In his State of the Union address last week, Donald Trump seemed eager to boast about gas prices. “Gasoline, which reached a peak of over $6 a gallon in some states under my predecessor and was, quite honestly, a disaster, is now below $2.30 a gallon in most states, and in some places $1.99 a gallon,” the president claimed. “And when I visited the great state of Iowa just a few weeks ago, I even saw $1.85 a gallon for gasoline, the lowest in four years, and falling fast.”

To be sure, much of this was factually wrong, but just as notable was the underlying point: Trump presented himself to Americans as someone who helps control the prices consumers pay at the pump — and who expects credit when prices fall.

In hindsight, the political calculus was misguided: The president knew he was poised to start a war in Iran, and he was almost certainly warned that the conflict would push oil prices higher. But Trump stuck his neck out anyway, effectively telling Americans to judge him on this issue.

A week later, it’s increasingly clear how not smart that was. MS NOW noted Thursday as part of the network’s live blog coverage:

Oil prices have risen about 20% this week, with U.S. crude oil at $82 per barrel this afternoon.

Consumers are seeing gasoline prices 27 cents higher since last week, up to $3.25 per gallon on average as of today, according to AAA.

Less than a week into the war, gas prices were up 11% as of late Thursday, and as Friday gets underway the news is no better.

Indeed, gas prices are now higher — not only higher than when Trump returned to the White House last year, but also higher than at any point across either of his terms.

At a White House event on Thursday afternoon, the president boasted that he and his team took “decisive action to help keep down the oil prices,” adding that the cost of oil “seems to have pretty much stabilized.”

As is too often the case with Trump, he appears to have made this up. The morning after he made the comments, prices continued to climb.

What’s more, when the president wasn’t peddling nonsense, he was expressing indifference. “I don’t have any concern about it,” Trump told Reuters when asked about the higher prices at the pump. “They’ll drop very rapidly when this is over, and if they rise, they rise, but this is far more important than having gasoline prices go up a little bit.”

Whether American consumers find this persuasive remains to be seen.

Behind the scenes, Politico reported that administration officials are desperate to find ways to lower prices. But at this point, they appear short on ideas.

Shortly before Christmas, the president used his social media platform to tout something he called “The Trump Effect,” claiming that he was singlehandedly responsible for gas prices.

As costs climb, and Americans are introduced to the idea of “warflation,” the concept of “The Trump Effect” is taking on a very different kind of meaning.