Gas prices have spiked to $3.48 a gallon nationally—up from $2.90 just a month ago—and Americans across the political spectrum are furious at the pump as Trump’s war with Iran hits their wallets.
In central Iowa, Francisco Castillo, a 43-year-old factory worker who voted for Trump, stood next to his son’s Ford pickup feeling betrayed. “He said he was going to bring gas down, but the war in Iran is now making everything worse,” he told the AP.
The sentiment is everywhere. A Quinnipiac poll conducted over the weekend found three-quarters of voters are concerned about the war raising gas and oil prices. About half oppose the military action entirely, with 89% of Democrats against it and independents opposed 60% to 40%.
Trump, predictably, insisted the conflict was worth it. “We’re putting an end to all of this threat once and for all, and the result will be lower oil prices,” he claimed at a Monday news conference, dismissing the war as “just an excursion into something that had to be done.”
Tell that to Kathryn Price Engelhard, a 70-year-old retiree in the Philadelphia suburbs who had to stop filling her Subaru at half a tank because she’s on a fixed income. “How did anybody think that that was not going to impact oil?” she asked. “Of course it’s impacting oil.”
In North Carolina, Republican retiree Kevin Kertesz called every fuel seller “price gouging” while filling his pickup at $3.34 a gallon—up from $2.59 last week. In Florida, Ray Albrecht said he’d have to stop traveling with his camper if prices hit $5, since he only gets 8 miles per gallon hauling his 32-foot rig.
The winners in all this? Electric vehicle owners, who are feeling pretty smug cruising past the gas stations. “Whoa, they’re going through it right now,” said Anthony Gooden in suburban Detroit, charging his Chevy Equinox EV. “And it’s only getting worse.”
That’s an especially bitter irony given Trump’s hostility to EVs. His tax and spending bill eliminated federal credits that saved buyers up to $7,500 off electric vehicles—policies designed to keep Americans dependent on the very gas prices now spiking because of his war.
For voters like Castillo, who believed Trump would strengthen the economy, the broken promise stings. “They do what benefits them,” he said. “I have to go to work every day no matter what.”
