With Americans increasingly incensed over the steadily climbing cost of refueling their vehicles, theUS Energy secretary says he's "open to all ideas" to bring down the price at the pump, to include suspending the federal gas tax.

This is bad, right?pic.twitter.com/Sw3UGcW31q

“All measures that can be taken to lower the price of at the pump and lower the prices for Americans, this administration is in support of,” Chris Wright toldMeet the Presson Sunday."We’re releasing oil from our strategic petroleum reservesand getting 30 other nations to do that in coordination with us...We revised theEPA regulationson summer gasoline blend to make it easier for American refineries to produce more gasoline."

"I think it's a great idea," said President Trump, "for a period of time."

"We're going to take off the gas tax for a period of time, and when gas goes down, we’ll let it phase back in."

Suspending the tax may only trigger more resentment about the administration's war of choice: Once they learnthe tax only accounts for 18.4 cents per gallon of gas and 24.3 cents for diesel, Americans may view the limp gesture as merely adding insult to injury. In a recent poll,81% of respondents said gas prices are straining their household finances. It's a bipartisan feeling: 79% of Republicans felt that way. With themidterms now less than six months away, the political impact could be significant-- 81% of independents say Trump is to blame to some extent.

Americans expressing their frustration with gas pricespic.twitter.com/Lm6ofNS9qf

The administration has been flailing in its messaging on gas prices.In mid-March -- two weeks after Trump teamed up with Israel to launch a war on Iran -- Wright toldMeet the Pressthat Americans could expect "a few more weeks" of elevated prices, with a "very good chance" they would drop under $3 by summer. In mid-April, Wright toldCNNthatgas may not be below $3 "until next year."Around the same time, however, Trump told Maria Bartiromo that"gasoline is coming down very soon and very big." Now, 10 weeks into the war, and with summer just around the bend,the national average gas price is $4.52; diesel is$5.65.That's about a50% increasesince the US-Israeli war on Iran began.

🚨 TRUMP: “Gas prices are WAY down”https://t.co/KGnWO4WnYzpic.twitter.com/uhL18QxZXd

Prudently refusing to dig himself any deeper on Sunday, Wright toldMeet the Press,"I can’t make any predictions about oil prices or gasoline prices...when we start to get free flow of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, energy prices will come down.” WithTrump rejecting the latest counter-offerfrom Iran, there's little reason to think that free flow will be happening anytime soon.

Source: ZeroHedge News