# Post ts_117306567834657729

- Post ID: `ts_117306567834657729`
- Platform: Truth Social
- Posted: 2026-09-21T02:02:54.235Z (UTC)
- Deleted: no
- Repost: no
- Canonical URL: https://trump.fm/post/ts_117306567834657729
- Analysis page: https://trump.fm/post/ts_117306567834657729/analysis
- Audio narration: https://static.trump.fm/audio/ts_117306567834657729.mp3 (a synthesized voice reading the post text, not a recording)

## Post text

> Gas prices were much higher under Biden than under “TRUMP.” So were almost all other prices. President DJT

## Engagement

- Likes: 17,324
- Reposts: 4,232
- Replies: 3,260
- Views: unknown
- Metrics collected: 2026-09-28T02:01:20.690Z (UTC)

# Analysis

_Machine-generated by trump.fm on 2026-09-21T02:09:49.464Z (UTC): a model's reading of this post, not his words. Its psychological terms describe the language, not a clinical assessment of him._

## Summary

Posted at 10 PM Eastern while national gas prices climbed from about $4.15 to about $4.48 over September, the post says gas and "almost all other prices" were "much higher under Biden" than under ""TRUMP."" Both claims are false for the present. The current average is well above the roughly $3.40 Biden-term average, and price levels have kept rising since 2025. The second sentence confuses the inflation rate with the price level. The timing points to a preemptive defense against a visible, impersonal threat. Rather than acknowledge current prices, he shifts the comparison to his predecessor, which is distortion paired with displacement of blame. His own name in scare quotes, followed by the "President DJT" sign-off, casts the economy as a personal brand product. There is no anger, no named critic and no call to action. The one target is a former president, and the charge concerns prices. What sets the post apart is that it asks readers to accept a claim their own fuel receipts contradict.

## A price comparison posted while pump prices were climbing

The post is two sentences and a signature: "Gas prices were much higher under Biden than under "TRUMP." So were almost all other prices. President DJT." It went up at 02:02 UTC on September 21, which is 10:02 PM Eastern on Saturday, September 20. Earlier that day he posted "Hitting balls with Bryson D.," which puts him at a golf property, most likely Bedminster or another East Coast club. The exact venue isn't confirmed, but either way it was late evening where he was.

The timing matters more than usual. AAA-reported national averages rose through September 2026, from about $4.14–4.15 a gallon in early September to about $4.44 on September 17 and about $4.48 on September 20. Aggregators also reported prices higher in every state than a year earlier. The post makes a comparative claim during a sharp run-up that contradicts it. The most economical reading is a preemptive defense against a story he could see coming, rather than a boast about a real improvement. The trigger is exposure: rising prices are visible to every driver and hard to dispute. The response neither admits the rise nor explains it. It moves the point of comparison to the past.

### How the claim is built

- **Distortion / denial.** "Much higher under Biden" is stated flatly, with no timeframe, at a moment when the current average (about $4.48) is well above the Biden-term average (roughly $3.40). It falls short only of the June 2022 peak ($5.02). This reshapes reality to fit a need, and it isn't a figure that is slightly off.
- **Displacement onto the predecessor.** The post names no one for today's prices and no cause. The only agent is "Biden." Blame moves to a figure who has been out of office for twenty months.
- **Splitting.** The eras are sorted whole: Biden's prices high, "TRUMP" prices low. "So were almost all other prices" stretches the split across the whole economy with no qualification beyond "almost."
- **Self-reference in the third person.** Putting his own name in quotation marks and capitals ("under "TRUMP."") turns the administration into a brand. Together with the "President DJT" sign-off, it is the self-referential grandiosity of someone who thinks of economic conditions as his personal product.

The narcissistic state here is grandiose-defensive. It shows no wounded tone and no grievance about being treated unfairly, and there is no anger in the wording. That absence is informative. The post doesn't read as a reaction to a named critic. It is maintenance of the self-image against an impersonal threat (a price chart), which is why it runs to two sentences and not a tirade.

### Voice and authorship

The markers point to Trump writing it himself. The scare-quoted "TRUMP" is an idiosyncratic habit an aide would be unlikely to invent, and "President DJT" is his own sign-off. The post has no statistics, dates or sources, and "almost all other prices" is the round, vague attribution typical of his personal posts. It went up at 10 PM on a weekend after a golf post. The prose is clean, but at this length that tells us little.

### Rhetoric and reality claims

The devices are comparative framing without a baseline (the "under Biden" period is left undefined, so the reader can picture the 2022 peak), whataboutism, and brand-style self-reference. The second sentence is the weaker one even on the most favorable reading. Inflation *rates* peaked under Biden (9.1% in June 2022), but price *levels* are cumulative and didn't fall afterward. "Almost all other prices" being higher under Biden confuses the rate of increase with the level. Most consumer prices in September 2026 are at or above their Biden-era levels.

The post asks readers to believe the past was costlier than the present while the pump sign in front of them says otherwise. That is a mild loyalty test and borders on gaslighting, since the claim runs against an experience his readers can check directly. There are no enemies to act against, no dehumanizing language and no call to action. The one target is a former president, and the charge is about prices, not threat.

### Cognition

The syntax is simple and coherent, and the two sentences follow logically. There are no errors, name confusions or tangents. The false claim looks strategic, because it is timed to a news environment. A confabulated memory would not be timed that way. Two sentences can't show cognitive change in either direction.

