Tag: congressional democrats
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Why Don't Rising Gas Prices Trouble Trump? He's Banking Millions, Chump

Honestly, it really isn’t surprising at this point to learn that President Donald Trump is making mad money off of his dumb war with Iran, because Trump doesn’t do anything right now that doesn’t line his pockets.

So while Trump is out there stumping for GOP candidates with the very unusual approach of saying that it’s totes cool you’re paying more for gas because oil companies are making big money from it, he skipped over the fact that he personally is making big money from it.

At the end of 2025, Trump’s oil and gas holdings were worth somewhere between $12.6 million and $46 million. Now? Between $22.5 million and $81.6 million. Yes, that’s a huge range, thanks to the very loose vibes of financial disclosure requirements.

A report from Democrats on the Congressional Joint Economic Committee found that 94% of Trump’s 2026 oil and gas stock purchases occurred after his war began.

Besides holding significant stock in the biggies like Exxon and Chevron, Trump also has shares in dozens of other oil and gas companies. Gotta keep that stock portfolio diverse, right? The president is making bank while Americans have paid an additional $101 billion for gas since he started his war. Talk about market manipulation.

It turns out the patented Trump trick of declaring a ceasefire to juice the stock market and bring down oil prices is very, very good for Trump’s pocketbook. Nobody could have expected.

Trump keeps insisting all of his trades are done without his knowledge. It’s just a wild coincidence that his independent money managers always know just a wee bit more than the rest of the market and time their trades accordingly, which, LOL, LMAO.

Part of why this assertion is so laughable is that we learned in September that Trump has made more trades than all of Congress combined. He racked up a staggering 28,700 trades in 17 months from his inauguration to the end of June 2026. In that same time span, the whole of Congress only made 22,000 trades.

Meanwhile, the House GOP is talking tough about Congress trading stocks, offering a bill that would ban trading by members of Congress and their families. That bill would, however, conveniently exclude Trump.

Unsurprisingly, Trump has enthusiastically endorsed the bill, saying that it must be passed so Congress “cannot corruptly profit from using insider information.”

Well, yeah. That’s just common sense. Only Trump is supposed to corruptly profit from insider information.

Okay, that’s not totally fair. Traders who are willing to pony up about $10,000/month to get early access to Trump’s Truth Social posts, where he overtly moves markets, will also get to corruptly profit from insider information.

In more proof that his brain is made of nothing but pudding now, while he is personally making huge cash off of the high prices of oil and gas, Trump is whining about how it is Iran’s fault that the prices are so high: “Iran is doing everything they can to drive up the price of Oil prior to the U.S. Midterm Election.”

How are they doing this, exactly? Apparently because they are totally lying about the war: “They are even making up fake hits, mines, and everything else, because more Oil is coming through the Hormuz Strait now than it did even prior to the beginning of the Conflict.” Wouldn’t we be able to tell if Iran was making up strikes? Wouldn’t we be able to tell if the Strait of Hormuz really is open?

Look, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is as dumb as a bag of hair weave, but somehow it strains credulity that the military somehow is being fooled by Iran simply declaring they’ve struck something they really didn’t.

But of course it can’t be Trump’s fault that the Strait remains closed, so it must magically actually be open. And it can’t be Trump’s fault that gas prices are high, so it must magically be Iran’s fault.

Meanwhile consumers keep getting screwed, but Trump doesn’t care. He’s getting his, and that’s all that matters.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos


Nation's Electric Bill Jumped In 2025 Despite Trump's Promise To Slash Cost

Nation's Electric Bill Jumped In 2025 Despite Trump's Promise To Slash Cost

During his 2024 campaign, President Donald Trump repeatedly promised that if voters returned him to the White House, his policies would quickly slash everyone’s energy bills in half. A new congressional report, however, finds that the average American family is paying more in electricity costs than before Trump’s second presidential term.

In a report released on March 17, the minority staff of Congress’ Joint Economic Committee says that the average American household’s total annual electric bill rose by $110 between 2024 and 2025, a 6.4 percent increase.

Offering few specifics as to how, Trump told the Economic Club of New York in September 2024: “My plan will cut energy prices in half or more than that within 12 months of taking office. It will be an economic revival of our country like no one has ever seen before. Energy was what caused our problem initially. Energy is going to bring us back. That means we’re going down and getting gasoline below $2.00 a gallon, bring down the price of everything from electricity rates to groceries, airfares, and housing costs.”

Under President Joe Biden, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, both of which included significant federal investments in clean energy infrastructure. The Inflation Reduction Act included billions of dollars in tax credits to lower clean energy costs for consumers and help make their homes more energy-efficient.

Since taking office, Trump has worked to undo as many of those provisions as possible, halting solar and wind energy projects, canceling $8 billion in clean energy projects, and repealing much of the unspent Inflation Reduction Act money for clean energy.

At the same time, Trump’s tariffs on imported goods, grid damage spurred by climate change, and increased power demands from data centers have made electricity more expensive.

“American families don’t need a report to tell them that the President has broken his campaign promise to slash energy costs; they already feel the impact of President Trump’s actions every single day. But this report is yet another indication that sky-high costs are continuing to rise – and are continuing to hurt American families,” said the Joint Economic Committee’s ranking member, New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan, in a statement.

A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.

