WASHINGTON — Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, accused President Donald Trump on Wednesday of presiding over a “culture of open corruption” while American families struggle with the price of everyday necessities. The post landed as gas prices sit at their highest level since the U.S. war with Iran began and early voting in the midterm elections is underway.
The Post
Warner published the message on X at 12:43 p.m. on Sept. 23, 2026. It read, in its entirety:
“Something is deeply wrong when Trump’s net worth is skyrocketing but families across the country can’t afford gas, groceries, and health care.
Donald Trump’s culture of open corruption is leaving Americans out to dry while he and his friends get rich.”
The two-sentence post makes a direct comparison between the president’s finances and the household budgets of ordinary Americans. Warner names three costs specifically: gas, groceries and health care. He describes the president’s approach to money and government as a “culture of open corruption.”
What Forbes Says Trump Is Worth
Forbes, which has tracked Trump’s wealth for decades, puts his fortune at $7 billion in its most recent tally, updated in September, and estimates he is about $2.7 billion richer than when he won the 2024 election. The magazine credits crypto ventures and overseas deals for much of the gain and wrote that no one in American history has made so much money on politics.
The figure is not a straight upward line. Forbes reported on Sept. 15 that his net worth was $300 million lower than a year earlier, after peaking at $7.3 billion in September 2025, the highest figure ever attached to his name. The magazine attributed the dip to falling values for Trump Media shares, his memecoin and World Liberty tokens. Even so, Forbes says he holds about $2.4 billion in cryptocurrency and other liquid assets.
The Crypto Windfall
Crypto has been the engine of the increase. In its March update, Forbes estimated that Trump netted roughly $550 million over the prior year from sales of tokens issued by World Liberty Financial, the venture his family launched in September 2024. Trump’s 2025 financial disclosure, released by the Office of Government Ethics, went further. According to Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s office, the report showed roughly $1.4 billion in earnings from his cryptocurrency ventures in 2025 alone.
Warner’s Record on Trump and Crypto
Warner’s concern about the president’s finances predates Wednesday’s post. In May 2025, when he backed the GENIUS Act on stablecoins, he said in an official statement that many senators, himself included, had “very real concerns” about the Trump family’s use of crypto to “personally profit at the expense of everyday Americans”. He added that lawmakers had a duty to stop Trump from exploiting emerging technologies to enrich himself.
The concern carried into this month’s fight over broader crypto legislation. HuffPost reported that a group of Democrats who had helped shape the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act voted against it, effectively stalling the bill. Warner said Congress “cannot pass landmark legislation governing this industry” while the president profits from it personally.
The Cost of the Iran War at the Pump
The other half of Warner’s comparison is the price of living. The U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, when the national average for regular gas was $2.98 a gallon. Prices peaked at $4.56 on May 21 amid what ABC News described as one of the largest oil shocks ever recorded. They eased after a preliminary agreement in June, then climbed again after the ceasefire collapsed in July.
By last Friday, AAA reported a national average of $4.48 a gallon, up 40 cents in a month and $1.27 from a year ago. Diesel, which drives the cost of moving groceries and other goods, has topped $6 a gallon for the first time in U.S. history, according to an analysis from Sen. Ed Markey’s office. That analysis estimates a two-car household faces roughly $1,400 more in annual fuel costs than before the war.
Warner and Kaine on Who Pays
Warner has tied the war directly to household costs in official releases. On April 2, he and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) cited a congressional analysis finding that Virginians had paid $254 million more at the pump one month into the war, part of an estimated $8.4 billion nationwide. The two senators said working families were “stuck footing the bill” and that families were already struggling with rising health care, energy and grocery costs.
Later that month, Warner responded to the administration’s decision to temporarily lift sanctions on Russian oil. He said the war carried an “immeasurable cost to American lives,” with 13 service members killed at that point, and had passed enormous costs on to working families.
A Week of Escalating Rhetoric
Warner sharpened the message a week ago. In a Sept. 16 post on X, he cited new analyses showing the Pentagon had spent more than $38 billion on the war, on top of roughly $100 billion in extra fuel costs for Americans, and said Republicans “need to join us” in ending it. The Congressional Budget Office put the Defense Department’s cost at about $38 billion as of Aug. 1, a figure that excludes rebuilding damaged U.S. facilities in the Middle East.
Trump’s Response on Gas Prices
Trump has downplayed the pump prices. At a campaign event in North Carolina last Wednesday, he called the increase “a very inexpensive price to pay” for the war, which he describes as necessary to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. The White House has said previously that oil and gas prices will “plummet back to pre-conflict levels” once the military curtails Iran’s ability to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Voters Feel the Squeeze
Polling shows the strain Warner describes. A Fox News survey released last week found that 61% of voters call gas prices a major problem for their household, and 52% say the same about health care costs. The same poll found that 63% say the administration has made the economy worse. Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi has estimated that the war costs the average household about $1,000.
What Comes Next
The post arrives about seven weeks before Election Day, with early voting already open in states including Virginia. The affordability question Warner raised is now a central issue in the midterm campaign, as Democrats tie Trump’s wealth and his handling of the war to costs families face daily, while the White House maintains that prices will fall once the conflict in the Strait of Hormuz is contained.