Donald Trump’s top transportation official said that people need to cut the president some slack.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on ABC News on Sunday that despite the spiking gas prices Americans are seeing as a direct result of the president’s war on Iran, the American people should hold back their critiques.
“I think we have to offer the president grace,” Duffy said, asked by Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl about potential spikes in commercial airfare triggered by the oil crisis in the Middle East, which was spurred by Trump’s actions.
“We know the president cares about the economy, gas prices for the American people,” the transportation secretary, 54, added. “He’s talked about that frequently and often.”
Since Trump, 79, launched the U.S.-Israeli joint offensive against Iran on Feb. 28, gas prices at home and abroad have skyrocketed as Iran closed off the critical Strait of Hormuz.
The national average price for a gallon of gas domestically has jumped to $3.95, over a dollar higher than the $2.94 average seen a month ago.
Earlier this month, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that higher oil prices were a “very small price to pay for U.S.A., and World, Safety and Peace.”
“He also cares about peace,” Duffy continued. “A lot of people don’t give him credit for that, but he’s proud of the conflicts that he resolves, and he doesn’t want to see conflict.”
“I hear him talk behind closed doors about the number of young men and women who are lost in battles around the world. He cares about that, so I think, again, he cares about the economy.”
Trump, the self-styled “Peace President,” has claimed that he has ended eight wars since beginning his second term in office.
Regarding the 13 American lives already lost in less than a month of his war in the Middle East, Trump said in an address on March 1 that “there will likely be more” American service members who die as a result of the conflict.
He said on Truth Social on Saturday that U.S. forces have “blown Iran off of the map,” but threatened soon after in a follow-up post that the U.S. would “hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS” if they didn’t reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours.
“I think, when you look in the long run, he’s trying to make life better for America, more secure for America,” Duffy said. “Again, this is a long-term strategy that’s going to make everyone better off, and I think, the economy stronger.”
The Daily Beast reached out to the Department of Transportation for comment.
