Panel: Who's right about gas prices, Trump or Americans?

[0:00] From February, gas prices are higher, and from a year ago, gas prices are higher. [0:04] Now, you can compare it to Biden, but the point is, is they're higher. [0:08] And if you try and tell an American they're not, they feel like you aren't being ingenuous. [0:12] And Democrats tried that, and it did not work out. [0:15] So, you know, maybe take a lesson from their books or plan to lose in the fall. [0:19] I don't know what else to tell the Republicans. [0:22] Look, no, I'm glad that you admitted the Democrats made the same mistake, right? [0:25] Because y'all are making it right? [0:26] I get it. [0:27] The problem is that that's not exactly the case, because what was happening years ago [0:31] was a war between Russia and Ukraine. [0:33] And when that was happening, and Kamala Harris was asked to justify why prices were where they were, [0:37] she specifically said, this is for democracy. [0:39] It's because of the values that we share with Ukraine. [0:42] The American public understands that, and that's why this is worth it. [0:45] Where years later... [0:46] Kamala Harris isn't our president. [0:47] That's not the point. [0:47] Let me finish. [0:48] She also isn't basically what Donald Trump is saying, is that this is for democracy. [0:52] It's not at all what he's saying. [0:52] No, no, no, no. [0:52] He said it's for democracy for Ukraine. [0:55] No, he said this is for our democracy. [0:56] So do you think the American public wants us to support the democracy in Ukraine or our own natural security in the United States? [1:01] Well, I think what Kamala Harris's point, even though she's not the president, was making is that if Ukraine's democracy falls, it does jeopardize our democracy. [1:07] And what if America's natural security falls? [1:10] They were also arguing that if America's natural security would be in the state for Ukraine as well. [1:15] At that point, I mean, is the argument that it's fine to ask Americans to suffer? [1:20] I don't think we're asking Americans to suffer. [1:22] What Donald Trump did not say there, as you pointed out incorrectly, was that prices are not high. [1:27] He said they're not as high as we unfortunately expected them to be, knowing we were going to strike Iran. [1:31] Also, the comparison stands because we're still dealing with the cost of Ukraine. [1:35] Night war is still going on. [1:36] This is the opposite of a never-ending war. [1:38] It's a few weeks of strikes with Donald Trump more than anyone else wants to end as soon as possible. [1:43] And he's, I think, the only one with the record of proving that he actually can lower gas prices like nobody else. [1:48] Wait, so no, no, no. [1:48] He did actually say in his administration has said several times, not only with tariffs, but now with gas prices, that, yes, the American people will, should need to make sacrifices. [2:00] And they will feel that prices are increasing. [2:03] And that has been his message. [2:04] It was last year. [2:05] They did not like it. [2:07] You've seen his poll numbers go down. [2:09] Democrats have been winning in special election after special election. [2:11] And you're seeing him do it again, which I would say that probably the vast majority of Republican voters in swing districts don't agree with this message as a midterm message heading into the election this November. [2:24] The other thing I'll say is, I'm sorry, Donald Trump has not pumped gas in 50 years. [2:29] He has no idea how much. [2:31] Not sure he has ever pumped gas. [2:32] I'm not sure he has ever pumped gas. [2:33] And I don't even actually know if anyone in his family has ever pumped gas at this point. [2:37] But I will say he's not necessarily someone I would take advice on, on what Americans are feeling and what, whether or not prices are up. [2:46] He bases everything on the stock market. [2:49] And even then, he just said prices are up. [2:52] And he paints a different picture. [2:54] But, yes, he's also saying that he has had the best economy since God knows when, which is also not true. [3:00] He said in his first term he had an incredible economy. [3:02] That's not true. [3:02] And it was. [3:03] It was an incredible economy. [3:04] He broke more than that first term. [3:06] Well, that's the first term. [3:08] But in his first year, prices have increased. [3:09] But that's what he said. [3:09] I'm just making sure we're accurate about what he said. [3:11] I wish I had heard the president say, as Sheetal said, that he's asking the American people. [3:15] My name