Sources: [Autonoción, gas prices Sep 20 2026](https://www.autonocion.com/us/gas-prices-today/), [LendingTree, gas prices higher in every state](https://www.lendingtree.com/credit-cards/study/us-gas-prices/), [Finder weekly gas price averages 2018–2026](https://www.finder.com/economics/gas-prices), [AAA news](https://gasprices.aaa.com/news/)

## Fact Verification

| Claim | Verdict | Evidence |
|-------|---------|----------|
| "Gas prices were much higher under Biden than under Trump." | **False** | The claim fails for the period in which it was posted. AAA-reported national averages were about $4.48 a gallon on September 20, 2026, up from about $4.15 in early September, and aggregators reported prices higher in every state than a year earlier. The Biden-term average was roughly $3.40, and its peak was $5.02 in June 2022. The claim holds for Trump's first term (about $2.50 average, depressed partly by the 2020 pandemic collapse) but not for current prices. |
| "Almost all other prices were also higher under Biden than under Trump." | **False** | The claim confuses the inflation rate with the price level. Inflation peaked under Biden at 9.1% year over year in June 2022, but price levels are cumulative. The consumer price index kept rising after January 2025, so most consumer prices in 2026 are at or above their Biden-era levels. |

Overall Veracity: 0%

## Authorship Analysis

**Self-Written** (score: 80%)

### Indicators

- 10:02 PM Eastern on a Saturday, after a personal golf post
- Idiosyncratic scare quotes and capitals around his own name: "TRUMP."
- "President DJT" self-signature
- Vague attribution ("almost all other prices") with no figures or sources
- Short, unpolished two-sentence assertion

## Psychological Profile

### Traits

**Big Five:**
- Extraversion: 60%
- Agreeableness: 20%
- Conscientiousness: 30%
- Neuroticism: 45%
- Openness: 20%

Strongest facet: low agreeableness (low modesty): credits his own brand and blames his predecessor

**Motives:**
- Agency: 75%
- Communion: 15%

Primary drive: status

### Narrative

- **Role:** Provider of the good economy, set against a failed predecessor
- **Arc:** neutral
- **Contrasting:** Biden

**Identity Claims:**
- His administration ("TRUMP") means lower prices
- He is the rightful owner of economic credit ("President DJT")

### State

**Grandiose State**

**Trigger:** Preemptive Attack — Exposure (Sharply rising national gas prices in September 2026)

Sentiment: +0.10

### Clinical

**Malignant Narcissism:**
- Narcissistic: 50%
- Antisocial: 35%
- Paranoid: 10%
- Sadism: 0%

**Defense Mechanisms:**
- distortion (pathological)
- displacement (neurotic)
- splitting (immature)

**Cognitive Complexity:**
- Complexity: 30%

**Parasocial Techniques:**
- Personal sign-off "President DJT" addressed directly to followers
- Invites readers to share a remembered contrast between eras

## Danger Assessment

**NONE**

### Gaslighting

- Asserts lower prices while readers face rising pump prices they can see for themselves
- Moves attention from current conditions to a predecessor's record

## Fact Checks (2)

_The model's verdicts from 2026-09-21._

> Gas prices were much higher under Biden than under Trump.

**FALSE**

The claim fails for the period in which it was posted. AAA-reported national averages were about $4.48 a gallon on September 20, 2026, up from about $4.15 in early September, and aggregators reported prices higher in every state than a year earlier. The Biden-term average was roughly $3.40, and its peak was $5.02 in June 2022. The claim holds for Trump's first term (about $2.50 average, depressed partly by the 2020 pandemic collapse) but not for current prices.

Sources: https://www.autonocion.com/us/gas-prices-today/; https://www.lendingtree.com/credit-cards/study/us-gas-prices/; https://www.finder.com/economics/gas-prices

> Almost all other prices were also higher under Biden than under Trump.

**FALSE**

The claim confuses the inflation rate with the price level. Inflation peaked under Biden at 9.1% year over year in June 2022, but price levels are cumulative. The consumer price index kept rising after January 2025, so most consumer prices in 2026 are at or above their Biden-era levels.

Sources: https://www.bls.gov/cpi/

Overall Veracity: 0%

## Tags

- gas prices (100%)
- inflation (80%)
- Biden (70%)
- distortion (80%)
- self-branding (50%)

## That day

_From trump.fm's machine-generated digest of the day, not his words._

**Trump calls his ban on CNN, Politico and MSNOW 'an assault on the FAKE NEWS,' then goes after the judge hearing their suit**

Trump's posts ran from Sunday night into Monday afternoon, when he left Washington for New York, and the thread through them was his ban on CNN, Politico and MSNOW from the White House. Overnight he shared a friendly article about the ban; by morning he was insisting he was going after "fake news," not the free press, and likening the media to cancer; by afternoon, with the outlets suing, he was attacking the judge on the case by name before any ruling. In between he pressed Senate Republicans to scrap the filibuster, warning he'd otherwise be "the last Republican President" and hinting that Republican election losses would be illegitimate. The anger stayed inside the press fight. The rest of the day was golf, a pitch for artificial intelligence that waved off fears about it as a hoax, endorsements, a first ride from a new White House heliport he thanked Lockheed Martin's chief for, and a friendly note about visiting Gracie Mansion at Mayor Mamdani's invitation.

Full digest for 2026-09-21: https://trump.fm/date/2026-09-21/analysis

## Citation

- APA: Trump, D. J. (2026, September 21). Gas prices were much higher under Biden than... [Social media post]. Truth Social. trump.fm. https://trump.fm/post/ts_117306567834657729
- MLA: Trump, Donald J. "Gas prices were much higher under Biden than under “TRUMP.”..." Truth Social, 21 Sep. 2026. trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/ts_117306567834657729. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.
- Chicago: Donald J. Trump, "Gas prices were much higher under Biden than under “TRUMP.”...," Truth Social, September 21, 2026, archived at trump.fm, https://trump.fm/post/ts_117306567834657729.

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