President Donald Trump‘s son, Donald Trump Jr., admitted on Thursday that the energy shocks induced by the ongoing war with Iran played a major role in the GOP suffering setbacks during this week’s midterm elections.
‘Jacked Up’ Gas Prices Caused GOP Defeat
Appearing on the ‘Triggered’ show on video platform Rumble, Trump Jr. outlined that the administration, since Trump took office, had secured major “wins” like lower crime and poverty rates, as well as “secure borders.” However, he then acknowledged that the “downstream effects” of the Iran war had “pushed voters in a different direction.”
“I’ve seen a few talking heads…out there trying to claim that the Iran war had nothing to do with Republicans losing,” Trump Jr. said, calling the claims “disgusting” on the show. “The Iran war is largely what shifted voter sentiment,” he added.
“It [Iran war] jacked up the price of gas, that’s the thing that people feel most immediately in their pockets, and it is what changed their minds,” he said.
Gas Movement
According to the American Automobile Association (AAA) data, the national average price of gas fell further on Thursday to $4.0688/gallon, down from Wednesday’ national average price of $4.1003/gallon.
Diesel prices also recorded a decline on Thursday, AAA data showed, with the national average at $6.2305/gallon, down from $6.2564/gallon on Wednesday.
Notably, GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan, on Wednesday, said that prices at the pump could fall following the midterm elections, citing “very high” political pressure to follow the voters’ sentiments.
Trump Blames Iran for High Gas, Touts Venezuela Oil
Trump, following the midterms, blamed high gas prices on Iran, which overshadowed the purported growth that the U.S. had recorded ever since he took office in 2025.
On the other hand, he also said that the U.S. holds vast amounts of oil reserves that exceed those of countries like Saudi Arabia and Russia, pointing to Venezuelan oil. It’s worth noting that Trump, during a rally in Texas last month, also said that the U.S. had received its first shipment of a million barrels of oil from Venezuela.
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