TEXAS — Gas prices are soaring ahead of the midterm elections, but President Donald Trump’s supporters at campaign rallies in Texas say the rising costs aren’t shaking their loyalty to the president, with some warning that the country’s future is at stake.

«I do experience that costs are high, but I’m in for the long haul and I support everything that he’s been doing,» one supporter told Digital at Trump’s rally in Lubbock, Texas.

Digital spoke with Trump supporters at rallies in Lubbock and Corpus Christi, two cities in a state deeply tied to America’s oil and gas industry where voters acknowledged the economic squeeze but remained firmly behind the president. For some, concerns about the country’s future and the rise of socialism are adding urgency to the approaching election.

The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline stood at approximately $4.25 on Wednesday, up nearly 40% from roughly $3.05 a year earlier, according to AAA.

TRUMP WON THIS RELIABLY RED STATE BY DOUBLE DIGITS. NOW A DEADLOCKED RACE IS BRINGING HIM BACK

Trump acknowledged the higher costs during his Lubbock rally while pointing to increased American oil production and his administration’s recent energy deal with Venezuela as steps toward bringing prices down.

«Our country is making a fortune while people have to pay more at the pump,» Trump said, adding that gas prices are «going to come down really fast.»

«The ones we care about are our people at the pump,» Trump told the crowd. «And those numbers are going to start coming down very, very rapidly.»

During his earlier stop in Corpus Christi, Trump announced the arrival of the first million barrels of Venezuelan oil secured through an agreement with the South American country, which the White House says is being provided at no cost to American taxpayers and will be refined in Texas.

The administration has touted the agreement as a major step toward expanding America’s energy supply and supporting domestic jobs, arguing that the additional oil will eventually help lower costs for consumers.

The White House said the broader agreement would give the U.S. majority control over approximately 65 billion barrels of proven Venezuelan oil reserves, expanding American access to energy resources as Trump pushes to boost supply and bring down prices.

NOT EVEN SKY HIGH GAS PRICES OR THE IRAN WAR WILL STOP TRUMP SUPPORTERS VOTING MAGA

Stephen Elsher of Corpus Christi said the economy remains his top concern heading into the midterms, but he believes Republicans are the ones who can turn things around.

«I’d like to see it turn around and do better for this next year,» Elsher told Digital. «Without the Republicans in charge, we won’t go that direction.»

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party has faced growing pressure from its progressive wing, with democratic socialist candidates gaining prominence and sparking debate over the party’s direction.

Trump repeatedly warned voters against what he described as the «radical left Democrat communist» agenda during his Lubbock rally, arguing that Democratic policies would raise taxes, threaten Texas oil and gas jobs, and weaken border security.

«The choice in this election is very simple,» Trump told supporters, contrasting his economic agenda with what he described as the consequences of Democratic control.

TRUMP’S MAGA FAITHFUL SEND WARNING TO REPUBLICANS AHEAD OF HIGH-STAKES MIDTERM ELECTIONS

For some Trump supporters at the Texas rallies, concerns go beyond affordability, with attendees warning that the rise of socialism poses a threat to the country’s future.

«We can’t lose our republic,» Susie, a Corpus Christi supporter, told Digital, warning that the country is under siege by Democrats, socialists and communists.

Elizabeth Trigo, who attended Trump’s Lubbock rally with her daughters, said the midterms are about more than just the next election, pointing to the country’s future and preserving opportunities for the next generation.

«I think the main reason this election, the midterms, is a lot of it has to do with the future,» Trigo told Digital. «The most important thing is opportunity again. Trump is on the side of opportunity.»

Trigo said she wants Trump to continue fighting the war on drugs and pushing back against socialism during his remaining two years in office.

midterm elections, donald trump, republicans elections, rise of socialism, texas

They always ask if I felt something. «Across your foot? Your shin?» My shin? 

«Yeah. Your ankle. Did you feel it?» Not really. But before I respond, they ask again.

What was it like?» they inquired. «Or did you just fall?» Then they speculated I might be clumsy.

Hmmph. Clumsy. I truly don’t think so.

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: CONGRESS BRACES FOR POST-ELECTION GAME OF MUSICAL CHAIRS AS LEADERSHIP BATTLES LOOM

Oh. I fall like everyone else. I work out daily. I’ve taken a couple of tumbles on predawn runs in Alexandria, Virginia. You never know when one of those sidewalk snakes will slither up from the asphalt and nip you on the ankle. I used to snow ski. I studied martial arts for years and hold a second degree black belt.

Clumsy? Nah.

«But, what do you think it was?» they follow up. Well, I have my theories.

I was a little tired that day. I noted the lip on the small staircase near the Memorial Door of the U.S. Capitol where I may have caught the edge of my brown loafers.

