JD Vance blamed $4 gas on a tizzy-throwing “tin-pot dictator,” and social media users pointed straight at his own boss.
The vice president’s gas-price line at a Republican midterm rally in Belgrade, Mont., on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, has kept drawing online derision this week, with users asking whether the strongman he had in mind was President Donald Trump.
Vance built to the line by running through the gas price spikes of 1979, 2001, 2007 and 2022, the year Russia invaded Ukraine. “They skyrocket every time some tin-pot dictator decides to throw a tizzy,” he told the crowd. He named no foreign leader.
“That Tinpot Signs Your Checks”
Within hours, social media users had aimed the line at the president and seized on the gap in Vance’s timeline. “Is the tin-pot dictator Donald Trump?” one user asked. Another called it an odd thing to call your boss.
A third user pointed out that Vance blamed windmills while the president has boasted about oil companies getting rich off Americans’ gas bills. The pile-on continued, with one user writing, “calling your own boss a tinpot dictator is a pretty aggressive opening move for a presidential campaign that’s still two years away,” and another writing, “That tinpot signs your checks.”
The War Missing From Vance’s List
The war with Iran, which Trump launched in February, choked off global oil flows and sent pump prices higher. Vance never directly mentioned that war during the Belgrade speech.
Trump initially said the fighting would be over in a matter of weeks. The conflict has now run eight months with no sign of ending, and diesel hit a record high in September.
The First $4 October on Record
Regular gasoline has held above $4 a gallon on AAA’s national average all the way through October 2026 — the first October on record to stay above that line. The pump price reached $4.12 a gallon on Oct. 19, up 40.6% from $2.93 a year earlier.
Drivers have seen hard swings this year, from $2.67 in January to $4.35 in May. The 2026 average so far stands at $3.71 a gallon, compared with $2.98 in 2025.
The Decor Was Two Fighter Jets
The rally ran two hours in a private hangar at Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport, with Vance on stage for the final 30 minutes before about 1,500 people. Two F-5 fighter jets belonging to NASA administrator Jared Isaacman, part of his private “Ghost Squadron” aerobatic fleet, served as decor; online claims by some observers that the planes were government property were wrong. The north-facing hangar doors stood open, and the temperature was 35 degrees at the start.
Vance addressed what he called the undecided voters in the room, saying he understood the complaint that gas costs too much. More work remained on inflation, he said, blaming former President Joe Biden, even as inflation rises. The Democrats’ solution to this problem, Vance said, is to whine and build windmills, while boosting domestic energy production is the best way to shield American families from Middle East conflicts.
The record he sold: tax cuts for working people, no taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security, and cheaper prescription drugs. Two Montana races gave the pitch its urgency. Aaron Flint, the Republican running in Montana’s Western U.S. House District, is in a statistical tie with Democrat Sam Forstag. Republican Kurt Alme leads a four-way race to replace Sen. Steve Daines, though polling has yet to put him above 50%. Republicans are fighting to hold Congress on Nov. 3, with gas still above $4 a gallon on the national average.
