Trump on $4.55 Gas: 'This Is Peanuts. I Don't Think About Americans' Financial Situations.'

Asked about gas prices hitting $4.53 a gallon, President Trump brushed off the question on May 19: "This is peanuts. I appreciate everybody putting up with it for a little while. But I don't even think about it. What I think about is you can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon."

Earlier, when asked whether rising costs for Americans were motivating him to pursue a deal with Iran, Trump was more direct. "Not even a little bit," he replied. "The only thing that matters when I'm talking about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon. I don't think about Americans' financial situations, I don't think about anybody, I think about one thing, we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That's all."

For Luna Rosado, a single mother of three in Plainville, Connecticut working two healthcare jobs, the "peanuts" are about $40 extra each week at the pump. That's roughly $160 a month she no longer has for groceries and household necessities. "Everything's just getting more expensive. I can't keep up."

Heidi Dragneff, a Navy veteran and single mother of three teenagers in Virginia Beach, watched her gas cost jump 80 cents per gallon in two weeks, pushing a full tank to $60. She has stopped contributing to her 401K while rent climbed $600 a month last year and her energy bills doubled. "I end up trying to make lists of budgets," she told Truthout. "Nothing changes."

Brookings Metro researchers calculated that the median two-driver American household is now spending $70 more per month on gasoline. For the lowest-income households, that represents 5 percent of their post-tax income, on top of a baseline where the lowest-earning quintile was already spending more than 10 percent of pre-tax income on gas before prices spiked.

Gas was $2.75 a gallon in January 2026. It has risen nearly 49 percent since the start of the year. Every state has seen double-digit percentage price increases over the past year, with Ohio up 57 percent, Michigan up 54 percent, and New Hampshire up 56 percent.

A Marist poll conducted April 27-30 found one-third of all Americans describe current gas prices as a "major strain" on their household budget. Sixty-three percent of respondents blamed Trump for the price surge, including 63 percent of independents and about one-third of Republicans. Trump's overall disapproval stood at 59 percent, the highest in the Marist survey's history across both of his terms.

The concern has crossed party lines. Pennsylvania GOP Senator Dave McCormick acknowledged gas prices are "certainly an issue" for workers living paycheck-to-paycheck. GOP strategist Ford O'Connell said the party needs prices back to pre-war levels by Memorial Day. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called Trump's dismissal "wildly out of touch with working families and the middle class."

Chastity Lord, president and CEO of the Jeremiah Program, which works with low-income single mothers, described what families are absorbing: "Gas cuts through everything. You're already underwater, and it's almost like the gas puts weights on your feet." Sara Estep, an economist at the Center for American Progress, said that for families already stretched thin, "there is very little room left to pivot."

Trump has predicted prices will drop "like a rock" once the Iran conflict ends. AAA recorded the national average at $4.55 on May 20, up $1.57 from one month earlier. Families who were paying under $3 a gallon in April are still waiting.