“On the Holmes Front” with Frank Holmes
President Donald Trump says he doesn’t “have any concern” over rising gas prices—but congressional Republicans have begun sounding the alarm that rising costs caused by military hostilities with Iran could cost them dearly.
A perfect storm has blown out of the Middle East, showing higher costs and a worsening economy hitting at the same time.
There is an outside chance that President Trump ended his own presidency, sinking it in the Persian Gulf.
President Trump talked tough when asked about war holding up deliveries of oil that move through the Strait of Hormuz…and forcing you to pay more for petroleum products. “I don’t have any concern about it,” said President Trump in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday. “If they rise, they rise, but this is far more important than having gasoline prices go up a little bit.”
He repeated his indifference to higher gasoline prices Friday morning, telling CNN’s Dana Bash higher gas prices are “all right. It’ll be short term time. It’ll go way down very quickly.”
Pretty soon, gas prices “will drop to new lows,” he promised.
But that’s not what the signs at your local gas station show right now…and it destroys one of President Trump’s biggest bragging rights.
CNN's Dana Bash: "I asked Trump about rising gas prices. He said, 'That's alright. It'll be short term. It'll go way down very quickly.' I said, 'They're pretty high now.' He said, 'No they're not.'" pic.twitter.com/svOBMNDeQS
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 6, 2026
At the State of the Union, the president boasted, “Gasoline, which reached a peak of over $6 a gallon in some states under my predecessor and was, quite honestly, a disaster, is now below $2.30 a gallon in most states, and in some places $1.99 a gallon.”
Three-and-a-half days later, war exploded in Iran—a war the president had to know would increase the price of gasoline.
Since then, the national average cost of a gallon of gas rose to $3.32, according to AAA, a 34 cent increase since last week.
Worse yet, gas prices had already been rising for four weeks before the war broke out.
Oil prices are “up nearly 50% since mid-February, and gas prices up $0.30/gallon over the last week,” noted Sean Davis, the co-founder of The Federalist. “Not great.”
Remember all the gas pumps covered with stickers of President Joe Biden pointing at the price and saying, “I did that!”
Can it be long before Donald Trump’s face replaces it?
And the pump isn’t the only place voters will feel the pain.
Not great. Oil prices up nearly 50% since mid-February, and gas prices up $0.30/gallon over the last week. pic.twitter.com/IPwoPDS1vf
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) March 6, 2026
Experts warn that the price of groceries will increase, too.
Farmers use nitrogen fertilizer to grow about half of all the world’s crops, and one quarter of all nitrogen fertilizer comes from the Middle East.
Nitrogen fertilizer is made from liquefied natural gas (LNG), and Qatar is the world’s third-largest producer of LNG.
Eight out of 10 people say their grocery bill has already increased over the last year…and they’re angry.
“This could be a mess for a while,” 40-year oil and gas industry veteran David Blackmon told Just the News.
To make matters more concerning, multiple polls show most Americans oppose the war in Iran, sometimes by a two-to-one margin.
Two-thirds of Americans disapprove of President Trump’s job performance on the cost of living in the latest Fox News poll. Three times more voters name rising costs as their biggest concern (50 percent) than the next-biggest issue (government spending, 18 percent). And 65 percent of Americans call themselves “angry” or “dissatisfied” with the state of their country.
Forcing voters to pay higher prices for a war they don’t support isn’t exactly the path to victory.–and if the president doesn’t care, other leaders in his party are getting nervous.
“There will be, hopefully, a cessation of this in the not-too-distant future, at which time my assumption is that that’ll stabilize a bit,” said Republican Senate Leader John Thune of South Dakota, who sees his majority slipping away.
Steeper bills couldn’t come at a worse time, as the overall economy has hit some hiccups.
The February jobs report showed the United States lost 92,000 jobs, when economists expected we would add 59,000.
The economy shed jobs in industries President Trump promised to revive, including mining and manufacturing.
The government also revised the last two months’ statistics to show America lost 69,000 more jobs than previously reported.
The month of December went from a net gain of 48,000 jobs to a 17,000 job loss…and the Democrats are ready to pounce.
“The manufacturing industry lost 108,000 jobs during the first year of President Trump’s second term,” said a new report from the Democrats on the Senate’s Joint Economic Committee.
Democrats have already tied the two issues of higher gas prices and the Iran war together, using bad puns.
“Trump is raising prices at home while razing countries abroad,” said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.
Trump’s “endless war” will only benefit “the Big Oil vultures,” he said.
What can the president do about this global and electoral catastrophe?
Trump is raising prices at home while razing countries abroad. In addition to untold casualties, Trump's illegal war with Iran will lead to skyrocketing oil prices, and we know the Big Oil vultures are already circulating. We can't let Trump drag us into another endless war. pic.twitter.com/ttUMCrAmas
— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) March 2, 2026
President Trump could pull a trick from the Biden-Harris administration and release gasoline from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which he just restocked.
But that risks U.S. national security, and it doesn’t matter if the U.S. makes more of its own oil as long as it can’t replace 100 percent of lost Iranian oil: When one of the world’s leading oil suppliers disappears, other nations’ demand will drive up global prices.
Most of the oil produced by Iran and Venezuela went to China last year. This year, the Chinese will be willing to bid up the market. Higher prices will hurt them, but they’ll hurt Americans, too.
The proof is already in. On Thursday, U.S. oil supply, West Texas Intermediate oil, had the largest single-day increase since May 2020.
The news couldn’t have come at a worse time, and it couldn’t have greater consequences—for Trump and the world.
Trump’s attack on Iran takes a big economic bite out of one of America’s chief rivals: China.
Almost all of Iran’s exported oil, and more than half of Venezuela’s, went last year to China.
📈 5 charts that show China’s oil dilemma after U.S. strikes: https://t.co/ue8oSXJTUr pic.twitter.com/XxWxxAUjJS
— POLITICO (@politico) March 2, 2026
The gas prices began to soar just as a Harvard/Harris poll showed Republicans pulling into an even 50-50 split with Democrats in the November midterm elections.
President Trump recently told congressional Republicans they had to win in November, or the Democrats plan to impeach him.
The gas prices make it much, much more likely Democrats will sweep into power and introduce articles of impeachment.
Will President Trump end the war quickly? He’s already said it could last until September.
Will gas prices level out? Maybe, but it could destroy Republican majorities.
Will Democrats impeach President Trump is they win the majority? You can bet on it.
The latest war may not just result in regime change in Iran.