Recommendations of the Editorial team
War always returns home, and Americans are already feeling the effects of Donald Trump’s campaign against Iran in the form of skyrocketing gasoline prices. These could trigger inflation and further increase economic pressure on ordinary citizens. As the country literally pays the price for the president’s war, he asks everyone to please stop whining.
“Rising oil prices in the short term, which will fall quickly once the destruction of the Iranian nuclear threat is complete, is a very small price to pay for the security and peace of the United States and the world,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday afternoon. “ONLY FOOLS WOULD SEE IT DIFFERENTLY!”
A few days earlier, in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Trump brushed off the idea that prices would rise sharply. “I asked about the rising gas prices, and he said, ‘That’s fine. This is short-term. Prices are going to fall sharply very quickly,'” Bash reported. When she told Trump that prices were already high, he replied: “No, they are not. A little, not much, but they will fall to record lows.”
Oil prices at pandemic high
Prices have actually risen sharply. On Monday morning, global oil prices shot above $110 a barrel – the biggest increase since the Covid-19 pandemic. Nationwide, the average gasoline price is $3.48 – a huge jump from the $1.99 that Trump sold – at least questionably – as a success in his State of the Union speech just a few weeks ago. The rise in gasoline prices triggered by Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz threatens to spread to almost every industry, as higher transportation costs could push up consumer prices and trigger a return of inflation.
According to Bash, when Bash asked Trump if he was getting a handle on the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, he claimed that it was “already done” and that Iran’s navy was “off.”
Republicans and Trump administration officials are also trying to reassure Americans that everything will be okay.
Republican slogans for perseverance
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) threw his support behind the president in an appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Monday. “There will be some temporary impacts on our domestic economy,” Emmer said. “But once that is done, prices will tumble and people will realize that this was a short-term price for a huge long-term gain in peace and security.”
Trump Energy Secretary Chris Wright predicted in a CNN interview Sunday that prices would return to normal levels within a month. “You never know exactly how long this will take, but in the worst case scenario we’re talking weeks, not months,” he said after Jake Tapper asked him about the historic jump in oil prices – and about Trump telling Reuters that gasoline prices could go up, “if they go up, they go up.”
The central problem with Trump’s confidence that the conflict will be resolved in the short term: he himself cannot name a clear end point for the attack on Iran. What was initially sold to the public as a series of targeted strikes has, over the course of a few days, developed into an escalatory war from which the president only wants to withdraw once he has achieved Iran’s “unconditional surrender”. The conflict appears to be on the verge of a full-blown regional war – the Trump administration is keeping open the possibility of sending American soldiers to Iran.
Trump appeals to oil tanker captains
But even as Trump exudes confidence, fear of high prices is creeping in. So much so that he is already hinting at possible non-military measures. According to “Fox & Friends” host Brian Kilmeade, Trump is encouraging oil tanker captains to “show spine” and simply ignore the danger.
“Here’s exactly what he said: ‘These ships should go through the Strait of Hormuz and show backbone, there’s nothing to fear. [Die Iraner] have no navy, we sank all their ships,’” Kilmeade recalled.
But this isn’t a ship-sinking game, and no one is keen on losing their lives in a burning shipwreck just to keep the price of oil down in the US.
