MAGA Senate hopeful stuns by downplaying pain of Trump’s soaring gas prices

Major economists, including Paul Krugman, Robert Reich and the University of Michigan's Justin Wolfers, are warning that if U.S. President Donald Trump's war against Iran lasts a long time, gas prices will continue to increase. Moreover, Krugman warns, a protracted war will make a variety of goods more expensive — as higher gas prices will make transporting them more costly.

But former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Michigan), who is running for the U.S. Senate in the 2026 midterms, is downplaying the impact the Iran war will have on gas prices in the United States.

Punchbowl News' Max Cohen reports that Rogers, at a March 17 event held by the Oakland University College Republicans, told an attendee who was worried about gas prices, "We're gonna be fine. We got plenty of oil. You'll get your oil, because we’re going to pump our oil right here in America, and we got plenty."

Rogers, during the event, criticized European North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members, claiming they weren't doing enough to prevent Iran from blocking the Strait of Hormuz — a Middle Eastern waterway that is crucial to the flow of oil.

Rogers later discussed those comments with Punchbowl, saying, "This is a reminder of how critical energy independence truly is. It's past time we unleash American energy and dismantle (former President Joe) Biden and the Democrats' radical environmental hurdles."

The Michigan Republican, who ran for the U.S. Senate in 2024, is running against this year and has been endorsed by Trump.

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