I remember my shoes. Rubber soles. Slight scuff on the toes. Perfectly matched with my crisp tan summer suit. Not quite an «Obama» tan suit. But appropriate for summer. And I thought at least reasonably dapper for traipsing around the U.S. Capitol and covering Congress on a sweltering July day.

Was it the shoes? My fatigue? Or how about my haste to «get the story.» I spotted then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his small coterie of aides and a security detail descending a spiral staircase after a meeting with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. D-Calif.

I would try to ask Trudeau a question.

No. This really doesn’t have anything to do with Trudeau. Or the fact that I recalled that there was a picture of him, aged about 14 or 15, at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, rooting for the Expos. He’s there with his father — the most storied of all Canadian prime ministers — the late Pierre Trudeau.

Of course, the Expos no longer play in Montreal. They don’t play at all. They moved to Washington in 2005 and are now the Nationals. And this was before the tariff wars. Montreal has been bereft of Major League Baseball ever since.

What would Youppi! Say?

Look him up, kids.

No, there wasn’t something across my shin or ankle. I didn’t feel anything. I was there, on those steps, in the U.S. Capitol, because I’m a baseball fan. And I found out that Justin Trudeau watched those old Montreal Expos teams in the 1980s. Stocked with Andre Dawson, Warren Cromartie and Steve Rogers. And even though Trudeau was there to discuss affairs of state with Pelosi and others, I was there to ask him about the national pastime.

Ironic, I know, to pose such an interrogative to a Canadian.

However, the reason was that there was a report that the Tampa Bay Rays might consider splitting their season each year between Florida and Montreal. Big league baseball would return to Quebec. It would be international news if Trudeau commented. It would appear on Fox. FS1. ESPN. TSN in Canada. And Montreal — famously robbed of perhaps winning the World Series in 1994 with the best team in the game that year because of the player’s strike — might have a shot again at baseball glory.

But journalism is like baseball. A game of failure. You sometimes swing and miss. You’re doing great if you’re successful three out of ten times.

THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO WHY REMOVING ILHAN OMAR FROM CONGRESS COULD BE HARDER THAN TRUMP EXPECTS

And sometimes, in journalism, the question is never asked.

That was this day. On those steps. Questions about the Rays and Montreal were muted. All because of whatever got me.

Absolutely got me.

I stepped toward Trudeau, mumbled something about Tampa Bay and bought it.

I fell on those steps. Directly in front of the Canadian Prime Minister. On the hard Capitol marble.

I quickly realized I was about to fall. With a microphone in one hand, I couldn’t catch myself. I was confident I’d break a wrist or a hand if I tried to catch myself.

So, I just went with it and fell.

And because I studied martial arts for all of those years from Master Kim and Master Yang back at the Tae Kwon Do dojang, I knew how to fall without hurting myself.

I rolled onto my right shoulder toward Trudeau.

My feeling flew up absurdly high in the air.

«Oh Chad! Oh Chad! Oh Chad!» hollered my photographer, Robert Fetzer. «Chad!»

Trudeau stopped briefly. But I leaped to my feet after the roll, hoping he might say something about baseball.

I struck out. And Trudeau departed.

«But what tripped you?» they ask. «Were you all right?»

Physically, I was fine. Mentally, kind of garbled. I’ve worked daily at the U.S. Capitol for decades. I had a sneaking suspicion of what got me. Or better yet, who?

In the latter years of the 19th Century, Rep. William Taulbee, D-Ky., did not get along with reporter Charles Kincaid. Taulbee thought Kincaid wasn’t an honest broker, writing screeds about his personal affairs.

Taulbee was tall, towering over the diminutive Kincaid. Taulbee was known to sometimes physically pummel Kincaid.

Taulbee was out of federal office. But Kincaid knew Taulbee would be at the Capitol. Kincaid packed a pistol with him. And on Feb. 28, 1890, the reporter shot the Bluegrass Congressman square in the eye.

Taulbee leaked blood all the way down the House’s «Y» staircase, the plasma blending with marble. Through a miracle of chemistry, the splotches are still visible today.

The Kentucky Democrat succumbed to his injuries 11 days later.

It probably goes without saying that Taulbee does not like the congressional press corps. And, so, his phantasm is known to lurk around the Capitol.

Sometimes low bridging reporters on ornate staircases.

«What tripped you?» they ask.

And before I can answer, my inquisitors jump to a conclusion, albeit an interrogative one.

«Was it a ghost?» they giddily exclaim, like they had just figured out Final Jeopardy.

As I say, I have my theories. I’ll let you come to your own conclusions.

