March 19, 2026 01:07 PM UTC

Trump Did That: Gas and Energy Prices Skyrocket

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• by: Colorado Pols

Both as a 2024 candidate and since he was elected President, Donald Trump promised again and again that his administration would lower the cost of energy for Americans.

The exact opposite has happened.

From The New York Times:

Since the start of the war in Iran, the average price of gas in the United States has climbed by nearly a dollar…

…It’s the second-largest four-week increase in at least 30 years — bigger than the one at the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022, or the ones associated with the post-recession surge of 2009 and the OPEC production cuts in 1999.

The only bigger jump came after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when gas supply fell significantly.

Colorado has seen some of the largest increases:

The bad news on gas prices is only going to get worse, despite what Energy Secretary Chris “This is Fine” Wright would have you believe. The price of crude oil is what drives gasoline prices, and as CNBC reports, the price of a barrel of oil (Brent crude) briefly rose as high as $119 today. A barrel of Brent crude has never risen beyond $147, as it did in 2008, but there are increasing fears that we could be facing $200/barrel pricing in the very near future (something Wright would not rule out in a recent interview). This is a massive jump compared to recent average prices:

The price of oil also drives up the cost of jet fuel, which is going to make air travel significantly more expensive as well.

It’s safe to say that none of this would be happening if not for the Iran War, which Trump authorized without congressional approval and, apparently, without any sort of plan for how to manage the conflict and its impact on energy supplies. Roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply passes through the
Strait of Hormuz, which has been squeezed shut by the war.

Electricity costs are also rising. As The Wisconsin Independent reports:

In a report released on March 17, the minority staff of Congress’ Joint Economic Committee says that the average American household’s total annual electric bill rose by $110 between 2024 and 2025, a 6.4% increase.

President Trump has exhausted whatever credibility he had left on this issue. As The New York Times reports in a separate story:

The White House raced to find ways to reassure Americans as oil prices jumped at one point on Thursday to $118 a barrel and a global energy crisis deepened nearly three weeks into the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

President Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office during a meeting with the Japanese prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, said that he would do whatever was necessary to ease the crisis but that it was temporary. “It will be over soon,” he said…[Pols emphasis]

…While an end to the conflict would reopen the shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz, serious damage to oil infrastructure would be longer lasting. That outcome is what economists fear most, as they try and forecast the potential impact on the global economy. As crude rises, so does gasoline, diesel and jet fuel and eventually those increases pass through to the prices of everyday goods.

This is a political catastrophe for Republicans, who have resorted to attempting the absurd narrative that it’s actually a good thing that gas prices are rising so quickly. The economy was bad enough with inflation still not under control, high grocery prices, and scary employment numbers leading fears of a recession. Trump has compounded this problem with policies entirely of his own making, from his disastrous tariffs to the Iran War.

Voters will not be confused about what happened here. This isn’t the fault of Joe Biden or Democrats. Trump toadies such as Rep. Gabe Evans (R-Ft. Lupton) are going to pay the price in November.