Jon Stewart ripped into President Donald Trump for his unrealistic solution to solving the oil crisis spurred by his war on Iran.
The price of oil worldwide spiked after Trump’s military attack on Iran, which disrupted oil shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. On Mar. 5, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that Iran would keep the Strait closed to ships from the United States and its allies.
Although the crews of US oil tankers would be risking their safety by attempting to sail through the passage, Trump urged them in a phone interview with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade to do it anyway.
“These ships should go through the Strait of Hormuz and show some guts,“ Trump said, according to Kilmeade. ”There’s nothing to be afraid of. They [Iran] have no Navy. We sunk all their ships.”
Trump added, “Look, there is risk in the region, the region is volatile. There are launchers. There’s just about 150 left. That’s just about 20 percent of totals. They can’t regenerate. They can’t make any more, and we are in the region and we’re in it to act quickly on all these type of attacks.”
Stewart wasn’t surprised the oil tanker crews have largely refused to heed Trump’s call. “Show some guts, Captains Phillip!” Stewart jokingly said to the oil tanker captains.
He then explained to the Trump administration the reality of taking the dangerous route.
“I know you may not want to sail the slowest-moving vehicle on Earth, packed with the most flammable liquid on Earth, through the most active war zone on Earth,” he said.
“But on the other hand...” Stewart started squawking like a chicken.
Stewart also mocked Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s apparent attempts to downplay the danger around the Strait of Hormuz.
“The only thing prohibiting transit in the Straits right now is Iran shooting at shipping,” Hegseth said at a press briefing on Friday. “It is open for transit, should Iran not do that.”
After a long pause, Stewart sarcastically replied, “Other than Epstein, it’s a wonderful island.”
Since the start of Trump’s war in Iran, the average price of gasoline in the United States has risen sharply since the beginning of March.
Trump, who has previously bragged about the low gas prices throughout his second term, has struggled against the backlash over the sudden spike.
“There’s so much oil, gas—there’s so much out there,” Trump told NBC News over the weekend, “but you know, it’s being clogged up a little bit. It’ll be unclogged very soon.”
White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told the Daily Beast that the closing of the Strait of Hormuz is one of several “short-term disruptions,” and that “oil and gas prices will drop rapidly again, potentially even lower than before the strikes begin.”
The Trump-appointed Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, however, seemed more cautious.
When asked if gas prices might return to below $3 per gallon before summer, Wright told NBC News, “There’s a very good chance that’ll be true,” before clarifying, “There’s no guarantees in war. The time frame’s still not entirely clear, but I think that’s certainly a goal of the administration.”
