Mr. Secretary, a reporter asked during a press conference, “You were quoted earlier this week saying it was worth some economic pain for international security. Is that the message the administration is giving to American voters who are facing high gas prices before the midterms this year? That it’s worth the economic pain?”
“Well, the message is that short-term volatility is worth it for long-term gain,” said Bessent.
But the truth is, there’s no long-term gain here.
Iran didn’t pose an immediate threat to the United States or any American interests. Trump started this war because Israel wanted it, and now American troops are dying, and the global economy is shrinking.
“If I could add to that,” Leavitt said, stepping in after Bessent.
“The president has been very clear — as the Secretary just said — that this is short-term disruption for the long-term strategic goal of the United States to make sure the world’s leading state sponsor of terror can’t get a nuclear weapon. That’s good for the American people. That’s good for people all over the world.”
But Trump’s own intelligence agencies have admitted that Iran wasn’t trying to build nuclear weapons.
In fact, Ayatollah Khamenei — who was killed at the start of the war — had a religious ruling that banned Iran from getting nuclear weapons.
“And as the President and his economic and energy team have said repeatedly,” Leavitt continued, “once the operation and the negotiations with Iran are done and the strait is reopened, we expect gas prices to go down.”
“And thank goodness we have a president in an administration that believes in American energy dominance, in bringing down prices at the pump,” she added.
“Look at how gas prices have decreased over the past year since this president took office. That’s a big difference from the previous administration and the Democrats in this city who believe in slowing down our domestic energy industry, who believe in importing our most valuable resources, who believe in policies that caused the worst inflation crisis in history.”
“So President Trump built the greatest economy in the world before,” she said, conveniently rewriting history to ignore the terrible effects of his crazy tariffs. “
He’s doing it again. Of course, we have this short-term disruption. But again, it’s for the long-term strategic goal of making sure these terrorists can’t get a nuclear bomb.”
That’s it, ladies and gentlemen.
You’re paying more at the grocery store and gas station because Donald Trump wants to bomb schools full of children overseas. It might not seem worth it to you, but rest assured, the President — who keeps enriching himself and his family every day — is confident that your suffering is a small price to pay for his agenda.
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