President Donald Trump stunned Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on Sunday after she asked if he believes oil and gas prices, which have soared since he launched the U.S. into the Iran war, will be lower before November’s midterms.
“I hope so. I mean, I think so. It could be. It could be or the same or maybe a little bit higher,” said Trump while on the phone with the “Sunday Morning Futures” host, who widened her eyes and tried to blink away the president’s verbal shoulder shrug.
Trump added, “But it should be around the same. I think this won’t be that much longer.”
As he proceeded to claim that Iran is “wiped out” before spiraling into talks of the rescue of two U.S. aviators whose fighter jet was shot down in the country, Fox News flashed graphics of the price of crude oil and the national average gas price, which has hit $4.125 a gallon in AAA’s estimate, as of Sunday.
That figure has increased nearly $0.53 from a month ago, when the average price was at $3.598 a gallon, per AAA.
Moments earlier, the host asked Trump whether his freshly-announced plans for the U.S. Navy to begin blockading ships in the Strait of Hormuz will help bring down costs at the pump.
In March, the jump in oil and gas prices led to the biggest monthly spike in inflation in four years, a hop that’s at odds with the president’s 2024 vows to lower rising costs for Americans during his second gig in the Oval Office.
Trump, who described his plans as a “complete blockade” of the key passageway for the world’s oil trade, told Bartiromo that “eventually” oil and gas prices will be lower, adding that it “might not happen initially.”
He went on to baselessly claim he has “the greatest economy ever” and the U.S. is “in great shape.”
