Gasoline wasn't $1.86 nationally when Trump left office
WHEN & WHERE WAS IT SAID?
When: Dec 8, 2021
Where: Interview with Hugh Hewitt
Original context / reporting ↗THE CLAIM (BRACE YOURSELF)
Gas prices were $1.86 when I left the White House
WHAT HE SAID (WORD FOR WORD, SADLY)
He said that gasoline was $1.86 a gallon when he left the White House: "It was $1.86 when I left."
WHEN AND WHERE (THE RECEIPTS HAVE A CALENDAR)
Interview with Hugh Hewitt, Dec. 8, 2021, during a discussion of rising gas prices under Biden.
WHAT THE RECORD SHOWS (BRING SNACKS)
- The Energy Information Administration put the national average at $2.38 for the week of Jan. 18, 2021, about 28% higher than his figure.
- The national average was that low under Trump only in March 2020, when pandemic lockdowns collapsed demand.
- California averaged $3.21 that week; Texas just under $2.10; Houston $2.06. GasBuddy's Patrick De Haan said no U.S. city or state averaged $1.86 on Jan. 20, 2021. PolitiFact rated the claim False.
WHY THIS MATTERS
A cheap price at one station in one week is an anecdote, not a national average.
THE FACTS (SORRY)
PolitiFact reported a national average of roughly $2.38 per gallon.
Finding: FalseBold. Wrong, but bold.
Sources & further reading
Keep digging
- Five-thousand-dollar checks and tariff arithmetic
- Greatest economy in history? GDP tells a different story.
- The $21 trillion investment claim
Editorial note: each article reports only details found in the linked sources. Where a source does not give a venue, date or exact wording, we say so instead of guessing. Quotations may need further editorial verification against primary recordings or transcripts.