The same party that spent years pinning every penny increase at the pump on former President Joe Biden is now scrambling to explain why prices have surged to their highest level in years.
The Republican attacks were everywhere in 2022. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, gas prices surged to a record high of an average of $5 per gallon that June. It’s a familiar strategy for the party, using rising gas prices as a political weapon against Democratic candidates. From the moment Biden took office, GOP leaders lined up at microphones, held press conferences on Capitol Hill, and plastered “I Did That” stickers of Biden’s face on gas pumps across the country. Every rise in fuel costs was, in their telling, a direct consequence of Democratic leadership.
Then came February 28, 2026 — and a new war started by President Donald Trump.