Republicans aghast watching Trump's campaign vow become 'America strikes first'
President Donald Trump's escalating attacks on Iran are going to undermine much of the rest of his agenda, a Republican strategist told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
“The longer this goes on, the worse it is politically, full stop,” Matthew Bartlett, who previously served in the Trump administration's first-term State Department, told the Journal — because the more he focuses on international adventures, the more he will neglect domestic economic policy. “‘America first’ has now turned into America strikes first,” he added.
This comes as experts broadly expect gas prices to surge as an Iran conflict undermines the global oil trade, much of which travels through the Persian Gulf right near any potential conflict zones.
Indeed, the Journal said, some people are already noticing the wartime fuel inflation.
"Aung Min Tun drives a delivery van up to 500 miles a day, so he was thrilled when gasoline prices started to drop after President Trump took office last year. Overnight this week, he watched them rise to $3.39 a gallon from about $3.00 at gas stations he visited in Illinois," said the report. "'This 30 cents within the night, I’m just a little concerned,' Tun said while taking a break at a rest stop. His one-man business should be fine if prices stay below $3.50 a gallon. Any higher and it will hurt, Tun said. Above $4.50, 'I could not run the business,' he added."
Tun, who immigrated from Myanmar, voted for Trump in 2024.
Low gas prices, the report noted, are one of the only things working to cool off inflation, as Trump's tariff policies for the last year have caused chaos in supply chains. "A sustained war throughout the Middle East could deepen the impact, potentially causing inflation to head back up — or stoking anxieties that could damp consumer spending and slow economic growth."
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