‘Like You’ve Never Seen Before’: Trump’s Latest Energy Promise Ignores What’s Actually Happened Under His Watch

With less than two weeks left before Election Day in New Jersey and Virginia, President Donald Trump posted a message on Truth Social Wednesday afternoon making a big promise to voters. According to MSNBC, he told people to vote Republican, saying it would lead to major cuts in energy costs. The president wrote that a Republican vote means a drop in energy prices and costs that voters have never seen before.

Trump’s latest campaign message comes as he tries to help his party’s candidates running for governor in both states. Right now, the Democratic candidates have small leads in the polls. The president promised voters that if they pick Republican candidates, their energy costs are going to drop by a lot. He even said voters could cut their energy costs in half by voting for his party.

This promise sounds familiar because Trump made the exact same one to voters during his 2024 campaign. “We intend to slash prices by half within 12 months, at a maximum 18 months,” he had said then. “We’re looking to cut them in half, and we think we’ll be able to do better. … You will never have had energy so low as you will under a certain gentleman known as Donald J. Trump. Have you heard of him? So we think your energy bills will be down by 50% to 70%. How good would that be?”

The Numbers Tell A Different Story

Almost one year into his second term, Trump has not kept that promise. According to recent government numbers cited by The New York Times editorial board, electricity prices are almost 10 percent higher than they were a year ago. Instead of the big drop Trump said would happen, American consumers are paying more for their power.

The Times editorial said that several things have led to higher electricity costs. But the editors also said that the Republican administration’s energy policies are not helping and will soon make things even worse. The growing demand from the artificial intelligence boom, which started before Trump took office, has put pressure on the electric grid that was not ready for it.

Economist Paul Krugman recently looked at the situation and said that while Trump cannot be blamed for all of the rising electricity prices yet, he is doing everything he can to make the problem worse.

“Can we blame Trump for rising electricity prices? Not yet. The AI boom began well before Trump won the election, and the grid just wasn’t ready. Trump is, however, doing all he can to make the problem worse – boosting crypto and AI while blocking the expansion of renewable energy, which has accounted for the bulk of recent growth in electric generating capacity,” Krugman explained.

Now Trump is asking voters in New Jersey and Virginia to believe the same promise he made a year ago. Even though the facts clearly show that energy costs have gone up instead of down during his time in office, the president is saying again that Republican votes will lead to big drops in energy prices. Whether voters will buy this pitch a second time remains to be seen as Election Day gets closer.