Gas Falls Below $4 a Gallon, First Time Since July
The Facts
- The U.S. national average for regular gasoline slipped below $4 a gallon Tuesday for the first time since July, reaching $3.98, according to AAA. The price was $4.15 a week earlier and $4.37 a month ago, part of a decline that began in late September.
- The pump decline followed a slide in crude, with Brent briefly dipping below $90 a barrel Tuesday for the first time since August. Oil futures fell 13% last week, Brent's biggest weekly percentage drop since April 2020, and lost another 5% Monday.
- This comes after U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that renewed strikes on Iran were unlikely, telling reporters "Iran militarily is effectively over" and that the United States was keeping the status quo while remaining "locked and loaded" should conditions change.
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The Spin
Narrative A
Ironically, the pain at the pump eased the second the ballots were counted on last week's midterm elections. Oil companies have every incentive to squeeze drivers when the pump can sway an election, and nobody should pretend that the timing is a coincidence. Regular folks footed the bill for a political game, and the sudden relief is the receipt.
Narrative B
There's no conspiracy here. Pump prices track crude, refining costs and the calendar, not the ballot box. A cheaper winter blend, slumping fall driving demand and fading hurricane risk pull prices down almost every autumn, and easing war tensions sped things along. Crediting an election for today's prices or for last week's higher prices is just off base.
Pro-Trump narrative
Potential anti-Trump or anti-Republican conspiracies about the timing of this news and the midterm elections aside, dropping gas prices prove that Trump was right all along. Prices had already slipped a bit before the elections and now his policies are combining with other facts to bring relief at the pump. Leftists taking a victory lap know they're not in power and have nothing to do with this.
