We guess Team Trump is now the proud custodian of "Keep calm and carry on." AP President Donald Trump is right: The short-term spike in oil prices is “a very small price” to pay for ending the Islamic Republic’s threat to the civilized world.
And prices should indeed “drop rapidly” within weeks.
More: The prez is willing to risk big losses in the midterm elections, and thus big trouble for his larger reform agenda, because he firmly believes he’s serving the national interest here.
In other words, he’s showing the leadership Americans expect of our presidents (but so rarely get) — even if it polls poorly in the short term.
If he’s wrong, he’ll pay a political price; if he’s right, the Democrats now trying to exploit the Iran war to bring him down will suffer.
It’s no surprise that Tehran, flailing on every other front, has resorted to using the “oil weapon”: targeting tankers in the Strait of Hormuz to block about 20% of the world oil supply in a bid to cause global pain and force Trump to blink.
But Team Trump is working to get supply flowing again, offering naval escorts for commercial shipping and offering insurance via the US International Development Finance Corp.; it should soon be clear if this is enough to get tankers moving again.
Then too, the ongoing bombing campaign is rapidly wiping out Iran’s capacity to send any missiles or drones after shipping.
Oil markets are already calming from their worst panic: The benchmark Brent oil price, $72 a barrel before Operation Epic Fury, shot up to $110 over the weekend before falling below $85 on Monday.
And odds are good that this price blip will end within weeks; the US guesstimate for Epic Fury’s length remains about four weeks total, and we’re well into Week Two.
No, a public still divided on the wisdom of this war isn’t happy about pump prices spiking about 17%, even though Trump energy policies have already brought pump prices down about $1.50 from the Biden high.
But gasoline is most expensive in the areas where Democrats demand it: California’s $5.20 a gallon is nearly two dollars above the national average.
And that gap won’t go away when the wartime shortage ends: For all his efforts to blame everything on Trump, Gov. Gavin Newsom is the one who forced so many Golden State refineries to close.
Indeed, this supply crisis (like the similar one after Russia invaded Ukraine four years ago) exposes the folly of “green” energy policies across the Western world.
Worshiping “net zero” has left Europe needlessly vulnerable; e.g., a sane British government would be rushing to boost North Sea drilling now.
We guess Team Trump is now the proud custodian of “Keep calm and carry on.”
