Republicans suddenly don’t give a damn about high gas prices
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/3/15/2373006/-Republicans-suddenly-don-t-give-a-damn-about-high-gas-prices?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_4&pm_medium=web
Congressional Cowards is a weekly series highlighting the worst Donald Trump defenders on Capitol Hill, who refuse to criticize him—no matter how disgraceful or lawless his actions.
When the price of gas skyrocketed in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine, Republicans fell over themselves to blame then-President Joe Biden in hope of hurting his reelection bid as well as Democrats in the midterms—even though Biden was not at fault for the spike.
But now, with President Donald Trump squarely responsible for the exponential increase in oil and gas prices after he launched an ill-conceived war on Iran, Republicans have completely reversed course, claiming that high gas prices are a cost that they're willing to pay.
It’s a message taken directly from Dear Leader, who had the gall to argue this week that higher oil prices are actually good for Americans.
Get a load of Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, who said Thursday that he’s totally fine with higher gas prices in order to let Trump wage war in Iran.
"If that means prices go up for a short time, I think Americans understand we can live with that," Jordan said on CNN.
But in 2022, Jordan was one of the loudest voices criticizing rising gas prices.
"Real America doesn’t care about the January 6th Committee,” he wrote on X at the time. “Gas is over $5 per gallon!”
And he was still on a tear about gas prices in 2023.
"Gas prices are up 63 cents this year. Groceries prices are still at record highs. Good luck affording a house with 7% interest rates. Bidenomics!" Jordan wrote on X at the time.
But Jordan is not singing the same tune today, with gas prices up 69 cents over the last month, grocery prices rising, and mortgage rates at more than 6%—all directly thanks to Trump’s war and illegal tariffs wreaking havoc on the economy.
Then there’s Rep. Mark Alford of Missouri, who told CNN this week that “there may be sacrifices to be made at the pump on a temporary basis."
"I think the people in my district are [willing to pay higher prices at the pump],” Alford said. "I'm willing to pay 30% or 30 cents more at the pump to make sure Iran doesn't have a nuclear weapon that's going to hit the U.S."
Just a few weeks ago, Alford was praising Trump for lowering gas prices.
"President Trump and House Republican’s [sic] America-First energy agenda is working—and it’s working so well that even networks usually quick to criticize are reporting the relief with a smile. When gas prices go down, American families go forward,” he wrote on X.
So then does Alford think that skyrocketing gas prices thanks to trigger-happy Trump make Americans go backward?
Sen. Rick Scott of Florida also said that Americans just have to get over surging gas prices because Trump's war is more important.
“We’d love to get gas prices back down, but the most important thing is [to] destroy Iran’s ability to produce a nuclear weapon, destroy their military, their ballistic missile capability," Scott told CNN. “We all want gas prices to come down. Nobody wants gas prices higher. This president doesn’t want gas prices higher. But we have to be realistic."
Of course, Trump said in June that the United States “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities, so it’s unclear how in just a few months the country became such a massive threat that war was necessary.
Given that a majority of Americans don't support Trump’s war and only wanted to see prices in the United States come down, it's hard to imagine that being a winning message for the GOP.
But that didn’t stop Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas from pushing the same message.
"Freedom is not free. Americans are gonna have to make some sacrifices," Marshall said, even though the war in Iran has nothing to do with freedom in the United States.
However, there is one Republican sounding the alarm on Trump's war.
“If we are still bombing Iran with kinetic action—people don’t want to call it war—if there’s still kinetic action that causes oil to be over $100, I think you’re going to see a disastrous election [for Republicans],” Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky told Fox Business.
Paul’s right: Rising gas prices are Trump's fault, and voters will punish the GOP for it come November.
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