Trump just gave America ‘so much gas’ — but not in the way he thinks: critics

In a Wednesday night speech on his unprovoked wars against Venezuela and Iran, President Donald Trump bragged that invading the two countries had left America with “so much gas,” a statement with which many X users seemed to agree… but not in the way the president intended.

"Many Americans have been concerned to see the recent rises in gasoline prices here at home,” Trump said at one during his address. “The short-term increase has been entirely the result of the Iranian regime launching terror attacks against commercial shipping."

Yet in seeming contradiction to that statement Trump later added "because of our 'Drill, baby drill!' program, America has plenty of gas. We have so much gas. Under my leadership, we are the number one producer of oil and gas on the planet."

Even later he reassured viewers that "without even discussing the millions of barrels that we're getting from Venezuela, because of the Trump administration's policies we produce more oil and gas than Saudi Arabia and Russia combined. Think of that — Saudi Arabia and Russia combined, and that number will soon be substantially higher than that."

As for the spike in oil prices worldwide that resulted from Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz in response to his invasion, Trump insisted that "when this war is over, the strait will open up naturally — it'll just open up naturally. Oil will resume flowing and the gas prices will rapidly come back down."

The news from Trump’s speech was not that he made these claims at all, but rather that he has said them innumerable times already since declaring his wars. For this reason, social media users jumped on the fact that Trump’s supposed big war speech offered nothing new to justify two already-unpopular conflicts.

Even worse, at less than 20 minutes length and delivered in a rambling, slurred tone, it was also perceived as dull.

“Prime Trump understood that the worst thing you can be in politics is boring. He never would have given a drab speech like that,” Democratic strategist and former senior adviser to Vice President Kamala Harris Mike Nellis posted on X. “Old man Trump doesn't have the juice and is lost, trying to find a political exit to this war.”

“Trump giving yet another rambling, unhinged, frankly very disturbing address tonight on the Iran war,” X user Fernwood Freddie posted. “And no, this is NOT an April Fool's joke…” (The speech was delivered on Apr. 1, 2026.)

“If this was trump tonight. he is going to be finished soon,” posted X user David D. during the address. “He could barley stand up, slurring, and was just reading his texts one after another.”

Perhaps thinking back to the lone 2024 debate between Trump and then-President Joe Biden, he added that “i have NEVER seen a lower energy president. not even biden. after the speech he nearly fell back. and telling people that we are going to bomb iran back to the stone age? really? that is not a plan. and as long as iran has oil countries will rebuild them. he is living in a dream”

X user iamarealperson more succinctly expressed the same thought, opining that “Trump has lost it. Low-energy, sleepy, rambling speech. So boring. #SleepyDon” Meanwhile X user Sasha compared Trump’s inability to deliver anything substantive to his claims of victory to another failed Middle Eastern war,

“Turned the Trump speech off because I’ve heard this one before,” Sasha wrote over a picture of President George W. Bush in front of a banner saying "Mission: Accomplished.” In so doing, Sasha referenced Bush’s invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the subsequent eight-year war that he insisted had ended mere weeks after he started it.

Even before Trump’s Wednesday speech, he has been accused of failing to address criticisms that his wars will increase gas prices. Last month White House spokesman Kush Desai referred to economists Ed Gresser and Richard Wolff as “idiots” when they described Trump adviser Peter Navarro’s defenses for Trump as “not correct” and “depend[-ing] entirely on linking rising oil prices to geopolitical and military risks.”