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markwayne mullin
GOP Senator Swiftly Fact-Checked After Whining About Gas Prices For His Massive Truck
Oklahoma Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin was swiftly fact-checked after he took to X, formerly Twitter, to complain about gas prices for his F250 Power Stroke Diesel.
Mullin used his post to attack President Joe Biden, saying he "doesn't want you to believe your own pocketbook."
He added:
"I just filled up my truck, an F-250 Power Stroke Diesel for $4.68/gallon -- and that's in Oklahoma. To tell Americans that inflation isn't a problem just shows how out of touch this administration really is."
You can see his post below.
However, an X Community Note that cites oil and refined products analyst Patrick De Haan—who posts under the username @GasBuddyGuy—points out that Mullin's "selected gas price is an outlier in Oklahoma," noting that "The daily diesel average according to AAA is $3.95/gallon in Oklahoma as of Nov 21st."
And soon afterward, he was also fact-checked by Oklahoma Democratic candidate Kody Macaulay, who is currently running for Congress.
He issued the following response:
"Gas is the lowest it's been in years, and the average in Oklahoma is $3.95 for diesel. It's down to $2.85 for regular which is fantastic."
"What you refuse to acknowledge is the fact that inflation has gone down to 3% from it's peak of 9%, and continues to improve."
You can see Macaulay's post below.
Others also criticized Mullin for playing fast and loose with the facts—including the fact that his choice of vehicle is a total gas guzzler.
Republicans have historically tried to blame Biden for high gas prices.
Notably, Ohio Republican Representative Jim Jordan once asked his followers if they remembered "how cheap gas was" when former President Donald Trump was in office.
Trump himself has repeatedly exaggerated the size of the price increase, telling stories on Fox News in which the price of gas when he left office is off by "more than 50 cents per gallon," according to one fact check.
De Haan, the aforementioned @GasBuddyGuy, also once fact-checked Colorado Republican Representative Lauren Boebert for her attack on Biden for restocking the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), an emergency stockpile of petroleum maintained by the United States Department of Energy (DOE).
Though Boebert claimed Biden had "emptied" the SPR just to "get through" the midterm elections and later "stock it back up at a MUCH higher price," De Haan pointed out that the SPR was buying back oil barrels at a significantly lower rate than what it sold them for earlier during 2022.