In Virginia, for example, families saw their electricity bills increase 9.5 percent, paying $170 more in 2025.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, average national gasoline prices have not dropped below $2.00 in any week since Trump returned to the White House. The lowest price was $2.779 in January.

According to American Automobile Association data, the average cost of a gallon of regular gas in Virginia rose from $2.823 a month ago to $3.634 following Trump’s launch of military strikes on Iran.

Reprinted with permission from The American Independent

Closing The Kennedy Center Is Spiteful And Stupid -- And May Be Illegal Too

Closing The Kennedy Center Is Spiteful And Stupid -- And May Be Illegal Too

Donald Trump has been a PR-focused man since long before he was president, but his desecration of the Kennedy Center is one topic he hasn’t been able to wrap a positive spin around. And his unpopular moves might even be illegal.

Negative headlines have swirled around the “Trump-Kennedy Center” since the president began his hostile takeover of the performing arts facility. After Trump stacked the board with loyalists who quickly elected him as chair, ticket sales plummeted and performers bid it adieu.

Despite efforts to spin a more positive press perspective, Trump seemingly decided Sunday that his best course of action was to shutter the building altogether for two years and renovate. The closure is expected to start on July 4.

According to Kennedy Center interim president Richard Grenell, “It desperately needs this renovation and temporarily closing the Center just makes sense—it will enable us to better invest our resources, think bigger and make the historic renovations more comprehensive. … This will be a brief closure in retrospect—and I am confident this sets the stage for a stronger, revitalized National Cultural and Entertainment Complex.”

And while last year’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill allocated $257 million to renovate the center, the abruptness of the closure has startled at least one Republican.

“That came as the big surprise to me, because it was my understanding the renovations are already underway and going well, so I don't think that was anticipated when we provided the money,” Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine told HuffPost.

But Trump and Grenell might have to be reminded that they can’t shut something down just because it’s getting bad PR.

In a letter obtained by MS NOW and published on Thursday, Democratic lawmakers say the closure is likely unlawful.

“This decision likely violates the essential purposes and intent of the federal law establishing this beloved national memorial to the late President John F. Kennedy and raises a multiplicity of serious legal and policy questions that need to be addressed before anything irreversible happens,” said the letter, which was signed by 70 Democrats, including Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland.

“In a radical departure from the Center’s proudly bipartisan history, you purged the Kennedy Center Board of its independent Trustees, amended the Board’s bylaws to vest all voting power in your appointed loyalists, and even, shockingly, added your own name like a delinquent graffiti artist to the only national memorial for the late beloved President John F. Kennedy,” the letter continued.

Trump has already torn down the East Wing of the White House, but according to a conversation with reporters Monday, he plans to keep the “structure.”

“I’m not ripping it down,” he said. “I’ll be using the steel. So we’re using the structure. We’re using some of the marble, and some of the marble comes down. But when it’s open, it’ll be brand new and really beautiful.”

The thing is, it’s much easier to manage the public perception of a facility—and the mismanagement of its resources—with its doors closed.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos

New Poll: Public Anger At Republicans Deepens As Shutdown Drags On

New Poll: Public Anger At Republicans Deepens As Shutdown Drags On

Most Americans know the federal government is shut down — and they’re not shrugging it off. Most expect it to hurt them personally, fear it will damage the country even more, and increasingly blame Republicans and President Donald Trump — whose low approval rating has taken a strong hit — for the crisis.

That’s according to an extensive Navigator poll released on Wednesday.

Overall, Americans blame Trump and the GOP for the shutdown by a 14-point margin — up four points from last week. And Trump and Republicans in Congress are increasingly seen in a negative light over what they’re fighting for in the shutdown.

At the same time, President Trump is now seeing his lowest approval rating since 2018, according to Navigator. Other polls have produced similar results.

Three out of four Americans have heard some news of the shutdown. And about two-thirds (66 percent) have heard a lot or some about it.

It’s having a massive impact.

“64 percent believe the shutdown will have a negative impact on them personally, up from half who thought the same last week. Even more (77 percent) believe it will have a negative impact on the country,” Navigator reported.

Nearly half of Americans, 47 percent, blame President Trump and Republicans for the shutdown, an increase of four points over last week.

“Since last week, independents increasingly blame Trump and Republicans more than Democrats for the government shutdown,” according to Navigator. “When forced to choose between Trump and Republicans or Democrats, a majority say Trump and Republicans have the power to end it (52 percent – 21 percent).”

Americans also see Trump and the GOP as trying to keep the government shut down, and give Democrats “more credit” for trying to keep the government open.

A plurality, 42 percent, know Democrats are fighting for health care and see that as a positive.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans (64 percent) want Trump and the GOP to compromise with Democrats, and by a strong margin (39 points).

Overall, according to Navigator’s graphics, when asked about nine issues, Americans’ top concern (76 percent) currently is the shutdown and it having no clear end in sight.

That’s closely followed by the rising cost of health care and Americans losing coverage without congressional action (74 percent).

Food stamp funding (SNAP) running out on November 1, leaving about 42 million people without federal nutritional assistance, comes in a close third (73 percent).

All this appears to be having an impact on President Trump’s popularity.

“As the shutdown continues, President Trump’s overall approval rating (-16) and economic job approval (-21) remain underwater, the lowest point both of these metrics have been since the beginning of our shutdown tracking.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

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