The facts
On Oct. 2, the Sierra Club, the Environmental Defense Fund and the Center for Biological Diversity sued, asking a U.S. court to stop the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from lowering the required fleetwide average fuel economy for cars. The Trump administration’s proposal would cut the requirement from more than 50 miles per gallon by 2031 to just under 35.
The groups say NHTSA ignored its own analysis showing weaker rules make drivers pay more at the pump. Critics point to the agency’s math: drivers would spend an extra $1,624 on gas over the life of a car bought under the proposed rules. Under the current rules the agency put lifetime gas spending at $15,333; under the proposal it jumps to $16,957. The administration says the weaker rules would make cars cheaper in the long run by about $1,300 on average.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy credited "Thanks to President Trump’s leadership" for ending the "illegal mandate" that forced automakers to produce more expensive electric vehicles American families did not want. NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison said cheaper prices would let more families afford newer vehicles and that "sensible standards" give automakers more freedom to build what consumers want. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which lobbies for most major carmakers, said "NHTSA made the right call".
The timing is the punchline’s setup: gas averaged $4.30 on Oct. 2, according to AAA, after prices sat above $4 for most of the year. New vehicles averaged near $50,000 last month. Carmakers averaged about 27 mpg last year, per the EPA, so a 15-gallon tank goes about 125 fewer miles per fill-up at 35 mpg than at 50.
This is round two. Trump rolled back Obama-era rules targeting nearly 55 mpg by 2025 in his first term, over environmentalists’ objections; the Biden administration restored them; Trump is slashing them again.
Our take
Sean Duffy is a lying, greasy-handed cunt. He wants you to suck his dick for saving you a theoretical $1,300 on a car while his own fucking agency admits you’ll shovel an extra $1,624 into your gas tank over its life. That’s not a policy, you absolute prick. That’s a shell game where the pea is your wallet and the table is permanently on fire.
Let’s get this straight, you stupid bastard. The cunts at NHTSA did the math. Under the old rules, you’d spend $15,333 on gas. Under Duffy’s brilliant ‘leadership’, you spend $16,957. So you ‘save’ $1,300 up front to immediately start pissing away $1,624 more. That’s a net loss of $324, you dickhead. It’s like a mugger handing you back a single after cleaning out your wallet and expecting a thank-you note. Duffy is that mugger, but with a cabinet secretary title and the fucking gall to call it ‘ending the illegal mandate’.
And what’s the fucking mandate? Making cars that don’t guzzle gas like a frat boy on spring break. Duffy says American families didn’t want those expensive electric vehicles. Bullshit. What American families don’t want, you myopic asshole, is paying $4.30 a gallon to go 125 fewer miles on a tank of gas because you rolled the standards back to 35 mpg. A 15-gallon tank gets you 125 fewer miles. That’s the distance you just stole from every fill-up so your lobbyist buddies can sell more fucking gasoline. You’re not building what consumers want; you’re building a direct pipeline from their bank account to Exxon’s quarterly report.
Jonathan Morrison calls these ‘sensible standards’. Sensible for whom, you smirking shitbag? For the family spending nearly $50,000 on a new car that now gets worse mileage than a brick? The only thing sensible here is the urge to take a piss on the press release where the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the lobbying whores for carmakers, said ‘NHTSA made the right call.’ Of course they did - the right call to make their vehicles cheaper to build and more expensive for you to run, you gullible fuck.
This is round two of this clown show. Trump did this before, Biden fixed it, and now these grifting pricks are back to slash the rules again while gas prices have been over $4 all year. It’s a perfect fucking circle of corruption: make the cars thirstier when fuel is expensive, then pretend you’re doing drivers a favor. Sean Duffy looked at a nation getting financially ass-fucked at the pump and decided the solution was to remove the lube. His legacy is being the dickhead who made your car a worse investment while gas costs a fortune. What a fucking hero.
