Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) expressed confidence Tuesday that the public is on board with President Donald Trump’s conflict with Iran, dismissing concerns that dissatisfaction with surging energy prices triggered by the war will negatively affect the Republican Party in the midterm elections.During an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Cruz argued that gas price increases are temporary and still hold below what they reached under the Biden administration. The “short-term” impact of energy prices surging due to the Iran war is worth ensuring that the country’s radical Islamist regime does not have access to nuclear weapons, the Republican senator contended, claiming there are “no data” showing voter sentiment has switched to favor Democrats more heavily since the conflict sparked in late February.“I don’t think national security decisions should be done based on short-term political considerations,” Cruz said. “I don’t think it’s going to impact the midterms materially.”
“If this gets resolved and resolved favorably,” he added, “if we have a government in Iran that are not Islamists chanting ‘death to America,’ funding terrorists, and trying to kill us, the long-term effect on the cash price of gas would be to bring it down, and I think the American people want the president to do the right thing for the country. There are very few threats on the face of the earth that have a greater prospect of potentially killing hundreds of thousands of Americans than an ayatollah who had a nuclear weapon, which is why President Trump has been so clear-eyed.”
