With control of Congress at stake in November, Alaska has emerged as one of several Republican-leaning states where the GOP suddenly finds itself playing defense. Complicating the party's message, according to some of the president's own supporters, is growing frustration with President Donald Trump over fuel prices that remain stubbornly high despite his campaign pledges.

In interviews with MS NOW reporter Alex Tabet (watch the report), multiple Alaskans who voted for Trump said his promises to bring down fuel costs have not come through.

"Yeah, I know all that," said Carl Cleveland, a three-time Trump voter. "That's why I voted for him, because he was saying all that stuff. And now it's totally different. I think that's the way it is for all politicians. They say something, get elected. And then once they're in office, they're totally different."

Asked by Tabet whether he regretted his vote, Cleveland replied: "Yeah. A little bit."

Jason McNulty, another Alaskan Trump voter, voiced similar disappointment. "He talks a lot, but I haven't seen anything come to fruition yet," he said. "You know, of course I understand that [Iran] don't need nukes, but we — I mean, I need to live and not be able to spend all my money on gas."

Asked how it felt to watch those campaign promises now, McNulty was blunt: "Like he's just lying."

Other backers disputed the president's own characterizations. After Trump claimed that "gas prices have come down today," three-time Trump voter Gayle Michaelson responded: "That's just not accurate."

"I would just say I'm disappointed," Michaelson said. "I'm disappointed in him. You know, Americans expected so much more. And what he promised isn't happening."

Ryan Boyer, another Alaska Trump supporter, reacted to Trump's recent claim at an event that "gas prices are not very high" with exasperation: "I mean, obviously that's frustrating. You know, hearing, promises and them not being kept."

Trump also said that "right after the election, oil prices are going to be tumbling downward." But another Trump supporter interviewed by Tabet complained that "everybody is still waiting" for the winning the president promised.

The burden appears to be falling hardest on Trump's own base. According to Tabet's reporting, diesel prices in Alaska are creeping toward $10 a gallon — a figure that stunned MS NOW anchor Katy Tur.

"Alex, Alex. Did you just say $9 a gallon for regular [gas]?" Tur asked.

"It's $9 a gallon for regular," Tabet confirmed. He described a conversation with one gas station owner whose pumps date back decades. Because the equipment is manually and mechanically set, the owner must open the machines and change the numbers by hand — and the displays cannot show double digits. The owner told Tabet he fears prices are heading toward $10 or even $11 a gallon this winter if the war in Iran does not come to an end. If that happens, he would have to buy entirely new pumps because he would no longer be able to display the prices correctly.

The squeeze is landing in a state with a distinctive fuel profile. Alaska has ranked for decades among the nation's leading crude oil producers, yet many of its communities sit far from the road system and take delivery of fuel by barge or plane. Heating oil carries many homes through the long winters, and in villages without connections to any larger grid, diesel generators keep the lights on.

Mike Madrid, former political director of the California GOP Party, warned after hearing the report that he had encountered the same complaints in Texas, a longtime Republican stronghold.

"It's exactly what I was hearing in south Texas last week when I was talking to these Latino voters that decidedly moved towards Donald Trump [in 2024.] And keep in mind, diesel does move the economy. It's goods movement. It's shipping, as you just heard, it's airline flights. But in a place like Texas, for example, and presumably in Alaska, the largest number of pickup trucks fueled by diesel engines for ranchers, people in manufacturing, people in the construction housing industry. Blue-collar, working class people have diesel truck engines," Madrid said. "Their own pickups are diesel. So, they're getting destroyed in this economy. These are the reddest states."

Whether prices climb past what those hand-set pumps can display — a prospect the station owner tied directly to the course of the war in Iran — now stands as one of the clearest markers Alaskans can watch as the November elections approach.

Source: Alternet