Democrats thought they had found another golden ticket. When Trump ordered military strikes on Iran last month, oil prices spiked more than 10% overnight. The liberal media pounced with reports of historic price hikes, acting like things were terrible, conveniently forgetting that while prices did go up, they were still significantly lower than the peak of the Biden years.
Still, Democrats clearly saw a political opportunity.
“Democrats are seizing on President Donald Trump’s decision to attack Iran as a new front in their energy affordability campaign,” Politico reported after the bombings began. “Oil prices jumped more than 10 percent Sunday night following military action in Iran, a major producer that also sits at the Strait of Hormuz, a key chokepoint for fossil fuel shipments.”
Fresh off a House retreat to nail down midterm messaging, Democrats saw the Iran strike as “a fresh line of attack.” The narrative wrote itself — or so they thought.
It didn’t last long.
Crude oil briefly surged to nearly $120 per barrel on Monday as markets panicked over the Strait of Hormuz. But then, prices started to plunge.
BREAKING: Oil prices collapse below $84/barrel, now down over -30% since last night’s highs. pic.twitter.com/XU7zXNq878
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) March 9, 2026
Apparently, Trump told reporters at a Florida news conference, “We took a little excursion because we felt we had to do that to get rid of some evil. Then, I think you’ll see it’s going to be a short-term excursion.”
He added that he thought “the war is very complete, pretty much.”
Markets responded immediately.
Trump then fired off a warning to Iran on Truth Social, making clear what happens if Tehran tries to weaponize the strait: “If Iran does anything that stops the flow of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far.”
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This matters politically because the Democrats are banking on economic pain. They need voters to feel squeezed at the pump and to blame the Trump White House. They barely had a case when prices were up, because they were still lower than under Biden. But they completely lost their talking point because of Trump’s confident tone; his explicit threat to hit Iran “twenty times harder” and his framing of the conflict as a short, necessary operation shifted the calculus entirely. The panic premium has largely disappeared, stocks are rebounding globally, and the doomsday energy crisis narrative Democrats were banking on hasn’t materialized.
Democrats spent their retreat crafting a message around affordability, betting that Trump’s foreign policy moves would hand them the economic ammunition they desperately need heading into 2026. Instead, they got a brief spike, followed by a sharp reversal. Despite the Democrats’ hopes, what we have here is a president who looks more in command of the situation than they will admit or want voters to see.
Without a doubt, Democrats are rooting against America right now. They want economic pain, they’re hoping for a terrorist attack, and they pretty much want things to fall apart so the voters will blame Trump.
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