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There is a clear tension for President Donald Trump on Iran.
Trump never wants to be seen as weak. It has been a core tenet of his political rise, and his most-used insult. Just in the last few weeks, the president has labeled Pope Leo XIV "weak on crime," conservatives on the Supreme Court "weak, stupid and bad" for their perceived views on birthright citizenship and labeled former president Barack Obama "weak and stupid."
His desire to project strength was apparent over the weekend when Trump took to Truth Social and lambasted Iran's response to the latest U.S. proposal to end the war as "totally unacceptable." In an earlier post, Trump hit Obama for his deal with Iran, branding his one-time predecessor the "greatest SUCKER of them all, in the form of a weak and stupid American President." And then Trump said that the ceasefire with the nation was on "massive life support," hinting at a possible escalation of combat.
So, no deal, because it appears that a deal with Iran shows weakness to Trump. The war marches on.
But that desire to always project strength may make it difficult for the president to address his greatest political vulnerability: affordability.
The ongoing war in Iran is impacting prices nationwide, from gas and farm inputs to food inflation, and a raft of polls show that voters blame Trump for those price increases. An NPR/PBS News/Marist poll released earlier this month found a whopping 8 in 10 Americans say gas prices are straining their budgets and that 63 percent say those increases are his fault.
The current average price for a gallon of gas is around $4.47, according to Gas Buddy, up from $2.90 since February when the war began.
That cost pressure is, in turn, putting political pressure on the president. A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll out earlier this month found disapproval of Trump reaching a new high, with 62 percent of Americans disapproving. Americans said they disapprove of his handling of the Iran conflict by 66 percent to 33 percent, and approval for his handling of the economy declined by 7 points to 34 percent as gas prices spiked.
All of this, one could think, would make Trump want to negotiate a deal with Iran and end the political punishment he is taking for the conflict.
"If the Trump administration doesn't get the cost of gas lowered, there's not enough redistricting that can be done to save the House GOP majority," said a Republican operative working on House races who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak frankly about the political tension with Trump.
But Republicans aligned with the president are continuing to back the decision to go to war in Iran, saying the price of not engaging would have been too high.
"We're clearly behind President Trump, this administration and what they're doing in Iran," Rep. Mike Collins, a Georgia Republican running for the Senate, told us. "We've been at war for 47 years with this radical Islamic terrorist regime over there. At the end of the day, they want to kill us. And if you let them get a nuclear weapon, and you think fuel prices are high today, they will own that area over there."
The administration is responding to the high prices resulting from the conflict. Trump proposed yesterday suspending the federal gas tax to help relieve prices (more on that later), and Collins pushed permitting reform to maximize the U.S.'s ability to drill and refine oil and gas products.
When asked last month if drivers would have to face high gas prices for the foreseeable future, Trump responded: "For a little while, and you know what they get for that? You know what they get for that? Iran without a nuclear weapon that's going to try and blow up one of our cities or blow up the entire Middle East."
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