Donald Trump Thanks Himself In Third Person In Tweet Bragging About Lower Gas Prices
Donald Trump wants everyone to know who to thank for lowering gas prices: Donald Trump.
On Sunday, the president took to Twitter to share his thoughts on a variety of topics, from the rights of asylum seekers to protests taking place in France. One of those tweets touched on falling gas prices, which Trump seemed to thank himself for while referring to himself as “President T.”
The tweet is the latest example of Donald Trump referring to himself in the third person in tweets congratulating himself. The practice has raised some eyebrows, and it’s apparently a tactic he uses in real life as well. Earlier this year, Bill Gates shared a story about an encounter with Donald Trump in which the president spoke about himself in the third person and failed to understand the difference between HPV and HIV.
In a clip posted to Twitter, Gates talked about the strange encounter:
“When I walked in, his first sentence kind of threw me off. He said: ‘Trump hears that you don’t like what Trump is doing.’ And I thought, ‘Wow, but you’re Trump.’ I didn’t know the third party-form was always expected. ‘Gates says that Gates knows that you’re not doing things right.’ “
This is also not the first time that Donald Trump has expected Americans to thank someone for lowering gas prices. In a tweet earlier in the week, he praised Saudi Arabia for the dropping prices and said Americans should be thanking the kingdom — a controversial statement as it came just a day after a report that the CIA found Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman had personally ordered the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Trump has frequently cast doubt on whether Saudi Arabia was directly involved and said he did not want to push back too hard, risking losing Saudi investments into the United States.
So great that oil prices are falling (thank you President T). Add that, which is like a big Tax Cut, to our other good Economic news. Inflation down (are you listening Fed)!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 25, 2018
Many have also questioned whether Trump actually has anything to do with lowering oil prices. Though some do credit Trump’s demands to OPEC for helping to bring down prices, experts say gas prices are tied to a variety of factors outside the control of the president, including seasonal drops that take place every year.
In Alaska, the Trump administration is taking its first steps toward expanding oil and natural gas drilling in an area roughly the size of Indiana.#ProtectTheArctichttps://t.co/HuRh8sgqTp
— Friends of the Earth (Action) (@foe_us) November 25, 2018
While Donald Trump may be praising the reduced gas prices, the cost for Americans at the pump was still relatively high. As Fortune noted, gas prices for the busy Thanksgiving travel weekend were the highest in the last four years.
