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Trump Mobile. Trump Steaks. Trump Coin. Trump Vodka. By this point, you know the drill.
The president’s latest personal venture doesn’t bear his name, but it does come with all the signature hallmarks of a Trump brand: it’s garish, incredibly shady, and likely to implode sooner rather than later.
Called Freedom Fuel Network, the enterprise encompasses dozens of gas stations throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey, USA Today reported, although it isn’t exactly clear which locations are open for business. Plastered in American flag decals and “Freedom Fuel” branding, the gas stations seem to be selling unleaded gasoline for the fixed-price of $3.47 per gallon, about 32 cents cheaper than the current average price in the US.
While there is some grumbling online about that fixed price being higher than local prices, in most scenarios the cost for a gallon of Freedom gas seems far lower than the market rate.
For example, the first Freedom Fuel store, located at a former Sunoco store in Dresher, Pennsylvania, is drastically undercutting the competition. According to GasBuddy, nearby prices range from $3.85 to as much as $4.49 — no doubt reflecting the slower drip of oil from the president’s costly war on Iran, which burst back into active fighting this week.
As head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy Patrick De Haan told the Philadelphia Inquirer, the current price of crude oil means there’s no way Freedom Fuel’s $3.47 price point can turn a profit.
“Stations selling at this price, it’s not sustainable,” De Haan explained. “Generally, when losses happen, somebody’s got to pay for it.”
De Haan raises an obvious question: who is paying for it? If the stations are losing money on every gallon, somebody has to make up the difference somewhere — whether out of Trump’s pocket, that of a friendly donor, or the taxpayer’s. And if it’s a private company taking the hit, how long until they stop subsidizing Pennsylvania drivers? Will consumers in Ohio ever get to experience a $3.47 gallon at a Freedom Fuel-branded station?
These questions remain largely unanswered. Though Freedom Fuel was first announced on White House social media channels, a government spokesperson told the Inquirer that Freedom Fuel is a private company, not a federal program.
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