"Freedom fuel has arrived"

'What a joke' - Critics ridicule “Stable Genius” bizarre 'Freedom Fuel' gas price stunt While President Donald Trump is no stranger to making gaffes, his latest blunder Wednesday during a press conference in Turkey ignited an online firestorm as critics renewed calls to have the president removed under the 25th Amendment . Sitting alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump was in Turkey ahead of the NATO summit, and briefly took questions from reporters. He was asked multiple questions regarding the recent U.S. strikes on Iran – officially the Islamic Republic of Iran. In one of his responses, Trump made a remarkable gaffe . “I told this story yesterday: we had 111 missiles shot by the Islamic Republic of Japan,” Trump said, continuing his story without acknowledging or appearing to recognize his mistake. President Donald Trump unveiled a new promotional gimmick this week: " Freedom Fuel ," or a network of 25 gas stations offering what is being billed as cut-rate gasoline to deliver savings to American voters. "FREEDOM FUEL HAS ARRIVED," said the White House official account on X. "The FIRST Freedom Fuel Network gas station has LANDED in Philadelphia, lowering the price at the pump to $3.47 for our 47th President. President Trump is leading the charge to lower gas prices this summer — putting more money in your pocket." MAGA-supportive pundits instantly lauded the announcement, with far-right conspiracy theorist reporter Lara Logan posting, "Everyone is going to want this." But elsewhere, the idea was met with scorn, as people laughed at the idea of the Trump administration setting prices at a tiny handful of branded gas stations — and others pointed out that gas is only so expensive due to Trump's war against Iran . "25 gas stations out of 120,000 in the US," wrote blogger Jim Stewartson. "This is Trump’s entire con in a nutshell: Try to fix a problem that isn’t a problem. Make it a problem. Deny you made it a problem. 'Fix' the problem with propaganda instead of a solution. Make the problem worse." "So is this a state-owned gas station? A Trump-owned gas station? Or does this all belong to one of his rich donors?" wrote the LDS Democrats account. "There is a racket in here somewhere." "Arsonist puts out fire," wrote political commentator Travis Akers. "Going through all that trouble and the best they can do is $3.47 per gallon?" wrote Open Measures senior researcher Jared Holt. "What a joke." "The average price of gas when Biden left office was $3.12," wrote liberal journalist Aaron Rupar. "Trump wants to throw a parade for himself over one station where it's $3.47." "You raise prices, then pretend when they go down you’re some savior," wrote former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL). "Besides, all your supporters spent the last half year telling us presidents don’t control gas prices?" Writing on X, independent journalist Alex Cole was left aghast by Trump’s gaffe. “The Islamic Republic of Japan? His brain is gone,” Cole wrote in an online post to his more than 326,000 followers. “Time for grandpa to take another cognitive test.” Former Republican congressman Joe Walsh of Illinois simply wrote “25th Amendment” in response to a viral clip of Trump’s remarks, and others accused the press of holding Trump's gaffes to a different standard than those of former President Joe Biden . Trump made several blunders during the press conference, including mistakenly referring to Zelenskyy by the wrong name and struggling to understand reporters’ questions. And you can tell who is directing Trump’s attorneys, as they made what could be a fatal mistake in the latest bid not to pay writer E. Jean Carroll after he was found liable for sexual abuse, according to a legal expert. Court filings show the mistake could cost him nearly $5.8 million. Trump's lawyers filed a late-night brief on July 7 asking U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan to block Carroll from collecting the money — funds that have sat in a court account since 2023. While attorneys claimed was still "pending" before the U.S. Supreme Court , the docket showed otherwise, noted legal journalist Roger Parloff. " Trump asks Judge [Lewis] Kaplan not to release $5.8M from court escrow to E Jean Carroll claiming his 'petition for rehearing [of cert denial!] remains pending before SCOTUS,'" Parloff wrote on X. "But SCOTUS docket shows his petition was 'not accepted for filing' on July 6." "The only problem?" legal analyst Lisa Rubin noted on X . "In an entry dated yesterday, the petition was not accepted for filing. Trump's brief to Kaplan was filed at 11:49 pm." Trump's lawyers submitted their brief late at night, citing a petition the Supreme Court had already turned away hours earlier. "To date, Carroll has agreed to each of Defendant's many requests to delay the payment he owes her," Carroll's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, wrote in a filing . "Given the extraordinary lengths he has taken to avoid such payments and that each of those efforts has been denied in full, that cooperation ends today." "It is time for him to pay Carroll," she added. "A petition for rehearing is likely to fail," the attorney also warned. The U.S. Supreme Court denied Trump's certiorari petition — his formal request for the justices to hear his appeal — on June 29, according to CNBC . There were no noted dissents. That included three justices Trump himself appointed.