President Donald Trump checks his hair before sitting down for a podcast interview at the Varsity restaurant in Rome, Georgia, February 19, 2026. REUTERS Kevin Lamarque
President Donald Trump made numerous promises to voters on the 2024 campaign trail, and according to a new report from The Hill, one of his biggest is still a complete flop, over a year and a half into his second term.
As the Monday morning report noted, Trump repeatedly pledged to bring down costs during his reelection bid, at a time when the rising cost of living was, as it still is, the top issue on voters' minds. At one point, he claimed that he would be able to make significant cuts to the cost of energy prices, adding that he could accomplish the goal in 18 months at the most.
"Under my leadership, the United States will commit to the ambitious goal of slashing energy and electricity prices by half, at least,” Trump said at a campaign rally. “We intend to slash prices by half within 12 months, at a maximum, 18 months."
Now, a few days past the 18-month mark of his second term, The Hill's report explained that he has not just failed to lower energy prices, but they are now getting worse under his watch.
"However, average household electricity prices for the first five months of 2026 were about 12 percent higher than the same period in 2024, significantly outpacing inflation," the report detailed. "While gasoline fluctuated during the Biden administration, prices are now about 60 cents higher than they were at this time in 2024, averaging $4.11 per gallon on Friday, according to AAA."
Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, spoke to The Hill about these trends and explained that energy costs are having a notable impact on the overall cost of living for Americans. Giving one example, he noted that oil remaining at around $100 per barrel for a year could cost the average family an extra $800 annually. Energy prices are also unique in their ability to raise prices across a number of other critical industries.
"They have higher costs of gasoline to run their car," Wolfe said. "Food costs will increase on the margin because trucks need to deliver groceries. If you use heating oil to heat your home, the cost will be higher ... On heating oil and gasoline, it’s a direct result of the war. It’s pushing up prices and creating this instability in the market."
Rising electricity costs, the outlet noted, are a more "complicated" situation, with Thomas Rowlands-Rees, head of Global Power Markets Analysis at BloombergNEF, saying that “we’re getting to a point where the bill is coming” for power grid upgrades, which cannot be pinned on any presidential administration in particular. Wolfe, meanwhile, was critical of Trump for creating major roadblocks for renewable energy, which could help stabilize electricity prices at a historically volatile time.
"It’s a problem for any incumbent,” GOP strategist Keith Naughton told The Hill, offering a forecast for the party's fate in the midterms. “Anything that’s raising prices is going to be a challenge for whoever’s in office."
