If there's one thing that White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain is good for, it's beclowning himself over Twitter with some shameless takes looking to promote the Biden administration. As Katie highlighted just last week for instance, he tried to spin the god awful inflation numbers as good news for seniors. His equally tone deaf takes extend to another crucial issue for Americans, the narrative on gas prices.
If your narrative is that gas prices are rising, well, your narrative is out of date. 👇👇👇👇👇 https://t.co/TNKH5RMnq0
— Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) October 20, 2022
Our friends at Twitchy highlighted how Klain got just dragged for this, with many Twitter users pointing out that however the Biden administration looks to spin gas prices, it's a fact that they were much lower under the Trump administration.
The national average gas price the day Biden took office:
— Chad Gilmartin (@ChadGilmartinCA) October 20, 2022
$2.39
The national average gas price today:
$3.84
If your narrative is that paying $1.45 MORE for gas is a decrease, you are dead wrong. https://t.co/gXGy7oznvd
The average cost per gallon is almost $1.50 higher than when Biden took office. If you want to keep touting this as an accomplishment I highly encourage you to keep doing so!! Great work, Ron. https://t.co/r559KHtYly
— Stratton Hickcox (@StrattonH) October 20, 2022
It's also worth pointing out that where the supposed steepest drops have occurred have been where gas prices are the highest, on the West Coast and parts of the Midwest. In California on October 20, the date of Klain's tweet, the average price of gas in California is still at $5.880 a gallon, according to AAA Gas Prices. In Illinois, the state where gas is most expensive in the region, the October 20 average is $4.283.
While in Los Angeles last week, President Joe Biden stopped for tacos during which he was confronted in the press gaggle there about gas prices, with the reporter sharing it was "seven bucks a gallon almost" in that area. Indeed, AAA showed that the average in California for last week was $6.196 a gallon.
The president actually answered the question by dismissive it as how "well, that's always been the case here." Perhaps he acknowledged as much given that that state, and that region especially, will almost certainly support him and Democratic candidates no matter what.
Biden also went on to claim in his response how prices came down in the nation overall and then somewhat intelligibly offered, "we’re going to work on — housing is the big — is the most important thing we have to do in terms of that." That's what the official White House transcript claimed he said at least.
Another crucial highlight is that the original tweet, from Gas Buddy's Patrick De Haan, notes that this downward trend Klain is all too excited to tout, is "for now."
The Biden administration has been seeking to take credit for lowering gas prices for some time now. As Fox News' Peter Doocy exposed when calling out White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre during a press briefing earlier this month, the administration refuses to take blame when they've gone up.
Gas prices have been going back up for a time in recent weeks and months, with even CNN acknowledging as much, and warning earlier this month that more increases were coming.
Americans are also already lamenting that gas prices are going up, not just with another response that Twitchy highlighted, but in polling as well.
Up .34 in 10 days here. The chart is predictions. And if they become reality, the max predicted doesn't even match the 10 day increase I've seen.
— Bonnie Blue (@BonnieBlueTK) October 20, 2022
Burning the emergency reserves for *this*. Nothing more than a political game with long term consequences. https://t.co/3nPcqFZaKG
A CBS News Battleground Tracker poll that was released on Sunday and conducted October 12-14 revealed that 63 percent of registered voters said gas prices were "going up" in their area. Just 13 percent said it was "going down," while 18 percent said it was "staying the same."
When voters were also asked in that same poll what they think "is responsible for the current increase in gas prices," and were invited to check all that applied, 47 percent said "Joe Biden's economic policies."
Gas prices made news on Wednesday as well, with Biden further depleting even more barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for political reasons just under three weeks ahead of the midterms. This move, which Klain and others in the administration continue to claim to the American people is worth celebrating, comes even after Biden has already depleted the reserves to critical levels, after OPEC has refused to increase production despite pressure from the president to help him ahead of the election.
Klain further tweeted about gas prices later in the day on Thursday, including when it comes to referencing disastrous polls for the president, both The New York Times/Siena College poll and even more recent Monmouth University poll.
The @potus gave remarks — and took action yesterday — on gas prices and was in PA today pressing his agenda to lower costs. https://t.co/ohHMHd569a
— Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) October 20, 2022
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