Journalist Mehdi Hasan on Monday dismantled a narrative held by untold Republicans that their party is fiscally conservative, citing counter-evidence and skewering President Donald Trump over his costly, deadly and ongoing war on Iran.
Hasan and Zeteo reporter Prem Thakker were discussing a global surge in energy prices resulting from Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes, after Trump launched strikes on Iran last month.
“Donald Trump’s response is to simply dismiss it and attack people for criticizing him,” said Hasan during the live-streamed conversation. “And say, ‘Well, you need to endure short-term high prices, it’ll be fine later.’ Which is not what he said on the campaign trail.”
The Zeteo founder continued, “He said he was going to reduce prices on day one, which he already failed to do. Inflation has not gone down in the year he’s been in office, his tariffs bumped up inflation and now we’re going to have this massive oil price shock.”
Trump indeed promised on the campaign trail to reduce general prices and tackle inflation while extricating the U.S. from what he previously decried as wasteful foreign interventions, only for costs to rise and for his administration to plunge America into yet another war.
The national average price for a gallon of regular gas rose to $3.54 on Tuesday, drastically higher than last month’s average of $2.92, according to AAA. Trump said Sunday this is “a very small price to pay for U.S.A.” and that “ONLY FOOLS WOULD THINK DIFFERENTLY!”
Hasan noted Monday that in strictly economic terms, “10 of the last 11 recessions” in the U.S. began under Republican administrations.
“One of the great mysteries of my life as a journalist covering politics is how on earth the Republican Party got the reputation of being the sound-on-the-economy party, being … the fiscally responsible party, as the party you trust with your 401(k),” Hasan said.
The journalist continued, “And yet they’re the ones who always plunge us into recession. In fact, every Republican president comes to office, cuts taxes for the rich, cuts benefits for the poor, starts a Middle East war and gets a recession. Every single one.”
Mark Schiefelbein/Associated Press
Hasan went on to name former Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, all of whom were leading the U.S. as the economy went into recessions — and engaged in some or all of the foreign and domestic policy decisions Hasan rattled off.
“I think the economic costs, I don’t think we quite realize how bad they’re going to be,” Hasan said. “This could be worse than the Great Recession. This could be worse than the 1970s. You know, Trump was able to blame COVID for a lot of his first-term economic disaster.”
He argued, “This time around, who’s he going to blame? He’s going to blame Iran. I don’t think people are going to buy it, if you look at the polls. He’s going to blame Israel; good luck with that. He’s going to blame Democrats. … But this is a disaster of his own making.”