Democrats are betting higher gas prices will do what they cannot: weaken President Donald Trump’s advantage on national security. Their hope is that voters will fixate on the cost of a fill-up and forget why energy markets reacted to the Iran conflict in the first place. It is the same desperate strategy Americans have seen before. When they cannot win the bigger argument on national security, they retreat to the issue of costs and pray that short-term frustration will outweigh the far more serious stakes of American security and credibility.
The Democrat strategy is not subtle. Quinnipiac found that 65% of voters blame Trump at least somewhat for the recent rise in gas prices due to the Iran war, and Democrats think they have found their midterm jackpot issue. They hope if they can keep the conversation centered on pain at the pump, voters will forget their failures on the border, inflation, crime, and foreign policy.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris is already blaming Trump for pain at the pump, calling it the “direct result” of his Iran policy.
They are betting that temporary frustration will outweigh the larger truth Americans see: The world is dangerous, our enemies exploit weakness, and real leadership sometimes requires force even when markets react in the short term. Iran threatens global shipping lanes and destabilizes the world.
However, voters are not convinced that weakness is strength or that retreat is leadership.
We have seen this before. After Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, oil prices and gasoline costs rose as the Persian Gulf crisis shook global energy markets. Americans felt the pain, but history did not judge that moment by gas prices alone. It judged whether the United States had the strength to confront aggression at a critical moment. America led a coalition, drove Saddam out of Kuwait, and restored deterrence in the Gulf. President George H. W. Bush’s approval surged during and immediately after the Gulf War, rising from 64% before the war to 89% after victory.
That history matters now because it exposes the Democrats’ biggest strategic flaw: they confuse costs with failure. National security decisions can carry economic consequences, but the real question is whether those costs are helping restore deterrence, protect global order, and make hostile regimes think twice before testing American resolve. Democrats refuse this debate because it exposes their weakness. Their playbook is to frame strength as escalation, deterrence as recklessness, and American power as a problem rather than a solution.
Harris’ attack reveals how poorly the Democrats are misreading the electorate. They assume higher gas prices will immediately trigger voter backlash without asking what caused the increase, what alternatives exist, and what weakness costs the country. Gallup polled Americans in the war’s opening phase, from March 2-18, and found only 2% named gas prices as the nation’s top problem.
Recent Fox polling reveals that voter concern about gas prices is high, but concern about inflation is even higher.
Voters are not looking at the pump in isolation. They are looking at energy costs against the questions of affordability, deterrence, and American strength.
Voters cannot miss the hypocrisy. Democrats spent four years excusing historic inflation when it suited their politics. They backed policies that weakened confidence in American energy, from killing Keystone XL to pausing new federal oil and gas leases, ignored warnings about instability abroad, and dismissed deterrence as exaggerated concerns.
Now, as the Iran war has temporarily pushed up gas prices, they want to pose as defenders of working families. They offer no real alternatives; they only hope short-term pain will erase the memory of their own failures. Voters are smarter than that.
The truth is Democrats want a gas price panic because they cannot beat Trump on security. While the real debate is about Iran, deterrence, and American resolve, they would rather turn it into a referendum on a gas receipt than on leadership. But Americans know temporary pain is not the same as strategic failure. A party that confuses the two proves only one thing: It never understood strength in the first place.
Mehek Cooke is a Senior National Security & Legal Analyst.
Reprinted with Permission from The Daily Signal – By Mehek Cooke
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
They seem to forget Obama telling us to be prepared for 10 dol a gallon, they were cheering him on, licking his shoes, perhaps they yearn for the good old days, it’s hard when the balloon bursts and everyone discovers it was nothing but a hot air.
President Trump and his administration are saving our country from being destroyed by foreign powers and domestic enemies. Hopefully, more patriotic Americans develop the intelligence and awareness to see through the destructive propaganda propagated by the treasonous Democrat Party and the Marxist media. President Trump and his administration are our only hope in preserving a Constitutional Republic which works for the good of the people. God Bless President Trump and God Bless America.
And now, Iran caved, the Strait of Hormuz is open again, and the price per barrel is plummeting. Awwww! Too bad, Democrats!
The Democrats can try all the dirty tricks they want. My confidence in this president will never weaver, it took Joe Biden four years to screw this country every and anyway he could. It will take more than two years undo the damage he did. My advice to my fellow republicans and especially the independents…give him time. All we need at this time is go weak and give the anti american democrats another chance to continue their damage, and achieve their ultimate goal of turning this Great Country into another Sh*thole.
So what are the Republicans doing to counter the demoncrat false attacks, sitting on the sidelines twirling their fingers and allowing President Trump to fight i by himself???
