TV screen over gas pumps

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Trump boosters tell Fox and Newsmax viewers to accept spiking gas prices as a “sacrifice” for his war against Iran

As Fox and Newsmax downplay high gas prices, Alex Jones, Tucker Carlson, and others blast the administration over them

Written by Zachary Pleat

Research contributions from Payton Armstrong & Evlondo Cooper

Published

Fox News and Newsmax are doing their best Baghdad Bob impersonation to downplay the incredible surge in gas prices Americans have faced since President Donald Trump launched his war on Iran. Fox and Newsmax personalities are urging their viewers to accept spiking gas prices as a patriotic “sacrifice” to take on Iran, and are claiming that prices will come back down quickly.

There are estimates that it will take months to restore oil shipping to its normal state after the war ends — whenever that will be — and that the higher cost of gas alone over the next year could potentially wipe out all of the projected economic gains from individual cuts in Trump’s 2025 tax cut bill. After less than two weeks, the disruption to the global supply of oil has prompted a historic release of strategic oil reserves, but energy analysts caution that such releases are only stopgap measures unless export traffic is fully restored in the contested Strait of Hormuz.

In contrast, others on the right — including Alex Jones and Infowars, and Tucker Carlson's podcast — are blasting the administration for the gas price spike stemming from the war, and warning of disastrous electoral consequences for the Republican Party.

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  • Fox and Newsmax personalities suggested the high gas prices are worth the “sacrifice” of attacking Iran

    • Fox Business host Dagen McDowell and Fox anchor Martha MacCallum dismissed gas price spikes by invoking World War II rations. McDowell said: “I don't mean to belittle what people will experience when they go to fill up. … That pain will be felt by American drivers. But this is a, what will be, a temporary price shock, potentially, and it will cause demand destruction, where people maybe drive less.” She continued: “That being said, I will just repeat what my father would always say. People get upset about, you know, gas prices, and he would hold up the food rationing coupon book from World War II, and say, this is what we went through when our men and our boys were fighting for our freedom then.” MacCallum replied: “Nobody bought a new car for years during the war. And people would typically say, well, when the war is over, we'll do this or we'll do that. But they, you know, understood the big picture importance.” [Fox News, The Story with Martha MacCallum, 3/6/26]
    • Fox contributor Tyrus said: “High gas prices, no big deal, food prices, no — check all these things, because you know what, in World War II, the American people who stayed home sacrificed everything to support our troops.” He continued: “So, if the gas prices go up — and it's nice because we know why they went up now. … The president said, yeah, you're going to feel a pinch, because this is what happens when you support the great American men and women” in the military. [Fox News, The Five, 3/6/26]
    • Ainsley Earhardt to Democrats: “Y'all can chill out for a little bit. It's worth it because Iran is not going to have a nuclear weapon now so this is the price we pay.” She added: “Oil prices have already gone back down. So, calm down, Democrats. It's going to be OK.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 3/10/26]
    • Fox host Emily Compagno: “The reality is that the numbers writ large show an escalating approval and a willingness to accept a short term pain with oil, with gas for the long-term gain of stability and peace.” Co-host Harris Faulkner added, “You can't discount the public, but you know who really is manipulating them at this time? Any of those terror cells that we don’t know among us.” She continued: “It’s not just about the patience and the oil prices, it’s keeping us safe here at home.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 3/10/26]
    • Fox host Brian Kilmeade said Americans should tolerate high gas prices because it is a “sacrifice” and “ultimately, we'll be saving money in the big picture.” Kilmeade said: “I’m sure we will feel a little bit at the pump. But do you think that the American people should say OK, this is a sacrifice we have in the short-term to ultimately take down the enemy of our country for the last 47 years, and ultimately, we'll be saving money in the big picture?” His guest, Heritage Foundation Senior Fellow Brent Sadler, replied: “Absolutely.” [Fox News, Fox and Friends, 3/11/26]
    • Retired Gen. Blaine Holt told Newsmax host Marc Lotter that Americans should “take a moment amidst the high oil prices and the sacrifice that our men and women in uniform are making, and understand they're not just creating a peaceful situation in the Middle East for some future day. They're defending us here at home.” [Newsmax, Wake Up America, 3/11/26]
    • MacCallum lamented, “When you look back to the prior conflicts that we’ve had, Americans had more patience for the overall goal.” She continued: “You listen JFK during the Cuban Missile Crisis talking about the sacrifices that would have to be made, how long it might take for this to resolve itself. And I think we’ve gotten so far away from that kind of perspective.” She concluded: “I think a big picture perspective is really, really useful.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 3/11/26]

  • Fox and Newsmax also downplayed gas price spikes, claiming they’ll be short-lived

