Tired of Winning

Spectator

By Stephen Tuttle | May 23, 2026

He told us he would stop the Russian-Ukraine war in 24 hours with a single phone call. He said gas would cost less than $2 a gallon, that inflation would be next to nothing, and the world would respect us more than ever. He said we “obliterated,” “decimated,” and “completely destroyed” the Iranian military. He said, without a hint of irony, “We’re going to win so much, you may even get tired of winning.”

It turned out none of that was true. We’re presumably winning a war against Iran we started for dubious reasons, though they somehow keep finding ways to attack neighboring military targets and keep the Strait of Hormuz closed despite having been “obliterated.”

The MAGA minions believed all this, which even Trump likely does not believe—in his book, The Art of the Deal, he describes lying as “strategic hyperbole”—and none of it has come to pass.

According to our own Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the best measure of inflation, was 2.9 percent on Jan. 20, 2025, when Donald Trump was inaugurated for his second term. As of May 17, 2026, the CPI was 3.8 percent. That’s a 31 percent increase, not a reduction to “next to nothing.”

The unemployment rate as of inauguration day 2025, according to the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), was 4.0 percent. As of May 18, 2026, it’s 4.3 percent. According to some, the number would be higher, but many immigrants, here legally or otherwise, neither report to work nor file for unemployment since showing up puts them at risk of an ICE raid and applying for benefits is akin to self-deportation.

We attacked Iran, we were told, because they’ve been attacking us for 47 years and were on the verge of being able to attack us with nuclear weapons. While it’s true enough Iran’s terrorist proxies Hamas and Hezbollah have spent decades attacking our troops in the Middle East, there is scant evidence they were about to produce even a single nuclear weapon, and there is no conceivable way they’d have launched such a thing at the continental U.S. Iran’s leaders may be extremists, even bloodthirsty terrorists, but they are not idiots intent on self-destruction. Our war against them does not seem to have completely crippled their military nor changed their attitude. The Strait of Hormuz blockade has, however, hurt American consumers.

According to AAA, the national average cost of a gallon of regular unleaded gas on inauguration day 2025 was $3.12. As of May 17, 2026, that same gallon averaged $4.51 nationally and more here in Michigan. Just 10 gallons of gas costs nearly $14 more now than it did just 18 months ago.

Diesel fuel, which powers most of our trucking industry and farm equipment, is even worse. The US Energy Information Administration (USEIA) reported the cost of a gallon of diesel fuel on inauguration day was $3.72. As of May 17, 2026, that has now ballooned to $5.04 per gallon nationally and $6.20 in Michigan.

Virtually everything we buy is either shipped by something burning diesel fuel or planted and harvested by something burning diesel fuel. Those cost increases are necessarily being passed along to consumers, since neither farmers nor truckers can afford to simply absorb them.

Just growing those crops has become more expensive, too. Sure, it would be swell if the entire agricultural world all decided to avoid chemical fertilizers, but we’re a long way from that happening. And the cost of those fertilizers has exploded. According to DTN Fertilizer Trends, the cost of a ton of fertilizer, depending on the nutrients and chemicals used, ranged from $326 to $809 per ton on inauguration day. The same products now range from $493 to $1,110 per ton. More costs brought about by supply chain interruptions created by our war and cost increases thanks to our new tariffs.

Our summer vacations will not be immune to the price increases, either. Back in January of 2025, a gallon of Jet A fuel for fixed base operators was $6.58/gallon and is now $7.94/gallon. That’s why airfares are increasing just in time for our summer trips.

We could just stay home and…no, that won’t help us avoid all the price increase, either. Even the cost of the energy on which we rely for our lights, air conditioning, and electronic gadgetry, is up considerably. According to the USEIA, the average cost nationally of power in January 2025 was 17.2 cents per kilowatt hour. Now the cost is 18.05 cents per kilowatt hour, and the USEIA anticipates those costs rising further.

Tariffs some courts have deemed illegal and a war we did not need have created an inflationary train that appears to be picking up steam rather than slowing.

We aren’t tired of winning—we’ll have to start winning before we become tired of it.