Fox News host Laura Ingraham is apparently nudging President Trump to wrap up his messy conflict in the Middle East.
Trump, 79, launched the war on Feb. 28 on the promise that U.S. involvement in the region would only last a few weeks, though a quick exit began to seem increasingly unlikely amid a flurry of contradictory claims about negotiations to end the conflict.
The impasse has left the global economy in a state of flux, as calls for clarity from both sides of the political fault line in the U.S. grow louder. Polling suggests that the war has eroded Trump’s favorability, and, with the midterms approaching, Fox News star Laura Ingraham has suggested that Trump will soon retreat from the region.
“At some point soon, Pres. Trump will decide that he’s spent enough political capital on this conflict,” she said on X.
Her skepticism marks a departure from the usual White House line her Fox News colleagues dole out. Ingraham regularly shares her unabashed take on the war, despite her network’s clear pro-Trump slant.
On her show, The Ingraham Angle, on Wednesday, she said the Trump administration is getting drawn further into the quagmire of war.
“Iran knows it cannot win militarily, so it’s using the leverage it has by prolonging the conflict,” she said. “Now, what do they want to do? They want to inflict maximum economic pain on the region, on the U.S., [on] the global economy as much as possible until they think Trump relents. But the White House doesn’t seem to be blinking.”
The host played a clip of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt cautioning during her briefing that “President Trump does not bluff, and he is prepared to unleash hell.”
Ingraham appeared unconvinced by the warning.
“Well, the problem is obviously unleashing hell means destroying infrastructure, which itself causes a series of cascading problems for the region, including maybe outside the region—political problems for the president in a midterm election year,” she said.
Trump, for his part, has repeatedly suggested the war is won. However, reports suggest he is plotting to send 10,000 additional ground troops to the Middle East. Also, after oil jumped to its highest level this week, and the S&P 500 had its biggest daily decline since January, he said he would extend a deadline for negotiations by 10 days.
The extension follows a warning last Saturday when he threatened to strike Iranian power plants “one by one” if the regime did not open up the Strait of Hormuz, a strategically important shipping lane that connects Gulf energy to the rest of the world.
As Ingraham suggested, Iran is using the narrow passage as leverage in negotiations.
Earlier this month, Ingraham grilled Trump’s hand-picked energy secretary, Chris Wright, on the issue. “So, Mr Secretary, three ships near the strait were hit by projectiles over the past 24 hours. What now?” she asked.
Wright immediately danced away from the question, instead launching into White House talking points about Iran’s history of hostage-taking, terrorism, and regional destabilization.
Ingraham wasn’t having it.
“Well, Mr Secretary, we know that,” she interjected. “But, I’m sorry to interrupt. Yeah, well, I said that in the Angle, I couldn’t agree more. And we understand that history. It’s murderous. But what now?”
She went on to try to preempt any more evasive answers as Wright continued to dodge. “We will end their ability to impede traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, and ships will flow again,” he eventually spluttered, offering no specifics.
