Donald Trump’s deadly and widely unpopular war with Iran is devastating the U.S. economy. And as his administration tries to strike a note of calm, some hosts on one of the nation’s most pre-eminent pro-Trump platforms have been questioning the president’s tactics — and warning viewers of potentially rough days ahead.
Kevin Hassett, Trump’s director of the National Economic Council, sounded as though he were living on a different planet Tuesday while making an absurd claim that a prolonged war wouldn’t really hurt the economy.
“If it [the war] were to be extended, it wouldn’t really disrupt the U.S. economy very much at all,” he said on CNBC. “It would hurt consumers — and we’d have to think about, if that continued, what we would have to do about that — but that’s really the last of our concerns right now.”
Hassett’s claim that a drawn-out war with Iran wouldn’t significantly disrupt the economy is undercut by expert analysis, as reporter Joseph Zeballos-Roig explained in a recent op-ed for MS NOW.
It’s also notable that even hosts on Fox Business don’t seem entirely sold. The decidedly pro-Trump network’s “The Big Money Show” is a prime example of how MAGA criticism has started to simmer.
Just last week, co-host Taylor Riggs basically undercut Hassett’s claim when she framed herself as “a little bit more of a pessimist” when it comes to the economy. She even questioned whether the impact of Trump’s war will negate the purported economic benefits of the GOP’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill.
The kvetching continued Monday. During a conversation about the war and the economy, co-hosts Dagen McDowell and Brian Brenberg questioned Trump’s thus far unsuccessful pleas for China to assist with opening up the Strait of Hormuz to help ease oil prices — particularly in light of the administration’s anti-China rhetoric.
“Is China an ally or an adversary?” McDowell asked, going on to note that the country has been getting oil from Iran even as the strait has been choked off.
Brenberg raised a similar point: “Do you want China defending the Strait of Hormuz?”
Brenberg also predicted that Trump would pre-emptively claim that U.S. allies had already agreed to help defend the strait — as a means of “dragging” them into the ordeal. McDowell, meanwhile, cited Trump’s requests for help after giving the countries minimal notice about the military operation. “If you’re one of these European nations, and our allies in the Middle East, there was no heads-up,” McDowell said. She noted that the allies’ reluctance is reasonable, given that “there are a lot of hotspots in this region.” “Would you put your political life on the line for something that you didn’t even know about in advance? Not yet,” McDowell said. The remarks speak to the palpable tension within the MAGA movement. Indeed, polls show broad Republican support for Trump’s war with Iran — but the conflict is also hurting the economy. And even some of the staunchest Trump supporters can’t help but acknowledge that fact.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog. 
