Republicans face political risk from the spike in gasoline prices attributable to the conflict President Donald Trump launched in opposition to Iran. Over the final two days, outstanding Republicans have made a sequence of false claims about gas prices.
Sen. Tim Scott, chair of Senate Republicans’ marketing campaign committee, falsely claimed Thursday that “gas prices continue to come down” – although common gas prices within the US as an entire and in his residence state of South Carolina had truly gone up over the past day, week, month and 12 months, based on AAA data.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth falsely steered Wednesday that the common gas value in California was $8 per gallon proper earlier than the Iran conflict began in late February. The state common on the time was truly $4.64 per gallon, based on AAA.
And House Majority Leader Steve Scalise falsely claimed Thursday that gas prices are a lot decrease now than they had been “two years ago,” when, he claimed, they had been “$6.” Thursday’s AAA nationwide common, $4.30 per gallon, was truly increased, not decrease, than the common two years prior, when it was $3.66 per gallon.
Here is a extra detailed truth test.
In a Thursday interview on Fox Business, Scott mentioned, “The fact of the matter is that all of the cylinders are kicking. It is good news. You can even feel in our environment how good things are getting. Gas prices continue to come down, which means that your groceries will come down a little bit as well.”
But gas prices don’t “continue to come down,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum evaluation on the agency GasBuddy, responded to Scott’s feedback with an incredulous social media post: “LOL WHAT? EVERY SINGLE STATE IS HIGHER.”
On Thursday, the nationwide common for a gallon of standard gas, $4.30, was up 7 cents from a day prior, up 27 cents from per week prior, up 31 cents from a month prior, up $1.12 from a 12 months prior, and up $1.32 from the day the Iran conflict started on the finish of February, based on AAA.
In South Carolina, the Thursday state common for a gallon of standard gas, slightly below $3.90, was up about 1 cent from the day prior, up 24 cents from per week prior, up 25 cents from a month prior, up $1.07 from a 12 months prior, and up $1.23 from the day the conflict started, per AAA data.
Gas prices are unstable, they’ll range from station to station, and oil prices on world markets fell Thursday morning after rising in a single day (although that certainly doesn’t mean the gas prices paid by US drivers will rapidly fall). But Scott’s suggestion that there was some ongoing decline in gas prices was simply not true.
At a congressional listening to Wednesday, Democratic Rep. Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire asked Hegseth if he knew what the nationwide common value for a gallon of gas was on February 28, the day the US and Israel started the conflict with Iran.
Hegseth replied, “Well, it depends on where you live. If you live in California, it’s 8 bucks.”
False. The California common for normal gas wasn’t wherever near $8 per gallon on February 28. It was $4.64 per gallon, based on AAA. That was far beneath the state’s $5.98 common on Wednesday.
And whereas there have been some California stations at $8 per gallon or extra on February 28, the quantity was tiny – “less than 5” of the roughly 10,500 stations GasBuddy tracks within the state, De Haan mentioned in an e-mail. De Haan mentioned these stations had been the “usual suspects” that “always” have exceptionally excessive prices.
The nationwide common on February 28 was $2.98, per AAA knowledge; Goodlander wrongly informed Hegseth throughout their trade that it was “$2.83.” (Asked for remark, a spokesperson mentioned Goodlander had been making an attempt to quote a chart published by NBC News Wednesday morning that confirmed the nationwide common was $2.83 at the start of January, not $2.83 on the finish of February; “her point is that gas prices have increased from before the war to now,” the spokesperson mentioned.) Goodlander accurately mentioned the nationwide common had gone as much as $4.23 on Wednesday, per AAA data.
In a Thursday interview on CNBC, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise was requested if he thought there was any manner Republicans would win the House once more within the 2026 midterms. Scalise mentioned that Republicans have delivered for the general public – and added, “People will remember – you go back two years ago, we were paying almost $6 a gallon for gasoline. Right now it’s in the $3s. Obviously we’ve seen a jump with the Iran conflict, but it’s still…”
“When were we paying $6?” CNBC host Joe Kernen interjected in an trade highlighted on social media by liberal journalist Aaron Rupar. Scalise claimed, “Two – two-and-a-half years ago.” Kernen responded, “That wasn’t the average price.” But Scalise asserted moments later, “We’re over 30% below where we were just two years ago.”
In actuality, the nationwide common gas value precisely two years in the past Thursday, on April 30, 2024, was $3.66 per gallon, per AAA knowledge – decrease, not increased, than Thursday’s common of $4.30 per gallon. Going again to “two-and-a-half years ago,” so to the autumn of 2023, doesn’t make Scalise’s declare true, both. Until the Iran war this 12 months, the nationwide common had been beneath $4 for the reason that summer time of 2022.
Asked for remark, a Scalise spokesperson mentioned Thursday that Scalise had been “referring to 2022, when gas prices surged to record highs,” California’s state common hit a report $6.44 per gallon and prices additionally exceeded $6 in “parts of Washington” state.
But, clearly, 2022 was 4 years in the past, not two or two-and-a-half years in the past. And Scalise made it sound like he was speaking about the nation as an entire, not a small variety of particular locations. The nationwide common has by no means hit $6 per gallon; the all-time peak was $5.02 per gallon in June 2022, within the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier that 12 months.
Scalise’s declare that “right now it’s in the $3s” is on considerably extra strong floor than his different remarks. Sixteen states, together with Scalise’s residence state of Louisiana, had a Thursday state common gas value beneath $4 per gallon, per AAA. But that left 34 states and the District of Columbia with a mean above $4 per gallon; once more, the nationwide common was $4.30.