is Sochi. [3:15] Sochi, I'm sorry. [3:16] I apologize. [3:17] My fault. [3:18] But I really wish I had heard him say, as you said, to the American people, to bear this burden more, [3:23] to enlist the American people in this national project. [3:25] Because it is something that Americans will have to endure. [3:28] And they're enduring it because we're engaging in a war with Iran that Iran has engaged with us over the last 47 years. [3:34] The American people know the kind of threat that Iran represents. [3:36] They understand the degree to which Iran has spilled American blood over the last 50 years, [3:40] continues to threaten Americans every day. [3:43] Our national security professionals are very good at interdicting that threat. [3:46] But the threat is live all the time. [3:48] And I think the American people would bear that burden if the president was a little bit more honest about it. [3:52] He has been saying, yeah, it's a journey. [3:54] It's a sojourn. [3:55] And it's a, you know, it's a little excursion. [3:57] That just minimizes the nature of the conflict. [4:00] The nature of the conflict is epochal. [4:01] We're not talking about November. [4:02] We're talking about the next 20 years. [4:04] They don't approve of it. [4:04] They don't approve of the war. [4:05] And that's what we're seeing in the polling. [4:07] Sochi's point, they don't, Americans, majority of Americans, a pretty large majority of Americans, [4:13] don't approve of the war. [4:15] The Atlantic had an interesting story today, quoting a Trump supporter, Thomas Montoya, [4:20] who voted for Trump 2024 and now is frustrated about where things stand. [4:26] He says the president, the president is bragging about the economy, even though everyone Montoya knows is hurting. [4:32] He promised to start war, to stop wars, but started one in Iran. [4:36] And here's what Montoya says. [4:37] When Trump opens his mouth, three quarters of what he says is stories, lies. [4:42] He plans to vote in the midterm elections in the fall, but he may not choose a Republican. [4:47] And CBS poll from just a couple of days ago, April 8th to 10th, Trump's disapproval on the economy is at 65%. [4:55] His disapproval on inflation is at 69%. [4:58] It does not seem that Americans are willing to give him a buy on this because they think Iran is such an important threat [5:05] that they're willing to sacrifice for it. [5:07] They're just not. [5:07] No, and they're also hearing every single night how terrible things are. [5:10] The sky is falling. [5:12] The manufacturing reports that were released today from the Philadelphia Fed and yesterday, [5:17] the Empire Fed, Empire State reporting, we are beating expectations on manufacturing. [5:23] I want to talk about tariffs, the reindustrialization of this country, [5:25] and the fact that we're bringing a lot of those supply chains back. [5:28] That is going well. [5:29] In what sense? [5:29] Jobless claims. [5:30] In what sense? [5:31] In manufacturing output. [5:32] Because manufacturing jobs were basically flat for the entirety of 2025. [5:36] Yes, it takes time. [5:37] Job creation overall. [5:38] It takes time to build factories. [5:39] It takes time to tax. [5:40] Job creation overall for the entire economy also basically flat. [5:45] We've seen, we've heard consumer spending that Scott Bessent likes to talk about, [5:50] but a lot of that is coming from people who are rich. [5:53] Rich people are spending a lot of money right now. [5:56] Poor people do not have a lot of money to spend. [5:59] And so I think the point I'm trying to make is you can look at a lot of different statistics, [6:05] but Americans are being crystal clear. [6:08] They are not confident in this economy. [6:10] And I think there's a lot of reason to suggest that the pain is not evenly distributed. [6:15] And if the White House doesn't want to acknowledge that, they might be making a political mistake. [6:19] I mean, again, I'm getting back to jobless claims, manufacturing output. [6:22] The fact that right now the U.S. has gone to a net exporter of petroleum for the first time since World War II. [6:28] Our natural gas prices are at the lowest they've been in three months. [6:31] They're at historic lows across the board. [6:33] Meanwhile, in Europe, they've skyrocketed and we are exporting more LNG than ever before. [6:39] Thank God the Biden administration couldn't continue their idiotic pause on LNG export facility permitting. [6:46] I'm saying, yes, I get it. [6:47] Every night we're talking about gas prices are too high. [6:49] They're 50 cents higher