First Draft: Higher Gas Prices? Trump Doesn’t Care
The president keeps saying he’s fine with higher gas prices as a result of his war. Plus, a US judge blocks Trump’s sanctions against the UN's Francesca Albanese for investigating Israel’s war crimes.
On this day in 1796, English doctor Edward Jenner administered the world’s first vaccination as a way to prevent smallpox. By 1970, the disease was eradicated worldwide. Just don’t count on Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr to mark Jenner’s achievement today.
Good morning! Andrew here. Perhaps you thought this before, but have you noticed since Donald Trump launched his war with Iran that he really, really doesn’t care if every American – and well, everyone around the globe – suffers? Relatedly, does anyone know how to make a campaign ad?
There is no paywall in this installment of ‘First Draft’ thanks to today’s sponsor, Ground News!
In today’s ‘First Draft,’ we review Trump’s history of saying on camera that he knew gas prices would go higher, potentially a lot higher, and he launched his war anyway. Plus, a U.S. judge blocks sanctions against United Nations special rapporteur Francesca Albanese for investigating Israel’s war crimes in Gaza, and Trump’s favorite Democrat, attention-seeker John Fetterman, casts the key vote to keep the Iran war going.
‘I Expected Worse’
Donald Trump won in 2024, in large part, because Americans didn’t like the Biden-era economy, and the higher prices that followed the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Starting on day one, we will end inflation,” Trump pledged on the campaign trail, as he promised to drive down energy prices and grocery prices – while also claiming he’d avoid disastrous regime-change wars in the Middle East.
As both top Trump and Kamala Harris campaign aides have told it, the most effective Trump campaign ads in 2024 revolved around the idea that she was more of the same, and video clips of the vice president arguing that “Bidenomics is working.”
That, of course, feels like a lifetime ago. As president now, Trump is leading a financial WMD of a regime-change war that’s seen Iran choke off the flow of oil, sending diesel and gasoline prices soaring. Consumer inflation accelerated last month – and it’s likely about to get much worse, as wholesale prices have started to spike.
And Trump couldn’t give a shit.
That’s not my opinion. Trump keeps screaming it out loud, on video, in the middle of a midterm election cycle that would look very bad for Republicans if they weren’t trying so hard to eliminate Democratic congressional seats and Black voting power in the South.
Asked Tuesday if Americans’ financial situations were motivating him to make a deal to end the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, Trump said: “Not even a little bit,” adding: “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation.”
If that, for some reason, sounds like it could be taken out of context, as Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson suggested on Wednesday, or sounds like a “misrepresentation” of what Trump said, as Vice President JD Vance falsely claimed, there are many similar clips of Trump sounding wholly unconcerned with the economic havoc he’s creating.
Since launching his war of choice, which has seen the price of gas increase by more than 50% in the US, Trump has repeatedly said he expected oil prices would go much higher.
“We figured oil prices would go up, which they will,” he said on March 7, a week after launching his war, or “excursion,” as he put it that day.
The national average gas price in the U.S. was $2.98 the day Trump launched his war. It was $3.41 on March 7.
“I expected worse, actually,” Trump said later that month. “I thought that oil prices would go much higher.”
At his March 26 Cabinet meeting, Trump said, “I thought the oil prices would go up more.” A day later, at a Saudi investment conference, Trump said, “I thought oil prices were going to go up higher than they are now.” Gas was $3.98, a full dollar higher nationally than it was before Trump’s war.
On April 16, Trump dismissed the idea that Americans were facing high gas prices. “They’re not very high,” he told a reporter.
Speaking at The Villages in Florida on May 1, Trump said, “I thought the oil prices would go up much more,” adding, “We have no choice whether it does or doesn’t, I have to do what’s right.”
In a bizarre scene a week ago, surrounded by UFC fighters in the Oval Office, Trump said he thought the price of a barrel of oil would be triple or nearly quadruple what it was when he launched his Iran war. “I thought oil prices would go to $200, $250, it’s at $100 now,” he said. “Even if it went to $200, it would have been worth it.”
The national gas price average was $4.54 that day.
On Tuesday, as he said, “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation,” Trump added that “a lot of people” thought oil prices would be even higher. “It was $99 yesterday, which is low, which is relatively low.”
