President Trump has casually admitted he knew the oil crisis caused by his war in Iran would affect millions of Americans already suffering through a cost-of-living crisis—but didn’t care.
Speaking to House Republicans at the National Republican Congressional Committee fundraising dinner in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, the president—who has an estimated net worth of more than $6 billion—defended the higher prices the Middle East conflict has caused.
“I thought it was going to be much worse. I thought that the energy prices, oil prices, would go up higher. I thought the stock market would go somewhat lower,” Trump said. “But it didn’t matter to me. It’s short-term.”
“What we had to do is get rid of the cancer. We had to cut out the cancer. The cancer was Iran with a nuclear weapon, and we’ve cut it out. Now we’re going to finish it off.”
During his speech, the 79-year-old also claimed that “numerous” other U.S. presidents from the past 47 years “wished” they had started a war with Iran but “didn’t have the guts to do it.”
This is despite every former president still alive today—Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden—denying Trump’s previous claim that one of them secretly confided in him that they supported his war in Iran.
Trump’s multibillion-dollar conflict in the Middle East has lasted nearly a month and shows no clear sign of ending soon, despite the president’s repeated insistence that it will.
The war has also sparked a worldwide oil crisis as Iran has closed off the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow shipping route through which around one-fifth of the world’s oil passes, in retaliation for the U.S. and Israel’s attacks.
As a result, gas prices are rising in the U.S., with crude oil repeatedly topping $100 a barrel. Economists have warned that if oil prices continue to skyrocket amid Trump’s war, the U.S. could fall into a recession.
Trump, who spent months telling tens of millions of Americans there was no cost-of-living crisis and that complaints about affordability were a “hoax,” was already recording dire polling numbers on the economy during his second term before he launched his deeply unpopular Iran war.
Those numbers have only worsened due to the fuel crisis stemming from the Middle East conflict, which could spell further trouble for the GOP in November’s midterm elections.
On Tuesday, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Trump with a second-term low approval rating of 36 percent, while his approval rating on the economy fell to an all-time low of 29 percent.
That figure is also lower than anything Biden recorded during his term in office, which was plagued by decades-high inflation and skyrocketing gas prices in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
An Associated Press/NORC survey released Wednesday also found that 45 percent of Americans said they were “extremely” or “very” concerned about being able to afford gas in the coming months.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
