Speaking of bringing oil prices down, Trump should take a page out of Reagan’s playbook.

Yesterday, we showed how much higher oil prices have been in the past than even today (adjusted for inflation).

This chart focuses on the 1970s and 1980s, and shows how rapidly Reagan policies smashed oil prices, shown here in 2025 inflation-adjusted dollars.

Reagan deregulated the oil and gas industry from day one. These policies included:

• • • Ending retail gasoline price controls

    • Eliminating oil wellhead price controls
    • Stopping the rationing of gas with even/odd day fill ups

Prices rose temporarily and then crashed in 1982. After five years in office, the price of oil had fallen from  $159 per barrel (in today’s prices) to just $34 a barrel by July 1986.

We hear some on the Left talking about oil and gasoline price controls today. That would crush domestic production – just as those policies did in the 1970s.