Republican Sen. Dave McCormick has conceded that President Donald Trump’s war in Iran is causing pain at the pump for everyday Americans.
McCormick says Americans can expect more “volatility” as military operations against Iran, which have already claimed the lives of six American soldiers, continues indefinitiely.
“There’s going to be volatility when there’s uncertainty like this,” he told Fox Business host Stuart Varney on Thursday morning.
He added later in his segment, “This is going to be bumpy in the short term.”
Fuel prices have surged since Trump ordered strikes in the Middle East. GasBuddy reports the national average for a gallon of gas has now reached $3.26—just a cent-and-a-half below its 2024 peak, which Trump turned into a top campaign talking point.
The average price of a gallon of gas nationwide was $2.89 on February 5, AAA reports.
GasBuddy wrote on Thursday that more than a dozen states—mostly red areas in the American heartland—have experienced price spikes of more than 30 cents in the last week. Another 17 states have seen increases of more than 25 cents on average.
In true MAGA fashion, McCormick still insisted that Trump’s war in Iran, which does not have a clear end date or end goal, was the correct decision by the White House. He claims the action will ultimately drive gas prices down.
“Let’s have a little bit of a longer view,” he pleaded with Varney, who correctly noted that the “price of gas is way up” and that the stock market has taken a pounding this week.
Varney added, “Not good for the president when the gas price and the oil price is going up.”
McCormick, 60, of Pennsylvania, went into spin mode.
“When we finish these operations, we will now essentially have more stability in the region,” he claimed, assuming decades of precedent in the Middle East will be different this time. “The Straits of Hormuz, where 20 percent of the natural gas and oil goes through, will be secure.”
He continued, “There’s now two major producers of oil that 30 percent of the oil reserves in the world are in Venezuela and Iran, and they will be under more favorable regimes that aren’t trying to support our adversaries and destroy America.”