Republicans have to cease the moment, answer kamala’s attacks with facts now that bring to light the demoncrats lies.
democrats are evil they support illegals and giving away money to every dog
Dems want to rerun 1970s Gas lines??
So word salad Kameltoe let out a few words. Where was she when gas prices under her and Biden’s regime rose to 5 dollars nation wide. It has come down already with the cease fire. Americans always react to things immediately. Wait it out. So we suffer a few months with high gas prices. After that it will go down the threat of a nuclear attack now or in the future is eliminated. And oil will be flowing everywhere. But the dems are against war unless it’s them that started it. Or withdraw from a war and leave the country worse off than when they started fighting in Afghanistan. Thousands of our soldiers were killed. Billions in equipment was left behind but did the dems whine and complain and scream Obama is a dictator. Of course not. Not even when he gave billions of dollars to the Iranian and they started attacking Israel again. Because the democrats have no plan no policy and really don’t care about the American people who are not on their side. Sacrifice for a few months democrats, independents and Republicans. Better than dead from an Iranian nuclear bomb. Life is a choice make it wisely.
Remember what Biden did in his first hours of becoming president? Vetoed the Keystone Pipeline. 900,000 barrels of oil a day, gone with the stroke of a pen… back then he could still write. Remember what happened to gas prices a few months later? How much of a difference would that have made to gas prices today had that not been vetoed? How quickly they forget. The gas price panic may soon be over soon, much to the democrats dismay. They love this. And no, they can’t beat him on strength, but they can beat him on lies. It amazes me every day how many people actually believe the MSM. The public school system has been indoctrinating kids for 20+ years, after that the media takes over. That plan is working well.
Tell them to go back to burying their heads in the sand.
These infected snake foreskins will will lie, deny. Cheat. Obstruct at every turn, story and effort.
If people would stop and think for a change, they would realize that 1. WE DO NOT GET OI: FROM IRAN and 2. it was much higher under Biden. The reason the prices went up is the same reason they go up when a hurricane threatens the Gulf Coast. It’s the traders on Wall Street that cause the problems with their “Futures: buying. It isn’t the President. It’s the panicans that drive up the prices. As far as the prices not coming down on other goods. Why should they? The suppliers figure we paid the higher prices when Biden was President, so why not keep them up so they make more money? Think for a change instead of listening to the idiots in politics that want you scared to death!!!
The Democrats hate America and have always lust for Power and Control at all costs. The Dems and RINO’s want the Welfare State to exist so that they can control us as their slaves. The world will never be safe with a Nuclear Iran and a Communist Government which is what would happen if the Communist Dems Run America with the help of RINO’s, a Political Party that the Dems control. All of America would be Slaves to Government. That would be worse than the Slavery of the South in 19th Century America.
The only gas that the democRATS should be concerned about is them passing gas upwind,they are very good at that.
Obstruct, lie, deny by any means they can! Total????
It’s no different than the manufactured shortages to convert from seasonal blends of fuel…
Instant profit jump for corporations and investors including heavily vested politicians
Gas prices are down and the market is up. Dems are losing but if we don’t get out in droves come November, they could take back the House and Senate.
The Dems can’t beat anything but their meat. Everything they do, proposal, every policy FAILS and ENDS IN COMPLETE RUIN. The old JFK Democrat party does not exist, and hasn’t for years. It has been taken over 100% by America-hating, America-LAST, Illegals-FIRST, full-fledged Socialists and Communists.
An EVIL party consumed with anger, obsessed with hatred, and having only two goals:
1. Get Trump. 2. Destroy America as we know it.
Gee, what do Americans REALLY want? Low gas prices or a nuclear armed Iran threatening Global stability? The DemoKKKRATS have no platform, no ideas and no plans for the future except hating President Trump. ALL Republcan voters need to go to the polls in November and widen our control of BOTH Houses Of Congress!
“they only hope short-term pain will erase the memory of their own failures. Voters are smarter than that”….Sorry, I wouldn’t bet the farm on that one.
I live in the middle of US Rep. Benny Thompson’s district in Mississippi, who has been elected consecutively to the House for over 30 years…in the poorest district in Mississippi and the nation…with 66% Black population. You’d think the people here would wise up and let someone else have a shot at it.
The Good Ol’ Boy syndicate ain’t just for the white folks.
