Trump has doubled down on his refusal to apologize for soaring gas prices tied to the Iran war, telling supporters he “did the right thing.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ajJlTbbTig
The president, 79, made the remarks at a rally in Long Island, New York, on Friday, August 14, as Americans face what surveys show is a crushing affordability crisis. He framed higher pump prices as a necessary sacrifice to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, telling the crowd they were paying more so “a very evil country” could not arm itself.
“For you to pay a little bit more for your gasoline, just remember, you’re doing it so a very evil country cannot have… A country, really, it’s the number one state sponsor of terror in the world, we don’t want to have them have nuclear weapons,” he said. “When you have to pay a little bit more, you’re at $4. It’s Ok, I mean, it’s… I’m not… I’m not… I’ll never apologise; I did the right thing.”
The comments drew swift backlash online, with critics seizing on the disconnect between the president’s tone and the financial strain facing ordinary Americans. One user wrote on X: “I don’t remember Trump saying during the campaign that we would be paying more for gas to fund a new war,” Another added: “Thank you Donald for the incredible sound bite that’s about to get played everywhere.” A third user, describing the crowd’s reaction, posted: “They clapped. He openly just admitted that he failed one of his biggest campaign promises….and they clapped.” Others highlighted the math, with one writing: “33% increase is NOT tiny to the average American,” and another adding: “He thinks almost double is a tiny little bit.”
The rally remarks came as a Harris Poll survey found 57 percent of Americans believe the overall economy is getting worse, and roughly 95 percent say the U.S. Faces an affordability crisis, with groceries and gas topping their concerns. Among those who see an affordability crisis, 54 percent said neither political party has a solution. The data underscores the political peril of Trump’s messaging as he asks voters to accept higher costs in service of his foreign policy.
Trump also used the Long Island appearance to escalate his rhetoric on the Strait of Hormuz, the critical oil shipping lane that has become a flashpoint in the five-month war with Iran. “After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated… Pretty soon I will be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States,” he told the crowd. “Essentially, that’s what it is. We have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to.” He later “confirmed” the claim in a post on Truth Social, according to reports from the event.
The president’s refusal to express regret fits a long-established pattern. In February, he told reporters he would not apologize for posting a racist video of the Obamas to his social media account, stating flatly, “I didn’t make a mistake.” He has similarly refused to apologize to Pope Leo XIV for harsh criticisms of the pontiff’s opposition to the Iran war, telling reporters, “There’s nothing to apologize for” and “He’s wrong.” The consistent posture has become a signature of his political identity, one he has reportedly urged allies to adopt as well.
In the viral moment that set off this latest round of scrutiny, Trump stood before supporters and effectively asked them to absorb economic pain he had once promised to eliminate. During his 2024 campaign, he had attacked the Biden administration over inflation and vowed to lower prices for American consumers. Now, with gas prices pushed upward by the Iran conflict he launched alongside Israel—a war he and his advisers initially said would last weeks, not months—he is recasting that pain as patriotic duty rather than policy failure. The war has now stretched past five months, with the USS Abraham Lincoln’s crew enduring a record-setting deployment of more than 240 days at sea, conditions Trump on Friday dismissed as “not nearly long enough.”
Trump is scheduled to hold another rally in Milwaukee next week.