President Donald Trump with Vice President JD Vance, House Speaker Mike Johnson, First Lady Melania Trump, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and others on January 20, 2025 (Wikimedia Commons)
Donald Trump's war on Iran has led to skyrocketing gas prices across the U.S., and according to one reporter, it is creating a "poison for the party in power" ahead of the 2026 midterms.
In the wake of joint military strikes by the U.S. and Israel, Iran ordered the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway through which most of the Gulf States' petroleum is shipped to the rest of the world. According to new reports, with 20 percent of the world's oil supply disrupted by this closure, Trump's decision to go to war against Iran has created the biggest oil crisis in history. As of Monday, the price of a barrel of crude oil was hovering just over $100 for the first time since 2022, when sanctions against Russia severely impeded the global supply of oil.
Appearing on a CNN panel Monday afternoon, Marc Caputo, a reporter for Axios, said that while Trump and his administration had managed to stick to a consistent message about the issue, higher gas prices are inescapably a toxic development for Republicans, as the party in control of the federal government is always blamed for them by voters.
"Last week, Susie Wiles, the chief of staff for the White House, sent up an emergency flare and said, we really need to focus on what's going to happen to gas prices," Caputo said. "And that's before they really started to spike high, I mean, it was clear they were on the increase. So they're having good message discipline."
He continued: "In the meantime, the president sort of set the edge there and said, this is going to be the message. But the reality is, higher gas prices are poison for the party in power, and the increases here are something like we haven't seen in a long time. I don't recall seeing it this fast. And that's going to cause great concern not just in the White House, but in the Republican Party more broadly. And obviously, just with regular people... Oil is still the lifeblood of the economy, and when it costs more, it costs everyone more."
Rising gas prices are considered the most visible form of inflation in the U.S. economy, as Americans see them listed outside of numerous gas stations as they drive around every day. Major increases have, as Caputo said, often proven to be detrimental for the leading parties in power. Spiking gas prices in 2022, alongside historic inflation across the economy, were a major factor in tanking former President Joe Biden's approval ratings. As Republicans face the prospect of a midterms bloodbath from voters angered by the persistently high cost of living, skyrocketing gas prices could make the situation even worse for them.
"Our team went through some of the Senate battleground states, just to give you a sense of the political impact," CNN host Dana Bash detailed during the segment. "The snapshot where we are right now, since we do, of course, have an election in November. Look at this: Ohio up 23 percent, Michigan 20 percent, North Carolina 19, Maine 17, Georgia 15. And nationally up 16 percent."
Trump and his allies have insisted that the current supply chain disruptions and gas price spikes are only temporary issues while the conflict in Iran plays out, and they should subside soon. Trump has also insisted that these price hikes are the price that must be paid by Americans to remove the current Iranian government regime, even though most Americans oppose his strikes against the Middle Eastern nation.
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