Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday exaggerated the cost of gasoline in California in order to claim that a gallon of gas would cost no more than $2 if he was still in the Oval Office, rather than President Joe Biden.
Trump, who is permanently suspended from Twitter and indefinitely suspended from Facebook and Instagram for the risk of inciting violence following the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection, released a statement on Twitter through multiple spokespeople claiming that gasoline costs $7.59 in "various parts of California" and that "it would be $2 a gallon or less" if "the Trump Administration were in there."
For one, have repeatedly said have little to no control over the cost of gasoline. For another, gas prices aren't that high throughout the state.
The former president seemingly referred to headlines last week that regular unleaded gasoline cost $7.59 per gallon at a remote station in Gorda, California, near Big Sur, embellishing the cost there as "various parts of California."
KABC reported last week that the nearest gas stations are 40 miles to the north and 12 miles to the south.
A gallon of gasoline, on average, is nowhere near as expensive in any part of California, although it's costlier than any other state in the country. The average price of a regular unleaded gallon of gasoline on Wednesday was $4.56, according to AAA, while the national average was $3.39.
The agency said on Monday that gas prices had increased 20 cents per gallon since the end of September and $1.22 a year ago, largely due to tight supply and increasing demand in the global oil market. Less oil is being produced around the world than before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"With the U.S. economy slowly recovering from the depths of the pandemic, demand for gas is robust, but the supply is tight," AAA spokesperson Andrew Gross said in a statement on Monday. "We haven't seen prices this high since September of 2014."
Gas prices have been rising nationally since last May, during the final months of Trump’s term in the White House. So, too, has the weekly cost of crude oil, according to federal data.
A gallon of gasoline in the U.S. cost fewer than $2 on average for a brief period last year, during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic that coincided with a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia. Gas prices didn't fall below $2 per gallon at any other point during Trump's presidency.
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