What is with people always playing the BLAME THE NAME GAME? In New Jersey, the last time we had a gas shortage, our Highway Death’s greatly Decreased! Everyone was driving about 55 miles an hour on our highways saving money! Driving slower on the highways will actually SAVE THE AMERICANS WHO DRIVE THE REAL AMERICAN CARS SO MUCH MONEY BECAUSE THE HOMEOWNERS PAY HIGHER HOME THERMS CAUSING US TO PAY TOWARDS THEIR LOWER EV THERM RATES FOR THEIR CAR CHARGING IN THEIR HOMES! THE REAL ISSUE IS HAVING PEOPLE LIKE:
Kamala Harris, Sanjay Patel, Barack Obama and others who were forcing Abortions all across America and attacking our American Pro-Life People, while killing some of the mothers to be and their babies? Doesn’t anyone know that this issue is ignored and that what they did is far worse than a Gasoline/Fuel Crisis! THEY ACTUALLY KILLED OFF OUR FUTURE AMERICANS IN THEIR TRYING TO TAKE OUR COUNTRY OVER!!! THEY ACTUALLY KILLED OFF OUR FUTURE HOPE!, OUR FUTURE CONTRIBUTORS, OUR FUTURE MILITARY, etc. BUT AND THEN AGAIN CREATED OPEN BORDERS TO KILL MORE AMERICANS! WHEN DID FREEDOM IN AMERICA GET SO DARN TWISTED?
Let’s face it, the Democrats truly hate America and its citizens. Of course, the illegals are ok, just listen and watch how they protect criminals. The Democrats are hell bent on destroying everything!!! Don’t let them take over congress!
If this was right after 9/11 no one would be complaining. What is odd is if Iran had fired a nuclear missile, destroyed one of our European basis and killed thousands of our men and women, everyone would “get it.” But President Trump made sure “it didn’t happen.” It’s hard to fight what you can’t see.
I’ve been hearing about Iran for 47 years. I’m glad they are out of the game. Checkmate!
Gas prices are still cheaper than under resident Biden.
Democrat/ Socialists infected foreskins will obstruct, lie,deny, piss and moan from TDS all their days. Let them.
A few days ago I filled up my truck with $4.97/gal diesel. When paying, the high price came up in conversation. I commented to the cashier,”Glad to support the war effort.” Not sure if he thought I was kidding or not. I was not kidding.
So, why should the Democrats even care about the price of gas? Aren’t they pushing us to drive EV’s? If anything, the temporary high prices of gas (not as high as under Joe’s reign) should be fuel for their EV world. TDS is so strong they cannot see straight.
Well,the Democrats finally ended their obsession with Epstein. I am in California, the land of exorbitant taxes. As a result, I am paying nearly one third more for gas than people in sane red states. Because of the Iran War, and mainly, because lawless Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, the price of my gallon of gas increased by one dollar. But, because of the Republican’s Great Beautiful Bill, my tax refund was $8,500, which is about $7,300 more than my 2024 refund! I think that more than makes up for my gas increasing by $1 per gallon. And, unlike the increase in gasoline costs, my tax break is not temporary.
Democrats in general have no good ideas and no accomplishments to run on, so they latch on to anything and try to make it work. I’m amazed at those eastern states who have elected socialists. I hope it doesn’t spread.
trump brought them down from Brandonn’s henchmen’s price increases on gas. No one has done anything about the thousand dollar increase I pay in utilities, taxes and insurance.
As is usual the dims have it wrong, AGAIN. Yes gas prices have gone up, but we are just getting over the Biden gas prices. Democrat officials like Harris, are just reminding us of the senseless cost of gas and groceries when she was in office.
Gas prices were not alone in high price. What about housing? The invasion on our borders caused huge increase to most needs. They really should try to come up with better ideas that will benefit we voters. This Iran conflict was so slow in coming, President Trump had the courage, other Presidents lacked.
My fuel prices came down 11 cents in the last week
I just got my California Primary Ballot booklet. It lists 31 candidates for Governor in small print. Somehow leading candidate Hilton’s statement is not to be found. 11 Democrats, 7 Republicans, the rest No Party Preference. Did Hilton’s campaign miss the boat or was it an intentional omission? Hilton is really the only real choice, with Chad Biance right behind.
I’d gladly pay $10 a gallon for fuel before voting for ANY democRAT!
We would not be having high fuel prices if not for Obama creating a hidden tax on refineries. Then both Obama and Biden prevented new refineries to be built. We have the oil, we don’t have the ability to process it. Currently, the federal fuel tax is no less than $0.60 per gallon. That’s about 10 time the amount the fuel companies earn profit per gallon. None of this is caused by Republican policies.
Democrats would love to have a catastrophic terrorist attack (2000+ dead) or another pandemic or just about anything bad they can blame on President Trump.
The Dumba$$ocrat$ should worry more about themselves than about Trump…
Gas is still cheaper than under resident biden.
Demo’s idiotic way to win…..
If only 1 of these people who want to criticize Trump for everything had a soul, ethics, professional opinions, etc. just think how far the U.S. could go with our President. IMO, there will never be another like DJT. Has anyone heard one word from the opposing party, e.g. about building better roads, bridges, helping the homeless, create a better education system for poor children, etc. ?