than they were two years ago. [6:52] They're a dollar lower than they were four years ago. [6:54] They're too high. [6:55] I hope they go down. [6:56] They're trending down with where the oil futures are going and where we can expect them to be in the coming months. [7:00] And the administration wants them to be there. [7:02] I think the thing is that Biden had four years. [7:06] He made some promises on the economy. [7:08] Voters did not like what what he was able to deliver. [7:11] And so Democrats lost. [7:13] And the claim is, yes, they might not be as high as they were with Biden, but Americans are still not satisfied where they are. [7:20] And so you can quote statistics about all the gas and the petroleum. [7:23] But if you don't feel it today, that statistic feels like you are living. [7:28] You might as well be in the Artemis right now. [7:30] What is impacting how people feel? [7:32] It's what they watch on TV. [7:33] No, no, no, no, no. [7:35] What is impacting? [7:36] No, no, no, no. [7:37] That's literally what the Biden people said. [7:40] And they were wrong. [7:40] What people feel is when they go. [7:42] You know they were wrong. [7:43] No, but they were wrong. [7:44] They were wrong when gas prices were about $5. [7:46] They said it was transitory. [7:47] We'll get back to normal. [7:48] Yes, and they were wrong. [7:49] Because there were statistics that supported their view. [7:53] GDP growth, our relative position to the rest of the world, you could argue all of those things. [7:58] They were right. [7:59] There were statistics that showed that our inflation was lower than the rest of the world, that we were relatively doing better than Europe and the rest of the world. [8:06] They could point to statistics all day, but that ain't going to cut it when Americans are saying that's not how we see it. [8:13] What were Democrats asking us to sacrifice for in the Biden years? [8:15] I mean, the notion here that this, you played that Congresswoman who's all of a sudden very concerned with profligacy. [8:20] Give me a break. [8:21] Like, what were they asking us to sacrifice for and inflate the economy of a million dollars? [8:25] Can I just be honest? [8:26] It was health care. [8:28] It was domestic spending. [8:29] All of this goes into the gaping maw of American entitlements that are utterly insatiable. [8:34] This is a project to advance American freedom and nationalism. [8:36] Just to be clear, you're talking about you're characterizing domestic spending as the gaping maw of entitlement programs. [8:45] But a lot of Americans see that as where our money should be going. [8:48] Yes. [8:49] Just to be clear. [8:49] It is where our money is going. [8:51] It's where the best majority of it goes. [8:52] Yeah, but many people, I think you just have to acknowledge that there are a lot of, for you, foreign wars are super important. [8:59] But for a lot of Americans, when you look at the polling, a lot of Americans say, actually, we want fewer of those. [9:05] We want more spending at home. [9:06] And that's actually what Donald Trump ran on. [9:08] That's why this man, Thomas Montoya, is so upset. [9:13] Just to respond briefly. [9:14] I think you're, I don't think you're wrong. [9:17] I'm not using Biden as a comparison point to say, let's do what Biden did. [9:22] That's what I'm trying to, like, get you all to realize is, like, I'm giving Republicans free advice for an era that I just lived through for the last four years. [9:29] Right. [9:29] I sat on the set and gave statistics. [9:31] And Americans were saying, no, no, no. [9:33] And now you all are just switching the seat. [9:35] What I'm saying, I think that right now, Americans are frustrated with where prices are. [9:41] And they're blaming that on Republicans. [9:43] Now, the issue will be is, will Democrats present a winning case on what they can do better? [9:49] Now, if they go backwards, I won't think they will. [9:51] There's another side to this polling, very briefly. [9:53] Everybody's against the war, right? [9:55] But if you go to CBS News polling and you look at UGov, CBS, and they say what they want from this war, and it's an 80-20 proposition. [10:00] They want freedom in Iran. [10:02] They want Iran to stop threatening its neighbors. [10:03] They want its nuclear program decimated. [10:05] They want all these things from the war. [10:06] They're skeptical we might get it. [10:07] But they're not wholesale against the notion that we should be fangering. [10:10] We all agree with that. [10:12] I think most Americans would agree with all those things.