# DJT Kept His Promises

# They paid him. He gave them a war. Now the whole world pays at the pump — and the oil states are saying — Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, Donald J Trump!

There is a version of this story that the White House would like you to accept: that the war with Iran *happened* *to protect you* from Iran getting a nuclear weapon, and that the price you now pay at the pump is nobody’s fault and will be over soon. That Israel struck first. That the president is a helpless bystander to global markets, doing his level best to bring your gas bill down.

Read the numbers and decide for yourself. Because when you lay them end to end, only a fool could miss the shape of what happened.

# First, they paid him

Before there was a war, there was money — Gulf oil money, flowing to the president’s own family and inner circle in amounts that have no precedent in American history.

Start with Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, who holds an informal but very real hand in Middle East policy. His investment fund holds roughly **$4.8 billion** in outside capital — about 99% of it foreign, and most of it coming from Gulf governments. Two billion came from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, over the objection of the fund’s own screening committee, which flagged Kushner’s inexperience and “excessive” fees before Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman personally overruled them. Another $1.5 billion followed from Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Kushner collects management fees on all of it, every year, whether the money performs or not. This is verified — it sits in SEC filings and in the records of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.

Then the crypto. Days before the second inauguration, a firm tied to a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family paid **$500 million** for a 49% stake in the Trump family’s crypto company, World Liberty Financial. Abu Dhabi’s state-backed MGX ran **$2 billion** through that same company’s stablecoin in a single deal — more fees for the family. And the real estate kept coming: a Trump-branded resort in Qatar valued at **$5.5 billion** with the state’s own investment arm, towers in Dubai and Jeddah, a Qatari jet offered up for use as Air Force One.

None of these are campaign contributions. They are payments — to him personally through his family. The Framers had a word for foreign money flowing to the man who holds the office. They called it a violation of the Emoluments Clause, and they wrote it into the Constitution precisely because they feared a president who could be bought.

# Then he gave them a war

In June 2025, the bombs fell. The official story was that Israel struck first — and Israel did open the shooting. But it was American aircraft, on the president’s order, that bombed three Iranian nuclear sites: Fordow, Natanz, Esfahan. By February 2026, the “Israel struck first” cover story had given way to the real thing — a full-scale war, U.S. and Israel against Iran, that is still grinding on as you read this.

The consequence that matters for every household on earth arrived quickly. The Strait of Hormuz — the narrow channel through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil passes — effectively shut down. Tankers burned. Saudi output fell. And the price of crude did exactly what a war in the Persian Gulf always makes it do.

# And the price of everything went up

The day before the war, a barrel of Brent crude cost about **$67**. Through the first half of 2026 it averaged around **$108** — a jump of **more than 60%**, confirmed by Saudi Aramco’s own earnings report and the Wall Street Journal.

Here is what that 60% looks like where you actually feel it — at the pump, today, as of AAA’s statewide averages this September:

Regular, Premium, and Diesel in **California** $5.93, $6.35, **$7.98;** in **New York** $4.36, $5.28, **$6.03; in** **New Jersey** $4.39, $5.21, **$5.96.**

A Californian filling a diesel truck now pays nearly **eight dollars a gallon**. Every farmer, every trucker, every family that drives to work is paying the tax of this war — a tax that lands in someone else’s pocket.

# And the oil giants said thank you

Whose pocket? Follow it to the end.

In the second quarter of 2026, as you were paying more at the pump, the oil companies posted the kind of numbers that make executives weep with gratitude:

* **Saudi Aramco: $33.4 billion** in a single quarter — up about 33%, and here’s the tell: they earned *more* while pumping *less*.
* **ExxonMobil: $14.5 billion** — profit doubled.
* **Chevron: $12.1 billion** — the single biggest quarter in the company’s history.

Exxon, Chevron, and Shell together cleared roughly **$404 million every single day**. Even the president seemed briefly embarrassed by it, scolding Exxon and Chevron for making “too much money.” A curious complaint from the man whose war made it possible — and whose family took Gulf money on the way in.

# Connect the dots

They paid him. He started a war. Prices soared. They are all cashing in.

I am not going to stand here and tell you I know of a signed contract proving the motive. I don’t need one, and neither do you. We have the payments — documented. We have the war — documented. We have the 60% spike and the record profits — documented. What we do not have is a single honest official willing to answer the only question that matters: **Were these things connected?**

Ask it out loud, because no one in power will ask it for you. Ask why a president who took billions in Gulf oil money, then delivered the one thing Gulf oil producers, the world’s largest oil companies, and Vladimir Putin wanted to help him fund his war against Ukraine, and let’s not forget Trump himself after stealing all of Venesuela’s oil — a war with Iran that sent the price of their product through the roof. Ask why the whole world is paying at the pump so that a handful of oil states and oil giants could post the fattest profits of their lives.

He kept his promises. **JUST NOT TO YOU!**

*The figures in this piece are drawn from public records: SEC filings and the U.S. Senate Finance Committee (the Gulf money); CNBC, Al Jazeera, and the IEA (the war and oil markets); the Wall Street Journal and Saudi Aramco’s own report (the price of crude); CNN, NPR, and company earnings statements (the profits); and AAA (pump prices, September 2026). The dollar figures are verified. The connection between them is the question I am putting to you — and to everyone who still believes a president works for the people who elected him, not the ones who paid him.*

**If this made you angry enough to act, tell me. Share it with your friends and neighbors. RESTACK IT. And then ask your representatives the question above, in writing, and don’t accept silence for an answer. And if you want a president that would correct such things and hold those accountable for doing it, please feel free to donate to my campaign and tell your friends and neighbors that they have another choice for president.** [**ELLSWORTH FOR PRESIDENT**](http://ellsworthforpresident.com/)

THE REAL REASON DONALD J. TRUMP STARTED THE WAR IN IRAN!!!