But I don’t want to trip you up.

political, politics, justin trudeau

El expresidente de El Salvador Elías Antonio Saca González, conocido como Tony Saca, recuperó la libertad tras cumplir una condena de diez años de prisión por peculado y lavado de dinero. El exmandatario, que gobernó entre 2004 y 2009, fue el primero en el país en haber sido condenado por delitos de corrupción cometidos desde la Presidencia.

La Fiscalía General de la República (FGR) confirmó el 28 de octubre que Saca había completado la pena impuesta en 2018 por el caso que fue denominado como Destape a la Corrupción, una investigación que reveló como el exmandatario había desviado y lavado unos $301 millones de fondos públicos.

La orden de libertad estaba vigente desde el 27 de octubre, según informó la Fiscalía.

Saca, de 61 años, nació el 9 de marzo de 1965 en Usulután, en el oriente salvadoreño, en una familia de ascendencia palestina. Antes de ingresar a la política fue locutor deportivo, narrador de fútbol y empresario de medios. Su popularidad creció desde la radio y la televisión, donde trabajó en transmisiones deportivas y ocupó cargos de dirección.

Su actividad empresarial comenzó en la radiodifusión. En 1987 fundó Radio América junto a Alfonso Rivas y, años después, creó Radio Astral, origen del grupo radial Samix.

Esa expansión le abrió paso en las principales gremiales empresariales: presidió la Asociación Salvadoreña de Radiodifusores (ASDER) y luego la Asociación Nacional de la Empresa Privada (ANEP).

La combinación de reconocimiento público, presencia empresarial y vínculos con la derecha lo convirtió en candidato de la Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA) para las elecciones de 2004. Ganó los comicios frente a Schafik Hándal, del Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN), y asumió el 1 de junio de ese año.

Durante su gobierno mantuvo la orientación económica de las administraciones anteriores de ARENA, con respaldo a la dolarización, apertura comercial y políticas de subsidios focalizados.

En seguridad, profundizó la estrategia de mano dura contra las pandillas con el Plan Supermano Dura, que amplió la participación militar en tareas de patrullaje.

Su administración también mantuvo una relación estrecha con Estados Unidos. El Salvador sostuvo tropas en Irak durante su período presidencial, mientras la política exterior se distanciaba de los gobiernos de Cuba y Venezuela.

La trama que desvió fondos de Casa Presidencial

Saca fue detenido el 30 de octubre de 2016 junto con exfuncionarios de su administración en la Hacienda de los Miranda, donde se celebraba la boda de uno de sus hijos. La investigación fiscal sostuvo que una estructura encabezada desde Casa Presidencial trasladó dinero de cuentas estatales hacia cuentas privadas, empresas y colaboradores cercanos.

En septiembre de 2018, el Tribunal Segundo de Sentencia de San Salvador lo condenó a cinco años de prisión por peculado y otros cinco por lavado de dinero y activos. El expresidente admitió los hechos en un procedimiento abreviado, lo que evitó un juicio ordinario y redujo la pena que podía enfrentar.

La causa involucró, entre otros, a su exsecretario privado, Élmer Charlaix; el exsecretario de Comunicaciones Julio Rank; el exsecretario de la Juventud César Funes; el exgerente financiero de Casa Presidencial Francisco Rodríguez Arteaga, y el extesorero institucional Jorge Herrera.

Parte de los recursos, según la investigación, fue destinada a empresas vinculadas con Saca, gastos personales, inmuebles y financiamiento político. El caso también expuso pagos irregulares a funcionarios y dirigentes partidarios desde la partida secreta de la Presidencia, según documentos divulgados por El Faro.

La libertad no extingue sus deudas con el Estado

Aunque Saca completó su condena penal, sus responsabilidades económicas siguen vigentes. En el caso Destape a la Corrupción, todavía no ha devuelto en su totalidad los $ 260.7 millones fijados como responsabilidad civil por el daño al Estado.

También fue condenado por enriquecimiento ilícito junto con su esposa, Ana Ligia Mixco de Saca. La resolución estableció que el exmandatario debía reintegrar cerca de $3.8 millones. Hasta abril de 2026, había abonado apenas $5,845.75, de acuerdo con datos recogidos por La Prensa Gráfica.

A esas obligaciones se suman los $6 millones que debe devolver por una condena civil relacionada con fondos donados por Taiwán. La sentencia, firme desde 2022, también alcanzó a Juan Tennant Wright y Gerardo Antonio Balzaretti.

La FGR informó que los inmuebles, vehículos, empresas y otros bienes sometidos a medidas judiciales continuarán bajo custodia estatal. La salida de prisión, por lo tanto, cerró su pena de privación de libertad, pero no los procesos patrimoniales derivados de las condenas.