There are political arguments that require some factual scaffolding, and there is the argument Scott Jennings made on CNN Wednesday, which required none, because he simply said a thing that was not true and then continued saying it after the anchor told him it was not true, which is a technique that works on some platforms and does not work on panels that have access to current gas prices.
Jennings, a Republican political commentator and CNN contributor, appeared on a panel hosted by anchor Abby Phillip and stated flatly that gas prices are “lower today than when he took office,” referring to Trump. “No, it’s not,” Phillip told him. She repeated herself as Jennings continued making the assertion. Democratic strategist Neera Tanden noted that the price of oil and gas had gone up. “What’s the price of gas today, do you know?” Jennings asked. Tanden said approximately $78 per barrel of oil and $4.30 per gallon at the pump. Jennings then asked whether she had talked about oil and gas prices when Biden was president, which is not a rebuttal to a gas price but is a different subject, and the segment continued in the direction that CNN segments go when one panelist has decided to argue.
Gas was approximately $3.09 per gallon nationally when Trump took office in January 2025. It is approximately $4.30 per gallon now, per current tracking, which is $1.21 per gallon higher than the starting figure, which is the opposite of lower. The increase tracks directly with the Iran war, which closed the Strait of Hormuz in February, sent Brent Crude to $126 per barrel in April, crashed back to $73 per barrel after the Versailles ceasefire, and is now climbing again as the ceasefire ended Wednesday and U.S. forces struck 90 Iranian targets overnight.
The clip of Phillip fact-checking Jennings in real time has been circulating since Wednesday evening, per Raw Story, and has accumulated the specific energy of a clip where a journalist does their job in four words while the guest continues. “No, it’s not” is four words. It is also accurate.
Trump’s own Truth Social posts have demanded that gas retailers lower prices “IMMEDIATELY!” under threat of “big problems,” which is the posting behavior of a man whose gas prices are not lower.
When a pundit says gas prices are down, the anchor says they’re up, and the pundit continues making the argument, what is the argument actually about?
Sources
Raw Story: Scott Jennings brutally fact-checked while claiming Trump lowered gas prices
HuffPost: Inflation Hits 3-Year High As Affordability Challenge For Americans Grows
