President Donald Trump’s war against Iran is having harsh effects on the price of gas for consumers, but no one is being harder hit than his red-state base.

According to Patrick De Haan, the widely-cited head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy, as of Thursday morning, the national average price of gasoline stands at $3.24 per gallon.

“That’s now just 1.4 cents shy of its highest national average since 2024 — and, based on GasBuddy’s tracking, the highest national average so far during President Trump’s two terms,” De Haan writes.

What that means is collectively, he says, Americans are paying about $90 million more at the pump than just one week ago.

At the state level, 49 out of 50 states have seen at least a ten-cent increase since last week. And twelve states are seeing at least a 30-cent increase in just the past week.

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Who is being hit the hardest?

Nine of the top ten highest price increases are being seen in red states.

De Haan says that Louisiana is being hit the hardest, with a 39.7-cent per gallon increase over last week.

Georgia is seeing a 37.5 cent increase. Iowa, Indiana, and West Virginia are all in the 35-cent range. Oklahoma, North Dakota, and Ohio in the 34-cent range. South Dakota comes in at a 32.6-cent increase. And Illinois, a blue state, comes in at number ten, at 31.1 cents per gallon.

According to Michael Gunther, senior vice president at Consumer Edge, the “pain isn’t evenly distributed.”

He says that “customers of value-oriented, drive-dependent brands — Dollar General, Jack in the Box, Boot Barn — allocate the highest share of their wallet to gas. Lower-income, suburban consumers with very little cushion to absorb a sustained spike.”

De Haan adds that gas prices will continue to climb.

“While the national average gas price is seeing a slower climb today, increases will likely throttle back up soon as wholesale gasoline prices jump again,” he notes.

READ MORE: Trump Uses Voter ID Push to Stoke Base With ‘Men in Women’s Sports’ Claim

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After touting the controversial SAVE America Act as “a Country Defining fight for the Soul of our Nation!”, President Donald Trump is now suggesting it would reshape rules for sports participation and health care access for transgender people — changes the bill does not actually make.

The SAVE America Act would require proof of citizenship to register to vote, and voter ID to vote at the polls. It would also sharply restrict mail-in voting. Critics argue the legislation will disenfranchise millions of Americans who do not have a passport or access to their birth certificates. It could make voting difficult for married people who changed their names but not their names on their records. Some estimates say more than 140 million Americans do not have a valid passport and millions do not have access to a paper copy of their birth certificates.

According to President Trump’s Truth Social post on Thursday, the bill requires voter ID and proof of citizenship to vote, and no mail-in ballots except for illness, disability, military, or travel. It also bans “men in women’s sports,” and “transgender mutilation surgery for children, without the express written approval of the parents.”

The current House and Senate versions of the bill do not mention transgender people or sports.

Transgender issues are a hot button issue for many of Trump’s supporters, as he continues to push passage of the bill “at the expense of everything else.”

Last month, Trump said that if Congress passes strict voting measures Republicans “won’t lose a race for 50 years,” CNN reported.

“We’ll never lose a race for 50 years. We won’t lose a race. We want voter ID. We want proof of citizenship, and we don’t want mail-in ballots,” he said, while supporting some exceptions.

READ MORE: ‘Total Scumbag Move’: MAGA Rages as Trump Faces Demands to End Texas GOP War

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Some Texas Republicans had signaled they hoped their nominee would face Democratic U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett in a Senate race that is now headed for a runoff between incumbent Republican Senator John Cornyn and embattled MAGA firebrand Attorney General Ken Paxton. Democratic state Rep. James Talarico’s win in Tuesday’s primary has further complicated matters for the Texas GOP, which now faces a grueling 12-week — and potentially $100 million — brawl to choose its nominee.

President Donald Trump has signaled he does not want that fight, and on Wednesday floated endorsing one of the GOP candidates and asking the other to withdraw from the race.

“The Republican Primary Race for the United States Senate in the Great State of Texas,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, “cannot, for the good of the Party, and our Country, itself, be allowed to go on any longer. IT MUST STOP NOW! We have an easy to beat, Radical Left Opponent, and we have to TOTALLY FOCUS on putting him away, quickly and decisively!”

“I will be making my Endorsement soon, and will be asking the candidate that I don’t Endorse to immediately DROP OUT OF THE RACE! Is that fair? We must win in November!!!”

According to Politico, Trump is being pushed by multiple Republicans to endorse Senator Cornyn.

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Wednesday that he hopes the president’s endorsement comes “soon,” remarks he made “hours after making his latest plea on Cornyn’s behalf to the president.”

Republicans have “warned Trump that if scandal-plagued Paxton becomes the nominee, it could cost Republicans a seat they have held since 1961. There’s even more GOP anxiety now that state Rep. James Talarico secured the Democratic nomination — a candidate many believe could give Democrats their best chance at flipping the seat.”

But if he puts his thumb on the scale and wipes out MAGA favorite Paxton, Trump’s MAGA base has made clear they will be furious.

Far-right influencer, activist, and provocateur Laura Loomer, who reportedly has ties inside the Oval Office, “made her choice for the GOP nominee clear in a post on X on Wednesday,” The Daily Beast reported.

“JUST IN: President Trump says he will soon endorse in the Texas Senate GOP race, & whoever he doesn’t endorse must drop out,” Loomer wrote. “Hopefully he endorses @KenPaxtonTX, because @JohnCornyn has a long record of being anti-Trump, pro-Islam, weak on illegal immigration, and anti 2A.”

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Numerous other MAGA world influencers also urged the president to endorse Paxton.

“Mr. President @realDonaldTrump,” right-wing Blaze TV host Sara Gonzales wrote in a post on X. “I am one of your biggest supporters and I am urging you as someone who is in the Texas grassroots: do NOT endorse Cornyn. It will be one of your biggest mistakes.”

The Daily Beast also noted that conservative radio host Jesse Kelly “called Cornyn, who has held his Texas Senate seat since 2002, a ‘swamp rat,’ and said if Trump endorses him, it would be a ‘total scumbag move.'”

Republican former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, once a top Trump ally, now an “America First” activist, blasted the president.

“Trump now says he is going to endorse either Cornyn or Paxton and demands that whoever does not get his endorsement must drop out of the runoff. This is wrong and the people of Texas should be able to vote for WHOEVER THEY WANT!!! NOT the candidate Trump demands.”

“People are furious over this and if Trump does this, it could actually be the real reason Texas Senate seat flips blue,” she warned. “Stealing people’s opportunity to elect their leaders by force will definitely piss off voters and will lead to even more sitting it out.”

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