TRUMP LIES LIKE A RUG

HOW CAN ANYONE TRUST A PATHOLOGICAL LIAR? As Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said, “You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to our own facts.” Succinctly, as Merriam-Webster defines it, a fact is “something that has actual existence, a piece of information presented as having objective reality.” 

Objective Reality. And if anyone has a problem with objective reality, it’s Donald J. Trump. His lies have ranged from the number of floors in a property he owns, his personal wealth, and particularly egregiously the results of the 2020 Presidential Election, which even his own followers have said were “fair and free.”

The Price of Gasoline. Even with something as quantifiable as the price of gasoline, Trump lies like a rug. And even Ashleigh Fields at Fox2now reports “GasBuddy Refutes Trump $1.98 a Gallon Price Claim,” May 2, 2025. 

Fields cites Trump writing at his Truth Social platform: “Gasoline just broke $1.98 a Gallon, lowest in years, groceries (and eggs!) down, energy down, mortgage rates down, employment strong, and much more good news, as Billions of Dollars pour in from Tariffs….”

“However,” Fields notes, “GasBuddy said it could not locate any fuel stations with those prices.” 

She quotes Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, in a statement to NewsNation: “We don’t have any data showing any individual stations below $2 a gallon today nor have we really seen any of that in the last several weeks since these claims have started.”

Furthermore, Fields writes, “The lowest price in the nation as of Friday was in Mississippi at $2.63 per gallon, according to the company’s data tracker. The national average is $3.18 as of Friday, according to AAA, with no prices listed at less than $2.61.”

Economic Spikes. Fields recounts, “Economists predicted Trump’s tariffs would spike gasoline rates in early March before ‘reciprocal’ tariffs and other measures were announced by the administration, many of which have been suspended for now.”

“The U.S.,” she continues, “imports more oil from Canada than any other country, meaning Trump’s relationship with new Prime Minister Mark Carney could impact future gas prices—especially in regions that rely heavily on Canadian gas, such as the Midwest, the Rocky Mountains and New England.” 

And this, you’ll note, is from a Fox News source, not some “fake media” disliked by Trump threatening to revoke FCC licenses. 

As if Trump had the right to do so.

AAA Averages. The AAA Fuel Prices website offers extensive (and fascinating) information on National, State, and County prices (with cursor-actuated fine-tuning). Nationally there’s a patchwork that, in part, reflects fuel regulations such as California’s Reformulated Gasoline and its varied adoptions in other states, counties, and even more minutely defined areas.

Colorado is interesting in that its average price is $3.203 whereas the National Average is $3.208, essentially a wash. Its patchwork suggests the presence of the Rocky Mountains (and perhaps individual cities?).

How Low Will They Go? In its Latest News, August 21, 2025, AAA notes, “As gas prices keep falling this summer, the big question is how low will they go? This past week, the national average for a gallon of regular fell three cents to $3.13. You’d have to go back to 2020 for a lower national average on August 21—that day the price was $2.18.”

Nowhere near $1.98. 

AAA continues, “With gas prices for this day the lowest they’ve been in 5 years, some are wondering if the national average will go below $3 a gallon in the coming weeks. There are too many variables to make a prediction; the oil market is too volatile. But if crude oil prices remain low and barring any major geopolitical events or tropical storms hitting the Gulf Coast, it’s safe to say drivers could continue to see cheaper prices at the pump as summer winds down.” 

And, to refute Trump’s most recent lie, even GasBuddy—“we believe no one should pay full price at the pump”—cites Mississippi as the least pricey at an average $2.737/gal. And remember what GasBuddy said about $1.98: “… nor have we really seen any of that in the last several weeks since these claims have started.”

Of course, the claims are outright lies. 

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2025