Republicans wrestle with gas price pain as Iran war rages
I did a double take when I stopped for gas Monday and the price of regular at my usual Atlanta gas station was up to $3.99 a gallon. It’s the same gas station where I used to see stickers of President Joe Biden pointing to $4 gas and saying “I did that!”
Nothing grabs your attention more than thinking of $4 gas, but by Thursday the price was up higher than that.
The price of diesel, which truckers and farmers use, is now over $5 in Georgia, according to AAA. On Thursday, the cost of oil had jumped to $100 per barrel after a roller coaster of spikes and dips.
The reason for all of this, of course, is the war in Iran and the wild volatility of the oil markets in the two weeks since President Donald Trump approved military operations there. The International Energy Agency said the war and Iran’s response has led to the biggest disruption to oil supply in history.
Above and beyond the potential for pushing other prices higher, the cost of gas is a notoriously thorny political issue. President Joe Biden’s White House chief of staff was so worried about the gas prices racing upward during the Biden administration that he used to check the price of gas every morning before he got out of bed. Trump hammered Biden for it at the time, saying high gas prices would “destroy the country.”
Once back in office, Trump pointed to the falling price of gas as proof that the economy under his leadership was better than ever.
“These pro-American energy policies are bringing energy prices way down. You see what’s happening even with gasoline,” he told a group of coal producers at the White House last month.
But by this week, Trump was singing a different tune, telling ABC News of rising gas prices, “I think it’s fine. It’s a little glitch. We had to take this little detour.”
On social media, he wrote that the cost of oil prices now “is a very small price to pay for USA, and World, Safety and Peace.”
By Thursday, the president said rising oil prices would actually be good for the country.
“The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money.” Plus, he wrote, stopping Iran from having a nuclear weapon is worth the oil disruptions.
Visiting the Georgia Capitol this week. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins seemed to struggle with her explanation, too, when asked if the Trump administration has any plans to help farmers deal with the rising cost of fuel in the wake of the Iran war.
“Certainly, this president is very focused on affordability in America,” Rollins began. “He though, in his leadership, was just very convicted and resolute that to really protect America these hard decisions had to be made now, whether or not we have elections coming up.”
Instead of giving details on potential relief for farmers hit by high fuel prices, Rollins segued to American democracy, which she called “a beautiful thing,” and said the Founding Fathers “had the hand of God on their shoulder when they were writing that Constitution.”
Does the administration have a plan to bring prices down? She didn’t say.
The one person in Georgia who could make gas prices marginally cheaper, and reduce the political pressure on Republicans in the process, is Gov. Brian Kemp. He has the power to temporarily suspend the Georgia gas tax, which is 33 cents a gallon, and 37 cents for diesel.
He told me this week he’s monitoring oil markets but isn’t ready to do anything yet.
“We’ve suspended the gas tax in the past to be able to help (Georgians afford gas), but we also have not overreacted to something that potentially could be a short-term blip,” he said.
Democrats criticized the governor for suspending the gas tax in the past, saying the Legislature should have signed off on the extensions. But they’re hammering him now for not acting.
“Georgians are already struggling with the cost-of-living crisis, and now they’re being asked to pay even more at the pump because of a war they didn’t ask for,” said state Sen. Nabilah Parkes, D-Duluth.
Republicans would certainly have an easier political sales job to do on gas prices if the president had ever addressed the nation to explain the goal and purpose of starting a war with Iran in the first place. He could also stick with one message. Is it good for America if oil prices climb, as he said? (No.) Or is the pain people will feel every week until this is over worth the cost?
For the time being, gas prices are on a roller-coaster ride, as are the Republicans who have to defend them after blaming Biden for so long that it was all his fault.
About the Author
Patricia Murphy is the AJC's senior political columnist. She was previously a nationally syndicated columnist for CQ Roll Call, national political reporter for the Daily Beast and Politics Daily, and wrote for The Washington Post and Garden & Gun. She graduated from Vanderbilt and holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.
