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Trump’s imaginary numbers, from $1.99 gas to 1,500 percent price cuts
Washington Post via MSN ^ | July 27, 2025 | Naftali Bendavid

Posted on 07/27/2025 8:09:06 PM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?

President Donald Trump made a promise at a reception last week for Republican lawmakers that was as impossible as it was specific: He would drive down drug prices by as much as 1,500 percent — “numbers that are not even thought to be achievable,” he said.

A price cannot drop by more than 100 percent, but Trump went on to make several other precise but clearly false numerical claims. The cost of gasoline had fallen to $1.99 a gallon in five states, he said; according to AAA, it was over $3 in every state. Businesses had invested $16 trillion in America in the past four months, he added; the entire U.S. economy last year was worth less than $30 trillion.

Trump even congratulated Veterans Affairs Secretary Douglas A. Collins for having an approval rating of 92 percent. In this polarized moment, it is unlikely any U.S. political figure enjoys a figure close to that, and the White House provided no source for the claim.

Trump is hardly the first politician to toss out figures that wilt under scrutiny. But he attaches precise numbers to his claims with unusual frequency, giving the assertions an air of authority and credibility — yet the numbers often end up being incorrect or not even plausible. The bogus statistics are part of Trump’s long history of falsehoods and misleading claims, which numbered more than 30,000 in his first term alone.

“He uses statistics less as a factual statement of, ‘Here is what the best data says,’ and more as rhetorical construct to sell an idea,” said Robert C. Rowland, professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas who has studied Trump’s rhetoric. “I think he uses statistics as something to make whatever he is saying look better.

(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: demagogicparty; districtofcolumbia; dnctalkingpoint; dnctalkingpoints; economy; frpottymouths; gasprices; jeffbezos; mediawingofthednc; naftalibendavid; nevertrumping; partisanmediashill; partisanmediashills; trumpeconomy; trumpliesagain; washingtoncompost; washingtonpos; washingtonpost; weakmindedpottymouth
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The compost beclowns itself with fact checking such as Trump says gas hit $1.99 a gallon in 5 states, the fact check is "AAA maintains a website showing the average cost of gas in every state. None was significantly below $3 per gallon." Trump didn't say average, he said somewhere in 5 states gas fell to under $2.
1 posted on 07/27/2025 8:09:06 PM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

I believe the statement that gas fell to $1.99 in five states to be correct. It was very close to that in Oklahoma this year, at one point in time.


2 posted on 07/27/2025 8:14:59 PM PDT by marktwain
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

As has often ben observed, the MSM take Trump literally, but they won’t take him seriously.


3 posted on 07/27/2025 8:16:49 PM PDT by GMMC0987
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Well, at least he isn’t telling us that his uncle was eaten by cannibals!


4 posted on 07/27/2025 8:16:53 PM PDT by Joann37 (This )
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Naftali Bendavid should untwist her panties.


5 posted on 07/27/2025 8:21:17 PM PDT by kiryandil (No one in AZ that voted for Trump voted for Gallego )
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Naftali writes for the Washington POS.


6 posted on 07/27/2025 8:22:10 PM PDT by kiryandil (No one in AZ that voted for Trump voted for Gallego )
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Gas is cheap as pi.

$3.14/gallon along Interstate exits in south central Pennsylvania today.


7 posted on 07/27/2025 8:22:32 PM PDT by lightman (Beat the Philly fraud machine the Amish did onest, ja? Nein, zweimal they did already!)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

I’m sure he’s correct if state gas taxes aren’t included.


8 posted on 07/27/2025 8:26:50 PM PDT by Williams (Thank God for the election of President Trump!)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

It’s been under 3$ a gallon for a couple of months here in Texas. I passed 2.42 the other day.


9 posted on 07/27/2025 8:30:59 PM PDT by BereanBrain
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

that all you got wapos

sounds desperate


10 posted on 07/27/2025 8:40:16 PM PDT by joshua c
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Trump’s problem is the GOP hate him as much as the Dems do and time is running out and I know he has had a full card but Mid Term voters are not really feeling the love...Trump is losing big within the Moderate ranks... Doing ok with GOP voters.


11 posted on 07/27/2025 8:41:09 PM PDT by dpetty121263
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To: dpetty121263

Going to the grocery store would explain the problem with Moderates. Prices are still continuing to move upward at a pretty good clip. Even I got sticker shock last week after a trip to Walmart and the local grocery store. That is what is in front of Americans right now, and it’s a bad look.


12 posted on 07/27/2025 8:45:56 PM PDT by thescourged1 (Rush, is it time to panic yet? )
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To: thescourged1

Yeah I got my sticker shock last week, bill for groceries at Wal Mart cost for 2 People and one is on a diet cost me $350....Personally think Trump needs to go hammer time on the GOP hard as his Economy is floundering...


13 posted on 07/27/2025 8:51:50 PM PDT by dpetty121263
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Did he drive a 🚛 truck and was raised in a type church too?


14 posted on 07/27/2025 8:52:01 PM PDT by Varsity Flight ( "War by 🙏 the prophesies set before you." ) I Timothy 1:18. Nazarite warriors. 10.5.6.5 These Days)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

What the heck is a Naftali Bendavid?


15 posted on 07/27/2025 8:56:49 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer ("Kamala Harris would have been the next Abraham Lincoln". - Jeff "Dumber" Daniels.)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

I just got gas for $2.03. Not that far off Trump’s statement.


16 posted on 07/27/2025 9:15:00 PM PDT by Kleon
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To: FlingWingFlyer
Naftali Bendavid is published in the Los Angeles Times, has appeared on NPR's Diane Rehm Show and PBS' Washington Week, and is the author of The Thumpin': How Rahm Emanuel and the Democrats Learned to be Ruthless and Ended the Republican Revolution. He also edited Obama: The Essential Guide to the Democratic Nominee.

IOW Bendavid is a Dem-saturated leftist.

17 posted on 07/27/2025 9:30:41 PM PDT by henbane (✧ 𝕁𝔸ℕ𝕌𝔸ℝ𝕐 𝟚𝟘 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟝--𝕄𝔸𝔾𝔸 𝕄𝔸𝔾ℕ𝕀𝔽𝕀ℂ𝕌𝕊 ✧)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Gas has dropped in my area. That is going to have a good impact on prices as the cost of shipping goods will come down.


18 posted on 07/27/2025 9:43:00 PM PDT by KC_Conspirator
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To: thescourged1

Going to the grocery store would explain the problem with Moderates. Prices are still continuing to move upward at a pretty good clip. Even I got sticker shock last week after a trip to Walmart and the local grocery store. That is what is in front of Americans right now, and it’s a bad look.

Then why are we allowing food companies to merge? Why is our meat supply controlled by 5 companies? The consolidation in the food industry is one of the reason for high prices. And we have fewer cows and egg laying chickens right now.


19 posted on 07/27/2025 11:43:59 PM PDT by kaktuskid
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To: thescourged1

They never seem to mention the millions on the gov’t dole putting pressure on demand side of the price equation.


20 posted on 07/28/2025 12:14:59 AM PDT by P.O.E. (Pray for America.)
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