Donald Trump’s inner circle is privately panicking that the Iran war will trigger a midterm bloodbath, with sky-high fuel prices hammering Americans at the pump and sending airline ticket prices soaring.
A staggering 63 percent of Americans blame Trump for the gas price surge, while more than 80 percent say pump prices are straining their finances, according to a new NPR/PBS/Marist poll.
Today’s AAA national gas average of $4.58 per gallon is more than 50 percent above the prewar level of $2.98, adding roughly $20 to every fill-up.
Trump’s advisers are increasingly worried Republicans will pay a political price at the ballot box this November and are eager to end the war before prices wreck the midterms, sources told the Wall Street Journal.
Ex-Governor Chris Sununu, a top Trump foe who now lobbies for major airlines, personally warned Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during a recent Washington visit that already-high airfares will surge if the Iran war doesn’t end soon.
The Airlines for America president and former New Hampshire governor said Trump officials understand the danger.
‘They get it … and I think that’s why they’re trying to get through the war as fast as they can,’ Sununu told the Journal.
Trump told reporters this week the price of oil is ‘a very small price to pay for getting rid of a nuclear weapon from people that are really mentally deranged.’
Donald Trump looks on during an event in the Oval Office of the White House on May 6 and a man fills up in the Dallas suburb of Richardson, Texas, Wednesday, May 6
Smoke rises following Israeli bombardment in southern Lebanon as seen from a position across the border in the Upper Galilee in northern Israel on May 7. The Iran war has sparked a separate conflict on Israel’s border with Lebanon against the Hezbollah terror group
The President has insisted prices will fall before November, even slapping down Energy Secretary Chris Wright last month as ‘totally wrong’ after Wright admitted relief at the pump may not come until 2027.
The war has already claimed its first airline casualty, with Spirit collapsing into liquidation on Saturday after jet fuel prices roughly doubled in the opening weeks of the conflict and the Trump administration walked away from a $500 million bailout.
US airlines spent more than $5 billion on fuel in March, 30 percent more than last year, according to government data.
Carriers are hiking prices as profit margins get squeezed, piling misery on families preparing for spring break and summer vacations.
The average domestic round-trip economy ticket jumped 21 percent in March from a year earlier to $570, according to the Airlines Reporting Corp.
Oil prices whipsawed on Thursday as the US awaits Iran’s response to a proposed peace deal to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude initially tumbled below $97 a barrel before snapping back above $101 after a senior Iranian official dismissed Washington’s plan as ‘unrealistic,’ leaving the global benchmark roughly 70 percent above its prewar level of around $60.
Jet fuel is faring even worse, with the Singapore global benchmark trading at around $200 per barrel, more than double the $83 average over the same period last year.
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu speaks at the Republican Jewish Coalition annual leadership meeting on November 19, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada
But Sununu warned that even if the Strait of Hormuz suddenly reopened, ‘ticket prices won’t go down immediately.’
‘You’re looking at elevated ticket prices through the summer and fall because it takes a while for the prices to go down,’ he told the Journal.
White House spokesman Kush Desai told the Daily Mail: ‘President Trump has always been clear about temporary disruptions as a result of Operation Epic Fury.
‘The administration has never, however, lost focus on delivering on the President’s affordability agenda here at home.
‘The March CPI inflation report showing month-over-month price declines for eggs, beef, dairy, prescription drugs, and other household essentials reflect how the administration’s policies continue to deliver.
‘As traffic in the Strait of Hormuz begins to normalize again, the administration will continue pushing our affordability agenda to enable Americans to keep more of their hard-earned money.’
