California Gov. Gavin Newsom is not holding back when it comes to President Donald Trump and the ongoing mess in the Strait of Hormuz. With fuel prices still climbing, Newsom's press office took to X on Tuesday to unload on the President, pointing to the $86 billion Americans have supposedly shelled out extra for fuel since the waterway was shut down.
The post was a direct response to the Department of Energy's cheerleading image of Trump with the caption "Drill, Baby, Drill!" and the nickname "Energy Man." Newsom's team wasn't having it.
"The Strait of Hormuz is still closed and Americans have been forced to pay $86 BILLION more for fuel," the press office wrote. "Meanwhile, Low T Trump still can't end the war he started." The post went on to say the only ones benefiting are "Big Oil, whose profits keep going up!"
Newsom isn't alone in this line of attack. Illinois Gov. Jay Robert 'JB' Pritzker has also been demanding that oil companies reimburse consumers after posting record profits. Even Trump himself has urged oil companies to bring down prices at the pump. But here's the thing: they probably won't listen.
GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan told MarketDash that energy companies have little incentive to cut prices just because the President asks. They're beholden to investors and shareholders, not politicians. So when Trump says "pretty please," the oil execs nod politely and go back to counting their money.
America's Diesel Problem
While everyone's been focused on gasoline, diesel has been quietly going haywire. The diesel crack spread, which basically shows how much profit refineries are making from turning crude into diesel, surged to $102 per barrel at the start of the week. That's the highest it's ever been.
At the pump, the national average for diesel hit $5.5042 per gallon on Wednesday, according to AAA. In California, it's even worse, with the average price topping $7 per gallon. That's brutal for truckers, farmers, and anyone who relies on diesel to make a living.
Meanwhile, Trump's former counterterrorism chief, Joe Kent, is warning against piling economic pressure on Iran. He says it could put U.S. troops in the Middle East at risk, especially after Trump floated the idea of "crushing economic" restrictions on Tehran to force the Strait of Hormuz open again.
Chris Wright Touts Oil Boost
On the other side, Energy Secretary Chris Wright is trying to spin things positively. He pointed out that oil production has "quadrupled" in the Permian Basin in Texas, and he blamed the previous administration's clean energy policies for the high costs we're seeing now.
But even some Republicans are admitting the administration could do better. Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) said Trump should have communicated the Iran war's impact on affordability and prices more effectively to the public. Because right now, Americans are feeling the pinch, and they're not happy about it.
The bottom line: fuel prices are up, politicians are pointing fingers, and the people who could actually do something about it, the oil companies, are sitting pretty. It's a mess, and there's no easy fix in sight.
