As Trump’s new Middle East war spikes gas prices, Fox guest blames Joe Biden for Americans’ affordability concerns

Trump’s domestic and foreign policy interventions threaten to create economic havoc

Written by Zachary Pleat

Published

Fox News guest and former Trump economic adviser Stephen Moore is continuing the network’s long practice of blaming the Biden administration for economic concerns under President Donald Trump.

During a March 5 appearance on Fox & Friends, Moore was asked about the latest Fox poll of voters, in which 50% of respondents said the cost of living is their top economic concern and 67% of respondents disapproved of Trump’s handling of it. Somehow ignoring the fact that Trump has been in office now for more than a year, Moore said, “What’s causing it is the massive increase of prices we saw under Joe Biden.” 

Moore also claimed that “we’re seeing inflation come down,” which is simply false. Three different measures of inflation remain higher than they were last April, when Trump announced his global tariff regime under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which raised taxes on imports for Americans and which the Supreme Court ruled were illegal. In reaction to this ruling, Trump imposed new tariffs.

And Trump’s Iran war is already spiking gasoline prices for Americans, which can lead to a surge in the inflation rate and devastate the global economy if oil and natural gas supplies continue to be impacted by the conflict.

From the March 5, 2026, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends

LAWRENCE JONES (CO-HOST): So, I want to get your reaction to some of the new Fox News poll — the top economic issue facing the country, 50% say the cost of living, 18% say government spending/deficit; job/employment is at 10%; income inequality is at 9%. The cost of living. What's causing that right now?

STEPHEN MOORE (FORMER TRUMP ECONOMIC ADVISER): Well, I mean, people are still — I'll tell you what's causing it is the massive increase of prices we saw under Joe Biden. When I saw the president a couple weeks ago, I reminded him, 86% of the increase in price that people like my wife are complaining about when they go to a grocery store, that happened under Joe Biden. So, we're seeing inflation come down. That's very good. I think we're going to see inflation down to about the 1% range, which is vast improvement. And remember: Prices went up over 9% when Biden was president, and people are still really angry about that.

JONES: And folks are getting their tax cut. Also, with the last 30 seconds that I have, the war that the United States has going on with Iran. Will that delay some of the progress we've made in the economy?

MOORE: Maybe a little bit, but here's the most important point. This incursion wouldn't even have been possible if Joe Biden was president, because we didn't have the energy capacity to do it. All my life we've been dependent on Middle East oil. Thanks to drill, baby, drill, and Trump's America energy independence plan, we are now the — we produce more oil and gas than any other country in the world today. Thank you, Donald Trump, for making that possible. It’s really made it much — we're much less reliant on the Middle East than we used to be.