As Trump remains so oddly impervious to Americans’ economic pain, observers step in to tell his public just how bad things are getting politically. On Wednesday, CNN data guru Harry Enten greeted a new report about annualized wholesale inflation up 6% with a disbelieving “Jesus…” Then he went to town on just that one aspect of Trump’s terrible cost-of-living polling.
“These are the ugliest numbers I have ever seen on inflation,” Enten said. “And it’s not just one poll… it’s many polls. Just take a look here. President’s net approval on inflation, the five worst polls ever for any president. They all belong to Donald John Trump, and they have all occurred in the last month…
“It is a record. Simply put, you do not want to have the five worst polls ever.”
We used Ground News to analyze the story on Trump dismissing concerns over high oil prices.
Ground News is a news app and website that scans 50,000+ articles while offering built-in bias comparisons, fact checks, and funding transparency for every source.
For this story, we see there is a split in the coverage, with 29% left, 44% right, and 27% center. The topics are the same, but the coverage couldn’t be more different. Ground News makes it easy to see the difference in how both sides are covering the same story.
The built-in factuality and ownership features also highlight the hidden angles behind every article. With Ground News’s Vantage Plan, information becomes your superpower. Learn more at ground.news/zeteox and get 40% off the unlimited Vantage Plan.
(This portion of the post was sponsored content.)
🇮🇷 Iran War Updates
Split decision: John Fetterman’s sole Democratic “no” meant the Senate failed a seventh time to pass a measure to end Trump’s war. Republican Lisa Murkowski switched to yes with one GOP senator absent. The measure went down 49-50.
China crisis: As Trump landed in Beijing to meet Xi Jinping, the New York Times reported that U.S. officials say Chinese firms are plotting to sell arms to Iran. Meanwhile, a Chinese oil tanker exited the Strait of Hormuz, controlled by Iran, after being stranded for two months. Trump later hailed the Chinese president a “great leader” and “friend” and invited him to the White House.
Talks talk: Vice President Vance said talks to end the war were “making progress” but Trump’s “red line” was an end to Iran’s nuclear program. An Iranian general said the country’s military had “no room for retreat.”
Secret visit: Benjamin Netanyahu secretly visited the UAE during operations against Iran, the Israeli prime minister’s office said. The UAE denied that the visit was secret.
Lebanon latest: Strikes on vehicles in southern Lebanon killed 22 people, including eight children, the Health Ministry said, per the BBC. Continuing to ignore the supposed ceasefire, Israel claimed it hit Hezbollah targets and warned residents of nine villages to evacuate ahead of more strikes. The death toll has topped 2,895 people.
UN Official Beats Trump Sanctions
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, celebrated on Wednesday after a federal judge blocked U.S. sanctions against her.
The Italian lawyer said: “As the judge says: ‘Protecting the Freedom of speech is always just the public interest.’ Thanks to my daughter and my husband for stepping up to defend me, and everyone who has helped so far. Together we are One.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio sanctioned Albanese in July 2025, after Trump issued an executive order authorizing measures against anyone involved with the International Criminal Court investigation of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.
Albanese’s “offense” was to recommend war crimes prosecutions against Israeli and U.S. nationals.
The sanctions barred Albanese from entering the U.S. or banking there. As she previously lived in Washington, DC, while attached to the World Bank, and maintains a house in the city, Albanese and her family faced serious problems. In February this year, Albanese told Mehdi and a Zeteo town hall audience about life under U.S. sanctions, including how she could not “make any financial transaction.” She also discussed a crude video spread by pro-Israel groups attempting to paint her as antisemitic.
Albanese’s husband, Massimiliano Cali, and daughter, who is a U.S. citizen, sued the Trump administration in U.S. District Court in Washington, DC. On Wednesday, in his ruling, Judge Richard J. Leon wrote: “Protecting the freedom of speech is ‘always’ in the public interest … That is so even when an individual's views are ‘hurtful,’ ‘caustic,’ or ‘even outrageous,’ as defendants clearly believe Albanese's speech to be … Indeed, the ‘proudest boast’ of our First Amendment is that it protects the freedom to express even ‘the thought that we hate…’
“Enough said.”
