When Donald Trump was asked by Time magazine if he was worried the war could come to America’s backyard, he replied, “I guess.”
Like the San Diego Padres winning the pennant. It could happen, but nobody is holding their breath.
Well, I have news for the president, it has already arrived.
With news of another U.S. service member’s death, seven families are mourning the passing of a loved one. Seven families are surely wishing that Trump had resisted the impulse to go to war with Iran.
The shock and awe that Trump, Pete Hegseth, and co. sought to engender in the days after unleashing missiles at Tehran has lost a little of its fury. Trump is meeting soccer players in the White House and playing golf in Miami.
The needless deaths of people in far-flung countries are suddenly a side note to a Cabinet member’s alleged long-running affair and her sudden departure.
Trump can try to explain away his reasons for a war with a country many Americans couldn’t place on a map. He can even say that “some people will die” in war.
But he will have more trouble explaining why the price of gas has rocketed to $5 a gallon.
He may think it is a “very small price to pay” for peace. But those struggling to cope with an affordability crisis, their bills mounting, their debts growing, will beg to differ.
Since the war began, gas prices have skyrocketed, rising more than 51 cents a gallon. The national average for a gallon of gas is now $3.45, according to GasBuddy.com.
On Monday, oil prices soared past $100 for the first time in four years
Billions are being spent to destroy the Iranian regime, and Congress will soon be asked for more. These sums may come from taxpayers’ money, but they are so beyond most people’s experience that they mean little.
A 51-cent increase at the pumps means a lot to just about everybody. Except maybe Trump’s billionaire friends.
And it could be Trump’s downfall. He was in Miami on Monday to talk at the House Republicans’ Winter Retreat. His take on gas prices is that they will correct themselves when the war is over.
But that isn’t looking like it’s going to be anytime soon.
And soon, the midterm elections will define the remainder of Trump’s term.
The Republicans in Congress won’t be telling this to Trump in Miami, but their future could be tied to the gas prices, too.
The odds on Polymarket of the Democrats winning the House in November have shot up since the war began to 85 percent, up 14 percent, while the Republican Party’s odds have slumped to 15 percent, down 16 percent.
A tighter race is also predicted in the Senate, with the GOP’s odds falling 18 percentage points to 53 percent, and the Democrats’ rising 17 percentage points to 47 percent.
An NBC survey taken since the war began shows 54 per cent of Americans disapprove of the way Trump has handled Iran.
All those MAGA folks who followed the party line and celebrated Dear Leader’s decision to meddle in another nation’s business will start having second thoughts when the lines start appearing at their local gas stations.
Or when their Easter and Spring Break flights are getting canceled or doubling in price.
We haven’t fallen victim to an Iranian attack on our shores. Not yet.
But the war is already much too close to home for most Americans.
