President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser suggested Americans should try to “imagine” lower fuel prices instead of facing reality.
Kevin Hassett, director of the president’s National Economic Council, appeared on CNBC Tuesday, where he offered the whimsical solution amid Trump’s war on Iran, which has continued to send prices surging.
“Anyone who looks at a chart for energy prices will see that they’ve gone up quite a bit since the situation with Iran began,” Hassett, 64, began, before asserting that his 79-year-old boss was “confident” there would be a resolution.
“Those prices will go right back down to where they were before, and then you pile on top of that the fact that core inflation is running around 0.2 percent… so when you’ve got that plus, imagine if oil prices start going back down because the situation resolves itself somehow, then you could be looking at inflation close to zero," Hassett went on.
The Trump appointees’ comments about using imagination didn’t bode well with some of the president’s critics online.
“Imagine if we didn’t go to war and the strait was never closed lol,” one X user, identified as Jack Johnson, wrote on X.
Another added: “Just imagine if Kevin Hassett wasn’t full of sh–t.”
“Try some pixie dust! Imagine!” Another user, who identifies as Eric, said.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
Hassett, for his part, has been a fiercely loyal Trump ally, even when he lost out on being the president’s nominee to run the Federal Reserve in January.
He’s remained as such even as Trump and Israel’s war on Iran has skyrocketed pain at the gas pump for many Americans—and as Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes, has stretched on.
Vice President JD Vance traveled to Pakistan on Saturday, where efforts to negotiate a peace deal with Iran ultimately fell apart after a surprisingly short period of time.
Asked Sunday how long it might be before Iranian officials agree to resume talks, Trump, 79, said he didn’t know—and didn’t care.
“I don’t care if they come back or not,” he told reporters after flying back to Washington from Florida. “If they don’t come back, I’m fine.”