🗞️ What You Need to Know
Fed led: Kevin Warsh was confirmed as the new Federal Reserve chair. Only one Senate Democrat – Fetterman, obvs – backed Trump’s pick, amid concern over the president’s attacks on Fed independence.
Legal news: Trump’s DOJ sued the Washington, DC, Bar for disciplining Jeffrey Clark, a government lawyer who worked on Trump’s attempt to stay in power after losing the 2020 election. In Florida, Trump, state officials, and trustees of Miami Dade College were sued over a land deal for Trump’s presidential library.
Et tu, Kash?: After getting FBI Director Kash Patel to agree to take a test to see if he has a drinking problem, Senator Chris Van Hollen took a test himself. Meanwhile, MS Now reported agents saying Patel is manipulating statistics relating to FBI arrests.
Epstein update: Howard Lutnick’s House Oversight transcript was released. Of the commerce secretary’s attempts to explain issues including a visit to the late sex offender’s island he first failed to mention, Democrat Ro Khanna said: “It was just contortions and lies… He made a farce of the English language.”
Drunken slurs: Senator Rand Paul’s son, William Paul, made antisemitic comments to GOP congressman Mike Lawler at a DC bar, NOTUS reported, adding that Paul said he was “really drunk” and told Lawler to “watch more Tucker Carlson.” Lawler isn’t Jewish. Paul apologized and said he was seeking help.
ICE impunity: A witness to a homicide at a Texas ICE facility whose account Zeteo published had his appeal dismissed and was ordered removed from the U.S., Zeteo learned. In Colorado, a judge said ICE is violating court orders, including by making and failing to document warrantless arrests.
Power play: Nearly 50,000 Lake Tahoe residents must find a new energy source as their current supplier will feed data centers instead, Fortune reported.
🧠 Pop Quiz!
By his own account, new Fed chair Kevin Warsh appeared in which 1987 movie drama starring Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep?
Keep your eyes out for the answer below!
🌏 Anywhere But America
🇵🇸 Don’t forget Gaza: The Gaza Health Ministry told Reuters 120 Palestinians, including eight women and 13 children, had been killed in Gaza since the Iran war paused on April 8 – 20% more fatalities than in the previous five weeks.
🇵🇸 Plain murder: A Palestinian man climbed the separation wall between the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, seeking to find work, AP reported. Israeli forces killed him.
🇬🇧 Keir clings on: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stayed in his job despite intense pressure from his own party after disastrous local election results. Health Secretary Wes Streeting was reportedly set to launch a leadership challenge.
🇱🇻 The PM who is resigning: Center-right Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa announced that she was resigning after her coalition partner, the Progressives, effectively said it would no longer support her. The resignation comes days after she pushed out Defense Minister Andris Sprūds, of the Progressives, over his handling of multiple incidents of Ukrainian drones flying into Latvia’s territory.
🇵🇭 Senate shots: Gunfire was heard in the Philippine Senate, as authorities tried to arrest Senator Ronald dela Rosa, who, as national police chief, enforced former president Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drug efforts in which thousands were killed.
😳 WTF?!
Before Doug Burgum became Trump’s interior secretary, he was governor of North Dakota, a state that produces a lot of energy, renewable sources included.
But he doesn’t seem to know how solar power works.
Appearing before the House Natural Resources Committee, Burgum, who has extensive oil and gas ties, sought to cast doubt on solar projects.
Addressing the California Democrat Jared Huffman, the secretary said: “All of these projects you are describing in Nevada have one thing in common: When the sun goes down, they produce zero electricity… the whole machine doesn’t work when the sun goes down.”
Huffman requested “unanimous consent to enter in the record this amazing new technology that apparently the secretary is unaware of: It’s a battery.”
Bruce Westerman, the committee’s Republican chair, smirked.
Burgum stayed stone-faced.
🧠 Trivia answer: Ironweed. (Warsh made the claim to the Stanford Daily, while an undergraduate. IMDB doesn’t list him.)
ICYMI From Zeteo
Zeteo’s Martin Pengelly contributed to this newsletter.
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I heard Fetterman speak last night on something. He actually made Trump seem like a master orator! If they remake One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest he will be perfect!