    • On Newsmax, Mercedes Schlapp said, “These oil prices, if they’re going to go up, it's going to be temporary.” She added: “And plus, guess who brought all those gas prices down? … President Trump, all right. And so, I’m sure he’s going to make sure the American people don’t suffer.” [Newsmax, The Right Squad, 3/2/26]
    • Economist Art Laffer on Fox Business: “Once this thing’s over, I think the Iran oil might start coming out on the market as well. … I think oil prices are going to drop quite substantially over the next six months to a year.” [Fox Business, Kudlow, 3/2/26]
    • Fox host Laura Ingraham acknowledged that “we're already feeling the pinch here at home” on gas prices, but claimed that “the price fluctuations are temporary.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 3/3/26]
    • Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt dismissed rising gas prices by claiming that “gas prices have gone down significantly” since Donald Trump has taken office, “so there is wiggle room.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 3/3/26]
    • Fox host Sean Hannity tried to reassure a radio caller that a spike in gas prices “will be temporary.” Hannity said: “By the way, I'm very sorry about that because that means less money in your pocket, and that makes your job harder. The only thing I can say that maybe will give you hope, I think this will be temporary. That's my guess.” The caller replied: “It always is with President Trump. He always knows the right path back to prosperity for us. A small price to pay.” [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 3/4/26]
    • Fox Business guest Mark Tepper: “In the long run what we’re going to see is we’re going to see lower oil prices, we’re going to see less volatility, which is great for consumers, great for Americans.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 3/5/26]
    • Fox host Jesse Watters: “There's going to be some short-term pain for American consumers until the Iranians are defanged, which we hope is within just a few weeks and oil drops back down to the 60s.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 3/5/26]
    • Fox Business host Larry Kudlow: “At the conclusion of” the Iran war, market oil prices “will probably drop into the mid-50s.” [Fox Business, Kudlow Weekend, 3/7/26]
    • Fox Business anchor Cheryl Casone: “If we have a short-term spike in gasoline prices, it will be short-lived. And many of the administration officials have repeatedly said that over and over. ... Listen to them.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 3/9/26]
    • Parroting House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who called higher gas prices a “blip,” Fox & Friends First co-host Todd Piro said on Fox Business that he thinks the price of gas “could inure to the Republicans' benefit in the long run because, you know, this is a temporary blip.” [Fox Business, Varney & Co., 3/11/26; C-SPAN, 3/10/26]
    • Fox Business host Charles Payne on rising gas prices: “The market believes that this will be short-lived, that it will be resolved.” Payne predicted oil would return to $60 a barrel by the end of the year. [Fox News, America Reports, 3/11/26]

  • Alex Jones, Tucker Carlson, and more criticized the Trump administration over gas price spikes caused by its Iran war

    • Infowars’ Alex Jones criticized those supporting the war and said, “You just wait ‘til a gallon of gas is 9 bucks.” He added, “You just wait till the recovery fails, which all the economists agree if this happens for even three to six months, it will kill the Trump economic plan.” [Infowars, The Alex Jones Show, 3/3/26]
    • On Tucker Carlson’s podcast, national security editor for the conservative National Interest Brandon Weichert warned that “we are now looking at spikes in the price of energy” and we could be headed into “recession territory going into a midterm election.” Weichert said: “I saw a report from Seeking Alpha, which is an investment publication, saying that if this continues for four to eight weeks, this could take oil over $200 a barrel. That's recession territory going into a midterm election. … So even if Trump gets a quote ‘victory’ here in Iran, and I don't even know what victory looks like anymore, we're going to be cleaning up this mess economically for many, many years thereafter.” Carlson replied, “All of that is awful.” [The Tucker Carlson Show, 3/4/26; The National Interest, accessed 3/11/26]
    • Infowars’ Harrison Smith on the White House’s reported panic over rising gas prices: “Maybe you shouldn’t have started a war with Iran.” He continued: “Tell you what, if you wanted to keep oil prices down, I have a quick fix for you. Stop starting wars in the Middle East, where the oil comes from. That'd be a great idea.” [Infowars, War Room, 3/5/26]
    • Jones berated Trump officials for their alarm over oil prices: “How about you didn't go to war with Iran? ... That'd be a good way to not have the problem.” [Infowars, The Alex Jones Show, 3/6/26]
    • Breaking Points co-host Saagar Enjeti on The Tucker Carlson Show: “This is a disaster, a full-fledged disaster. The very day you and I are speaking, again, gas prices are at the highest price in Donald Trump's entire presidency now so far.” Later in the show, Enjeti said: “This is where the Republican Party is very — look, I think they're in a very tough spot. Imagine the amount of messaging, let's say, that's going to start to come out about how Trump doesn't care about your gas price. I mean, it's not just messaging. It's literally true. The president said basically, you know, high prices is — so be it.” [The Tucker Carlson Show, 3/6/26, 3/6/26]
    • Former Infowars host David Knight on fuel prices spiraling higher: “This is really bad.” He added: “So you can see the price of everything go up. … Everything is going to be affected by this.” [The David Knight Show, 3/9/26]