MAGA Malaise

Gas prices and Trump's approval ratings are going in opposite directions

Today, the national average gas price is $4.43 a gallon. That's the national average. If you are in California, a gallon of gas will cost you more than $4.43. If you're in a place like South Carolina, it will probably be a little less. At any rate, it's much more expensive than it should be, all because of Donald Trump.

One whatabout that MAGAts use is that gas prices were high when Joe Biden was president, at least for a minute. What they leave out is that Joe Biden didn't do anything to cause high gas prices. When gas prices were high under Biden, they were high internationally, and again, not because of any negative policies inflicted by President Biden.

Today, gas prices are also high internationally, and it's all because of Donald Trump. Donald Trump chose to start a war that didn't need to be started. Trump is trying desperately to get a deal with Iran and get them to the negotiating table, which is where they were before he started dropping bombs on them.

Trump says that Iran is desperate to make a deal, but he looks like the only one who is desperate. Trump says that it's “treasonous” to criticize his war effort. I think what Donald Trump is trying to say is that it's treason to criticize him.

Another way that MAGAts try to defend Donald Trump's high gas prices is by lying about them. South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, chair of the Senate Republicans’ campaign committee, claimed on Thursday with a straight face that “gas prices continue to come down.”

Scott said, “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.” That's not just lying but serious gaslighting.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday that the average gas price in California was $8 per gallon right before Trump’s chosen Iran war started last February, when the truth is, the state average at the time was actually $4.64 per gallon, according to AAA. Hegseth lies about everything.

In a Thursday interview on CNBC, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said, “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…”

CNBC host Joe Kernen, who is not a liberal, interjected and asked, “When were we paying $6?”

Kernan called Scalise out for his lie and fact-checked him in real time, and said, “Two – two-and-a-half years ago. That wasn’t the average price.” Scalise continued with the gaslighting and said, “We’re over 30% below where we were just two years ago.”

The national average has never hit $6 per gallon, and when it did hit its highest national average, which was $5.02 shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, it still wasn't Biden's fault.

And yesterday, Donald Trump said, “The gas will go down as soon as the war is over. It will drop like a rock. There’s so much of it. It’s all over the place, sitting all over the oceans of the world, and it’ll go down.”

Republicans will state these lies with a straight face because they know that MAGAts will repeat them endlessly.

And continuing the theme of blaming Biden for everything, today, the regime blamed him for the collapse of Spirit Airlines, and didn't mention anything about high jet fuel prices.

Republicans and MAGAts love to blame Democratic rhetoric for the reason why people are attempting to assassinate Donald Trump. But they need to admit that another reason for people trying to kill Trump is that he is the worst president in United States history. Donald Trump sucks.

Currently, Donald Trump's approval rating from the Pew Research Center is at 34%. Donald Trump said on Newsmax, where they don't call you out for your lies, “It is a problem I'm not on the ballot. Everyone says if I was on a ballot, we'd win in a landslide. I have some of the best poll numbers I've ever had.”

Trump did not win in a landslide in 2024. Less than 2% is not a landslide. But he might want to start bragging about that because a lot of Americans have buyer’s remorse.

Pew found that perceptions of Trump keeping his promises fell to 38%, while fewer Americans described him as “mentally sharp.” And on that note, Trump posted this to Truth Social on Thursday.

By the way, the test Trump keeps referencing, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, is not an intelligence test, and it was never designed to be one. A Canadian neurologist created it specifically to catch early signs of dementia or mild cognitive impairment.

Pew also shows weakening confidence across other leadership traits, with confidence in his handling of immigration falling from 46% in August 2025 to 41% today, and confidence in his use of military force dropping from 46% last summer to 38% in the latest April poll.

61% say that the war with Iran was a mistake. 76% disapproved of his handling of the cost of living. A Fox News survey found 34% approval on the economy, tying a record low for his second term, with 66% disapproving. According to Gallup, about 73% of Americans describe the economy as poor, and 55% reported their financial situation is worsening.

While a majority of MAGAts still support him, because they are stupid, around 6 in 10 Republicans under 45 now disapprove of his handling of costs.

Even Donald Trump's stupid and corrupt ballroom is unpopular with Americans, coming in at 56% disapproval.

Donald Trump is not going to improve his poll numbers because he denies that they exist. Even when he saw numbers showing that his tariffs were unpopular, he increased his tariff war on our allies. But then again, dictators don't worry about approval numbers. “Let them eat cake,” they like to say.

And the higher gas prices increase, the lower Donald Trump's approval ratings will drop.

It’s going to take more than one failed assassination attempt for people to feel sorry enough for Donald Trump to increase his approval ratings, especially while he continues to be the very worst president (sic) our nation has ever had.

Creative note: I wrote this cartoon about a week ago, but then gas prices came down a tad. But I knew they would go back up, so I sat on this idea as there were a lot of other topics to cover anyway. I knew this would come back to me. I thought today was a perfect day to do it.

I needed seven layers to create this cartoon.

Drawn in 30 seconds:

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