Oil prices and the Reflecting Pool are completely unrelated stories, though both were part of President Donald Trump’s Oval Office remarks yesterday. And both illustrate the maxim that Donald Trump is often his own worst enemy.

How so? Well, in both cases, Trump is pushing a narrative that isn’t supported by the facts. He’s gaslighting to stave off blame for unfortunate realities that damage him personally and his party politically. Unlike President Ronald Reagan, who talked over the media’s heads directly to the people, Trump regularly takes the Leftmedia bait. The media churns a story while he provides fodder to keep it going, even though it rarely benefits him.

Don’t get me wrong; the president has his reasons for wading into the controversies at hand, and they’re at least understandable. Republicans face a tough midterm election cycle, fighting to preserve razor-thin majorities in both chambers of Congress. Presidents typically lose ground in midterm elections, and Trump’s popularity is already low and falling. Oil prices and the Reflecting Pool drama don’t help, but his attempts to shift blame are making both stories worse.

It’s no secret that the economy isn’t firing on all cylinders. The stock market — and thus the retirement investments of millions of Americans — has done fairly well this year. Manufacturing is healthy, and job numbers are going in the right direction. Yet growth is muted. Inflation is persistent and has risen again this year, fueled by oil and gas prices, which in turn are driven by Trump’s military action against Iran. That fight is both important and unnecessarily bogged down. It was never going to be cost-free.

Yesterday, Trump offered his assessment: Big Oil companies are gouging Americans.

“They’re making too much money based on a shortage. I don’t like it,” Trump opined after profit news from two companies. “Chevron, too much money. ExxonMobil, too much money. … They’re going to give some of that back to the public, and they better cut the retail price, the consumer price.”

Did Elizabeth Warren put a bug in his ear? Did Bernie Sanders write his morning briefing?

Seemingly aware that such comparisons would be forthcoming, he protested, “I should be the last one to say it because I’m a big free enterprise guy.”

Oil prices fell 4% on Monday, though they are up quite a bit in 2026. A year ago, the national average gas price was $3.15 per gallon. Today it’s $4.09.

Exxon, Chevron, and other oil companies are producing at high capacity right now, and much of that is thanks to far better policy coming out of the Trump administration. It’s also true that U.S. refining capacity is insufficient to handle the type of oil we’re extracting. Furthermore, the Strait of Hormuz is still a problem, affecting shipments. There are also those burning fuel tankers and oil refineries in Russia.

Every politician follows the adage, “Success has many fathers; failure is an orphan.” So it’s not surprising to see Trump struggle with oil prices, especially when the story is so complicated.

As for the Reflecting Pool, the same motivation is at play for Trump. He’s being criticized — often unfairly — for bad news, and he wants to deflect blame. He relined the Reflecting Pool ahead of celebrations for America’s 250th birthday, boasted about the most incredibly beautiful renovations ever undertaken by man, and then watched in dismay with the rest of us as the water turned greener than ever.

He took a lot of heat from the Trump Derangement Syndrome crowd, and it obviously got under his skin. He quickly blamed vandals for sabotaging the renovation, and it’s easy to understand why. There was vandalism on the lawn nearby, and it seemed like evidence suggested foul play with the pool lining.

In fact, you might say that the overarching story of the last 10 years has been vandals attacking Donald Trump.

Yet U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro dropped the vandalism case against four people, including former U.S. Olympian David Hearn, instead blaming the Reflecting Pool issues on “a rushed and botched installation” by the no-bid contractor Trump hired.

Rather than quietly concede the reality that Pirro and her team had insufficient evidence to win in court, Trump doubled down. “I don’t know what the hell happened,” he angrily complained. “I guess she choked,” he said. “I was disappointed with Jeanine Pirro, really disappointed with Jeanine Pirro,” he added. “She folded like an umbrella.”

What happened is actually pretty simple. As Republican Louisiana Senator John Kennedy explained, “All I know is, you better not go before a federal judge and make allegations you can’t back up.”

Overall, President Trump has had great success on many agenda items in his astonishing return to the White House. For one thing, he saved the country from enduring its 250th anniversary under the thumb of Kamala Harris and her cadre of Democratic Socialists.

Yet it would be nice if Trump would get out of his own way. Finish the job in Iran and help the oil market. Fix the Reflecting Pool and move on with more important things. And for heaven’s sake, there are enough real villains without battling imaginary ones.

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