Washington, D.C.– Over the course of the past two days of the Republican Convention in Dallas, we have seen Republicans both tout low energy costs and assert that gas prices would come down despite record highs. What is clear is that Republicans are fumbling on energy affordability and they know it. They can’t seem to get their messaging straight as they try to figure out how to explain to voters that energy is affordable right now, while the cost of diesel is reaching legal limits. On top of that, households across the country saw record high utility bills this summer. 

Yet, instead of addressing the concerns around rising energy costs and gas prices Trump and Republicans spent the summer insisting that costs would come down despite rolling back the solutions, like clean energy, that would actually do so. Last summer, Republicans passed the Trump favored “Big Ugly Bill,” also known as the Republican Tax Law, which notably cut clean energy projects and prioritized giveaways to Big Polluters. Since President Trump took office, energy costs have risen 18% nationwide and Trump has spent $4 billion tax dollars to abandon offshore wind projects in order to prioritize fossil fuels and help his Big Oil buddies rake in record breaking profits. In Q2 alone, Big Oil had over $40 billion in profits. Unsurprisingly, voters are angry at monopoly utility companies, Big Tech and Big Oil, who continue to rake in record profits.   

Republicans are desperate to pull the wool over voters’ eyes, but electric bills don’t lie. Below is a list of just a few of the lies we heard from Republicans throughout the week on energy affordability: 

1. “They use the word ‘affordability,’ right? It’s fake.”– President Trump, during keynote speech on Wednesday night
2. When asked if gas prices are on the ballot this Midterm Cycle: “President Trump, ‘drill baby drill’ promises made, promises delivered. And here we are the number one oil and gas producer in the world, those are all things helping to keep energy prices down in America both for electricity and at the pump.” – Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum 
3. “Oil will be going down as soon as we win the war with Iran.”–  President Trump, during keynote speech on Wednesday night 
4. “I am bringing the prices way down, way way down.”–  President Trump, during keynote speech on Wednesday night
5. When asked about oil prices: “Right after the election, oil prices are going to be tumbling downward…I think it’s going to take a little longer than the midterm.”– President Trump

Now, with just 53 days left until Election Day, Trump and Republicans are trying to save face and showboat propaganda in the hopes of gaining back the base voters that elected him in 2024. But voters know that Trump and Republicans are to blame for rising costs and new polling shows that 81% of Americans see corruption in the government as raising costs. While Trump and other speakers were focused so much on oil at the convention, that same polling shows that voters see Oil and Gas as the “most corrupt” industry in the U.S. Trump and Republicans have lost trust with voters and they know it. Republicans have been clear that they will continue to prioritize billionaire executives, Big Oil and Big Polluters, over hardworking families that are scraping by to make ends meet. 

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