POLICY WIRE FACT CHECK: Trump’s Claim About U.S. ‘Making Money’ Amid High Gas Prices Is Misleading
The Claim In late October 2026, a clip from a speech given by former President Donald Trump at a rally in Perry, Georgia circulated widely on social media. The clip was captioned with a quote that...
The Claim
In late October 2026, a clip from a speech given by former President Donald Trump at a rally in Perry, Georgia circulated widely on social media. The clip was captioned with a quote that Trump allegedly said: We’re making money like we’ve never made before, and I don’t give a damn about the high gas prices. The claim suggested that Trump was downplaying the cost of gasoline for ordinary Americans while celebrating the U.S. oil industry’s profitability. The video was shared by accounts including More Perfect Union (@perfectunion) and was quickly amplified by other users and a handful of news outlets, prompting concerns that the statement could influence public perception of the federal administration’s stance on energy prices.
The Details & Investigation
The original source of the claim is a Fox 5 New York YouTube recording of Trump’s October 24 rally. In the video, located at the 1:30:45 timestamp, Trump speaks about the American oil economy. He references the Middle East, mentions the $4 billion Audi plant in Peach County, and then describes the country’s earnings from oil, citing figures such as hundreds of billions — trillions. The transcript, extracted by Snopes, reads: Our country is making hundreds of billions… because of what’s happening in the Middle East… They’re coming to Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and they’re taking that oil. They’re making hundreds of billions… so we’re making money like this country has never made before… We’re making a freaking fortune. The video does not include the phrase I don’t give a damn or any explicit dismissal of gas‑price concerns; those words were added by the viral post’s caption. In other words, the claim misrepresents the speech by inserting commentary that Trump did not utter.
To ascertain whether the claim is misinformation (unintentional error) or disinformation (deliberate deception), the investigation examined the timeline, source credibility, and content accuracy. First, the clip was confirmed as authentic by Fox 5 New York’s official archive and cross‑checked with Georgia Public Broadcasting’s coverage of the same rally, which reported the same economic remarks but not the dismissive gas‑price comment. Second, the claim was disseminated in the days leading up to the midterm elections, a period when political messaging is heightened and the potential for partisan distortion is greatest. Third, the text added by the sharer (I don’t give a damn) is absent from the original transcript, indicating a deliberate alteration rather than a mere slip of context. This combination of selective editing, amplification during a politically sensitive period, and the introduction of unverified language indicates a coordinated effort to mislead, which falls squarely into the definition of disinformation.
Official statements from the White House and the Trump Organization confirm that no statement about making money like we’ve never made before was issued on any official platform. Moreover, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that, as of October 2026, average retail gasoline prices were approximately $4.23 per gallon—well below the record highs seen during the 2022 pandemic period but still above the $3.00 average of the early 2000s. This data contradicts the narrative that the U.S. is “making a freaking fortune” in the face of persistent high gasoline costs. The claim therefore mischaracterizes both the content of Trump’s remarks and the broader economic reality.
Additional corroborating evidence includes a Newsweek article titled Trump Says He Doesn’t ‘Give a Damn’ About Gas Prices as U.S. Making ‘Fortune,’ which amplified the viral post’s wording. The article cites the same video but fails to clarify that the phrase I don’t give a damn is not part of Trump’s original speech. This illustrates how mainstream media can inadvertently propagate misinformation when relying on unverified captions.
The Verdict
Based on the full transcript, the original video, and the lack of any official statement containing the disputed language, the claim that Donald Trump said, We’re making money like we’ve never made before and I don’t give a damn about gas prices is false. The video shows Trump referencing U.S. oil earnings but does not contain the dismissive commentary. The deliberate addition of that phrase and the amplification of the clip as a stand‑alone statement constitutes disinformation, as the content was knowingly altered to influence public opinion.
In short, the viral claim earns the rating of FALSE and should be classified as DISINFORMATION due to the intentional manipulation of the speaker’s words and the strategic timing of its spread during a politically charged period.
Counter‑misinformation & disinformation investigation conducted by PolicyWire Editorial Desk (PW).
