Were we foolish enough to listen to the Lamestream Media, to the self-imagined “experts,” we’d believe the economy was in free fall and we were all facing certain economic doom any minute now, and it’s all Trump’s fault! And then we’d stop by our neighborhood gas station. 

OK, forget California and some other blue states, but you get the point, just as I did when I filled up yesterday in the wilds of Wyoming:

Graphic: Wyoming gas price.  Author.

Gas hasn’t been that cheap in these parts since, well, since before Biden, when I remember paying less than $2.00 per gallon. Gas hasn’t been that cheap since 2020. Ah, those were the days! And it appears they’re returning:

According to AAA, the average gasoline price in the U.S. was at $2.88 per gallon on Friday. According to the live price on GasBuddy, which uses crowdsourcing data, American motorists were paying an average $2.87 per gallon on Friday morning. 

These are the cheapest gasoline prices consumers have seen in December since 2020, AAA reported. GasBuddy predicts gasoline prices will hit around $2.79 per gallon on Christmas Day. 

While Wyoming isn’t known for gas prices markedly higher than elsewhere, if it’s even cheaper in Wyoming than the national average, it’s almost certainly in that low range elsewhere too, with the aforementioned exceptions like these:

Not all Americans will be enjoying gas prices below $3 per gallon this holiday. New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New England had gas prices over or near $3 per gallon on Friday, according to AAA. On the other side of the country, drivers in California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington were paying more than $3 per gallon. 

Alaska drivers were averaging $3.59 per gallon on Friday, while Hawaii drivers were paying $4.47 per gallon. The only state besides Hawaii, which imports all its gasoline, with average gas prices above $4 per gallon is California, at $4.32 per gallon. Oklahoma had the lowest gas price at $2.34 per gallon. 

President Trump provided the good news:

In his address to the nation from the White House Thursday, President Donald Trump commented on the lower gas prices travelers will enjoy this Christmas. Under the Biden administration, gasoline prices rose 30% to 50%, Trump said. 

“Now, under our leadership, they’re all coming down. And they’re coming down fast,” Trump said, referring to prices for a range of goods and services including gasoline. 

Trump stated that under the previous administration, regulations strangled the oil and gas industry. He said as a result of his declaration of a national energy emergency upon taking office, gasoline prices are now under $2.50 per gallon over much of the country. 

“For years, the radical left democrats exploited the green energy scam as an excuse to funnel many billions of dollars into their own massive slush funds,” Trump said. 

Lower gas prices at the pump are affected by many things, including lower costs of drilling, fewer regulations, an administration that encourages fossil fuel development, new drilling technology and lower international oil prices. And, as President Trump has often said, lower gas diesel and jet fuel costs reduce the price of pretty much everything as pretty much everything is transported using those fuels and they also power manufacturing. Expanded, less regulated and government encouraged energy development reduces the cost of electricity and heating and cooling for homes and businesses.

Americans able to spend less on gas can better meet the needs of their families. They’re also able to afford more travel to visit friends and family and can take long delayed vacations.

And all because gas costs less.

None of this is magic.  Economic principles haven’t changed. What has changed is an administration willing to recognize and implement economic reality to benefit Normal Americans and to make America strong again. One might almost think some politicians don’t care about those Americans, or for that matter, America.

They’d be right.

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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.