Earlier this week, President Donald Trump said that oil and gas companies have made “too much money” from rising crude oil prices during the Iran war.
“Chevron, too much money. Exxon Mobil, too much money,” he said. “They’re going to give some of that back to the public and they better cut the retail price, the consumer price.”
It wasn’t clear whether Trump’s remarks were a promise, a threat or simply an off-the-cuff demand. The White House announced no plan to compel oil companies to lower prices or return money to consumers, and Trump did not elaborate.
But the idea fit a pattern of his second term. Since returning to office, Trump has repeatedly held out the prospect of direct financial benefits for different groups of Americans — farmers, people trying to start families, taxpayers and consumers.
The pitch has been consistent: money in your pocket, courtesy of the president. The outcomes have been far less consistent. Some benefits arrived later or in more limited form than Trump’s rhetoric suggested. Others never materialized at all.
Read Lily Becker’s analysis here.
