It never ceases to amaze me how the media’s reporting on gas prices shifts with the party in power. The same outlets that once bent over backward to shield a Democratic president now sound the alarm with breathless urgency under a Republican one. If you think that’s a coincidence, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
Take CBS News. Recently, it warned that “American drivers have paid an additional $8.4 billion in fuel costs since the Iran war started, according to a new estimate from the Joint Economic Committee's Democratic minority.” The report also added, “The average cost of gas across the U.S. rose to $4.08 a gallon on Thursday after topping $4 earlier this week for the first time since 2022, according to AAA data.”
The tone is clear. Panic. Point fingers. Make sure voters feel it.
Now rewind to 2022, and $4 a gallon was seen as a relief at the pump. “Gas prices could soon drop to $4 a gallon, Biden energy adviser says,” CBS News reported.
Notice the (D)ifference https://t.co/urdQUozUmp pic.twitter.com/7hmf8ayUU0
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 2, 2026
Same price point, totally different framing. Under Biden, $4 gas signaled relief. Under Trump, it signals a crisis. Funny how that works. Yes, prices under Joe Biden hit $5 a gallon at one point, but even then, the media wasn’t exactly pressing the panic button or pointing fingers.
TIME Magazine took things even further during Biden’s presidency, practically scolding Americans for blaming him at all. In a lengthy piece, it declared, “Everything You're Hearing About Gas Prices Is Wrong.” That article leaned heavily on White House talking points and insisted the real culprits were anything but Biden’s policies. According to TIME, “High gas prices are the result of a complex set of circumstances—including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, supply chain challenges, and other market dynamics.”
Gas prices were increasing significantly well before Russia invaded Ukraine. Blaming the invasion for high gas prices was a Biden White House talking point that the media shamelessly parroted.
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TIME even devoted a lot of ink to countering Republican criticism of Biden’s energy policies. TIME wrote, “To understand the misrepresentations around gas prices, it’s helpful to look first to Republicans, who have been using climate as a political cudgel for decades. Republicans have repeatedly used the argument that climate policy will cost consumers to deflect any and every legislative attempt to reduce emissions. So it came as little surprise that they blamed Biden and his climate agenda when gas prices started to rise, in some cases asserting that his ‘Green New Deal’ had driven up prices.”
In other words, don’t blame the guy in charge. Blame Republicans. Blame Putin. Blame supply chains. Blame “market dynamics.” Just don’t blame the policies coming out of the Democrat-controlled White House.
That was the media’s posture for years. Outlets went to great lengths to absolve Biden of responsibility. They portrayed him as proactive, engaged, and working tirelessly to solve a problem caused by everyone else but him. When prices spiked under Biden, the media urged calm and patience. And of course, the most important message of all: Don’t blame Biden.
Today, it’s completely different.
The script has flipped. Rising gas prices are treated like a national emergency, and the media isn’t hesitating to declare who the villain is. The nuance has disappeared. The complexity is no longer there. Just fear and blame.
The funny thing is, gas prices aren’t even at their Biden-era peak, yet the coverage today is far less forgiving. We go through this every time. Gas prices were near $4 a gallon for roughly three years under Barack Obama. No apocalyptic news coverage then. No blaming of the president. Meanwhile, the media seems to miss the connection between rising gas prices under Democrat administrations and aggressive green energy agendas. But that’s a topic worthy of a separate article entirely.
The media’s job should be to inform, not to selectively frame reality depending on who sits in the White House. Gas prices may be up because of the situation in Iran, but high gas prices under Biden were downplayed when they were much worse, and the media pushed the narrative that the Biden White House wanted.
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