New data shows why Trump should stop talking about Biden-era gas prices

President Donald Trump's claim that drivers pay less for fuel now than under Joe Biden does not hold up, according to AAA figures cited by Reuters. Across Trump's second term, a gallon of regular has cost $3.472 on average, a hair above the $3.471 average during the Biden years. Bloomberg News adds that Americans have never faced prices this high so late in the year, outside the summer driving season, according to MS NOW.

Trump made the comparison at a Saturday night campaign rally in Georgia, where he also boasted that oil and gas companies are "making a fortune" from elevated prices. He said his own team urged him not to celebrate that, but he brushed them off, saying he would say it anyway. His remark that people still pay less than they did under Biden drew far less notice.

MS NOW commentator Steve Benen notes that pump prices were fairly ordinary for much of Biden's presidency until Russia invaded Ukraine, a war Trump called "genius" when it began. That invasion drove the spike Republicans prefer not to explain. Even with it included, the Biden-era average stays slightly lower than the figure under Trump, leaving the president with a talking point the numbers undercut.

Summarized by PolitiKool from MS NOW’s reporting. Read the full story at MS NOW →