party was scrambling to suspend the gas tax before the midterms.

Year-End Address: Claimed He "Brought Down Prices" — Inflation Was Unchanged at 3%

In a national address, Trump claimed "inflation has stopped" and he brought prices down. Fact-checkers rated it false: inflation was 3% — the same rate as when he took office. He also exaggerated grocery savings, gas prices, and immigration numbers.