Asked how long American consumers can weather higher energy prices and inflation, Fox's Larry Kudlow says “How about a year”
Kudlow: “It’s $5 gasoline — $4.50 gasoline. OK. Live with it. It’s going to come way down once the war is over.”
Published
Citation
From the May 14, 2026, edition of Fox News' America Reports
LARRY KUDLOW (FOX BUSINESS HOST): I'll just say this on energy: It's a small price to pay to take out Iran. It's a small price to pay to prevent Iran from any nuclear capabilities whatsoever. It's the small price to pay to hopefully engineer some kind of real regime change, because this is the most gruesome Nazi-like government we've seen in a hundred years. So, Americans, I think, should be very proud of what their president and military is doing here to take out Iran.
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KUDLOW: So, it’s $5 gasoline — $4.50 gasoline. OK. Live with it. It’s going to come way down once the war is over.
My guess is, if after the summit is completed, you will see the completion of the bombing mission. There will be additional combat. There will be a completion of the, whatever it is: Project Freedom, that will open up the Strait of Hormuz without any tolls and the United States will take all of that over and control it for a good long while.
I don't know what the rest of it's going to be. But I think they've been planning for this — actually, ironically on the trip to Beijing on the airplane. So, that's a very important point. This will not last forever. The oil prices, the gasoline prices will not last forever. Scott Bessent today said in Beijing there will be disinflation in the second half of the year. I believe he is right. I think we have got a couple lousy months coming up on high inflation. Yes, we do. But I think It will end quickly.
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SANDRA SMITH (ANCHOR): You give us a lot of room for optimism. Now, let me just finish off with this because the [New York Post editorial] board agrees with you and says, "April's inflation spike is no cause for panic — but only to finish off Iran fast."
The point here is is we can deal with this for a while. But President Trump has promised that this is a short-term situation. But it, you know, how much can the consumer, I guess is my question, weather this?
KUDLOW: Weather this? How about a year?
SMITH: OK.
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KUDLOW: We can destroy Iran, which will do the entire world a favor, a big favor. We have the resources to do it. Our economy will not be damaged by this. We are resilient. We've had good low tax and deregulation policies and drill baby drill policies, and all these chickens are coming home to roost. Yes, I am an optimist about it, and I think the president deserves enormous credit for what he’s trying to do.