Trump Calls His Own Energy Secretary a Liar on Gas Prices: ‘He’s Wrong’

I’ve said it before, but I truly can’t imagine how frustrating it must be on a daily basis to be anywhere within the sphere of Donald Trump’s inner circle, knowing that no matter what you do, the President of the United States is going to go out of his way to contradict you and call you a liar at some point. Even when you’re simply toeing the company line, repeating exactly what Trump himself said on a topic most recently, that won’t shield you from his random flip-flops and reprisals. Hell, if you’re JD Vance you can’t even put out a book about your opportunistic conversion to Catholicism without Donald Trump picking that same week to launch a crusade against the freaking Pope, putting you in an immediately awkward bind. So yeah, when Energy Secretary Chris Wright dared to open his mouth to say anything about gas prices, he probably should have expected to be instantly thrown under the bus by Trump, despite the fact that he was merely repeating Trump’s own prior statements.

“No, I think he’s wrong on that. Totally wrong,” said Trump in a phone interview with The Hill, in reference to Wright’s own weekend interview on CNN’s State of the Union, in which Wright had said that gas prices might not reach $3 again until sometime in 2027. Trump, meanwhile, assured the publication that prices will fall “as soon as this ends,” in reference to the still ongoing Iran War.

Where, oh where, could Chris Wright have gotten such a crazy idea, to state that gas prices wouldn’t come down by the end of 2026? Could it be that he got such erroneous information from … Donald Trump himself? Just last weekend, Trump called in for an on-air interview with Maria Bartiromo on state media network Fox News, and was directly asked by Bartiromo whether the prices of oil and gasoline would be “lower before the midterm elections.” The host was tossing the President of the United States the easiest alley-oop in the world, waiting for him to respond in the affirmative that of course everything will be peachy by November. Instead, Trump did the most Trump thing imaginable and flat-out admitted that nothing would get better—and that things might instead be worse in 7 months than they are now. As he put it: “I hope so. I mean, I think so, it could be. It could be the same or maybe a little bit higher.”

You really should watch the clip below, just to appreciate Bartiromo’s eyes involuntarily widening in shock and alarm when Trump suggests that gas prices could in fact be “a little bit higher” in November than they are right now. She’s clearly beyond horrified by the political suicide that her idol is espousing, as if he has no idea what he’s saying.

Bartiromo: Do you believe the price of oil and gas will be lower before the midterm elections?

Trump: I hope so. I mean, I think so, it could be. It could be the same or maybe a little bit higher.

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— MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) Apr 12, 2026 at 11:02 AM

Since then, one would seemingly think that someone has drawn Trump aside and told him, “Hey, so it’s the worst idea imaginable for you to suggest that gas prices will actually continue going up for the next half a year.” Only it seems that no one shared that same sentiment with the United States Secretary of Energy, so he just went ahead and repeated what Trump had said. Unfortunately, that happens to be the President’s favorite time to abruptly flip-flop his position and throw you to the wolves.

In case there’s any actual question: Gas and oil prices are not going to magically recover to pre-war levels in a short period, even if/when a final truce between the United States, Israel and Iran is announced. There will be dramatic, short-term drops in oil prices because the market is reacting more to sentiment than it is to actual economic conditions, but the process of actually getting pre-war levels of oil flowing out of the Persian Gulf will ultimately take months or years, thanks to damage to oil infrastructure, pipelines, oil and gas fields, and wide-ranging disruption of shipping. It may even take months or years for demand to bounce back given the chilling effect that the war has been having on the global economy and economic productivity. When individuals in particular tighten their belts, they’re wary about letting those belts back out again, even when the government tells you to do so.

Meanwhile, it should be stressed that the war is effectively still being fought on an economic and increasingly physical front once again, with Iran vowing retaliation after the U.S. seized a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend that was allegedly violating the still-in-place U.S. blockade, even as we are theoretically still within the Pakistan-brokered two week ceasefire. That ceasefire is currently set to expire on Tuesday—the same day that the crack U.S. team of savvy negotiators led by the aforementioned Pope-shamed JD Vance hopes to meet with Iranian officials for another round of peace talks. But with Tehran having not yet even confirmed its participation in those talks this week, the threat of renewed hostilities seems to be growing by the day.

Which is all to say: When the Secretary of Energy says that gas prices won’t be coming down this year, he’s probably telling the truth, whether Trump likes it or not.