Newsmax host on Iran: Trump “has to tie this up in the next two to three weeks of these oil prices being high before it's actually like a serious political problem”
Carl Higbie: “How about a tax holiday until things get wrapped up?”
Published
Citation
From the March 16, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Carl Higbie: Frontline
CARL HIGBIE (HOST): But I'll be honest here, the pressure is mounting. Trump can realistically -- he has to tie this up in the next two to three weeks of these oil prices being high before it's actually like a serious political problem, especially for the midterms. Yes, they're still a lot lower than they were for a huge part of Obama's presidency, and they're lower than they were in Biden's presidency as well. But it's kind of like a victim of your own success here. People got a taste of lower prices because Trump did things that were, you know, oil friendly. And now we want to keep that that low. Democrat -- look, if you're thinking about voting Democrat over this stuff, you're not going to get lower oil prices from voting for a Democrat ever.
But like I'm in the camp where it's like, yes, we got to do something about it. And I got some ideas for temporary relief, the things that could happen tonight. Congress isn't doing much else. So how about a tax holiday until things get wrapped up? Did you know that a substantial amount of the price of fuel is taxes? The federal government takes about 18.5 cents for a gallon of gasoline, and about 24.5 cents for a gallon of diesel. Why not suspend it? I mean, permanently, I think, but I'll take temporary for now. Hey, look, I mean, it's not our fault that gas went up, so why should we pay for it? Yeah. Look, I believe Trump was right to do this operation because Iran needed to be dealt with. But Trump should also be prepared to make some cuts for you and I. Some states did this during Covid.
And, you know -- I think in this case that lost revenue could be made up by, I don't know, seizing Iranian resources. I know, I can hear the libs. Oh, Carl wants to pillage the people we're at war with. You bet I do. That's how it's worked for thousands of years. And the only reason we don't do that anymore -- we didn't do it in Iraq, either. The only reason we don't do that anymore is because these high brow white shoe consultants think there's some gentlemanly rules of war. I can assure you there's not in war. You can do all your statesman thing you want from DC and -- but at the end of the day, you got to send in people like me to go kill the bad guys, to make your white paper worth the price that it's printed on. And if I'm getting shot for your policy, you better take what's yours at the end of this. Trump said this too once.