Donald Trump has become a laughingstock at the pumps.
Drivers have begun plastering pumps with stickers showing the president pointing at the price meter alongside slogans that say “I did that” and “These prices are tariff-ic.”
Among those who have discovered the stickers and shared images of them was Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who posted a picture of Trump with devil horns and the message “I-ran your gas prices up.”
“This sticker was on my gas pump,” he wrote. “And … yes, Trump ran my gas price up."
They resemble stickers that began appearing in 2021 and were used by critics of then-President Joe Biden.
The president, 80, has overseen a meteoric rise in gas prices since his return to power last year, turbocharged by his war against Iran, which closed the Strait of Hormuz and triggered a global energy crisis.
At the time of writing, the AAA’s national average price sits at $4.4386, up from $3.2003 one year ago.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
The economy is expected to be among, if not the, key issue at the top of voters’ minds when they head to the polls in less than 47 days.
And, ahead of the vote, independent voters are signaling strongly that they prefer Democrats to Republicans, with a new YouGov poll finding that 51 percent say they will vote blue, compared to 39 percent who said red.
So far, Trump’s flagship idea to solve the crisis is to promise every American $5,000 if Republicans win the House and Senate in November. It would cost $1.3 trillion, far more than the money raised by tariffs touted to pay for it.
Democrats have sensed an opening, with midterm messaging focusing on the failed promises to make Americans feel better off that helped Trump sweep to power.
Trump has often dismissed affordability as a Democrat hoax, but the party has been doubling down on projecting itself as champions of making life affordable. And in turn, as a contrast to Trump.
“Two years ago, Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans promised to bring down grocery prices on Day 1. They promised to stop endless wars in the Middle East,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said at an affordability event on Wednesday.
“They promised to bring energy prices down by 50 percent. They promised to get gas prices below $2 a gallon, but Republicans have done nothing to make life more affordable for the American people,” he continued. “Instead, they’ve made life more expensive.”
