The Trump administration has started to panic about the spiking price of oil.
While senior Trump aides had anticipated some brief surge in oil prices in the first days of the war with Iran, the size and sustainability of the market reaction caught them off guard, people familiar with the internal discussions told CNN.
Now, as oil prices hover near $100 a barrel just over a week into the war and US gas prices are moving sharply higher, it’s prompted a belated rush to try to reassure investors and seek ways to tamp down the impact. But the administration is confronting the limits of its power — and the reality that Donald Trump’s decision to wage war abroad threatens to wipe out some of his key economic accomplishments at home.
In what world is it a surprise to see oil prices spiking when you launch an attack on an oil producer in the middle east? Iran has repeatedly threatened to shut down the Strait of Hormuz over the years, which would stop the flow of ~30% of the world’s oil. It’s one of the very few levers of power Iran has to pull, and anyone with an ounce of common sense knew they’d do it if attacked. Fortunately, we’re in a midterm election year, so the catastrophe Trump has teed up will hopefully torpedo Republicans’ grip on Congress.
Because an inherent distrust of experts leads to a reduction in expertise which leads to imbeciles being surprised their ideas don’t actually work in the real world.
This is key to why dictatorships decline and fall. Dictators cast out naysayers and refuse to listen to evidence that contradicts them. So they are eventually surrounded by incompetents or manipulators.
But being surprised at increased oil prices after bombing Iran like a week ago?
Are his advisors that deep in their media and social echo chambers? Is this just a line fed to the press?