Commentary by Stephen Macaulay
It is almost like the Republicans in Congress, for the most part, are a group of Stepford Wives and Husbands or Chatty Kathys and Kens when it comes to the war in Iran.
Pull the string and they repeat a mantra of “The Iranians have been against America for 47 years and Donald Trump is not going to let them get a nuclear bomb. Gas prices are a small price to pay and they’ll come back down quickly once this is over. President Trump is the only president who has the stuff to get this done.”
The question is what is this based on? Has there been any evidence presented to the American people about this nuclear bomb-making program targeted at the US.? Any?
And as for gas prices, while it sounds as though this is going to be “presto-change-o”—the war ends and suddenly gas prices plummet, let’s look at some facts.
According to GasBuddy.com, on May 15, 2021, the average price of a gallon of regular was $3.04. On June 14, 2022, the price rose to $5.02 due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The market adjusted. But it took until December 25, 2022, for the price to get back to $3.05.
Or let’s go back further, to 2007 to 2008, when a combination of increasing demand and constrained supply pushed the price of a gallon of regular from $2.24 in January 2007 to $4.06 in July 2008. Then it dropped to an amazing $1.79 per gallon in January 2009. (George W. Bush was finishing his last weeks in office that month.)
So in the most recent case it was six months for a return and in the one 17 years ago it was five months. No, there will be no instant reset to the $2.97 per gallon that we had on February 28, 2026.
But let’s not let facts get in the way.
Congress used to have a collective spine.
It passed the War Powers Resolution of 1973. Briefly, that is a federal law passed that requires:
- The president consulting Congress before putting troops into hostilities
- The president providing a written report to Congress 48 hours after troops are deployed or if existing forces are going to be significantly expanded
- The president stop using the military in a conflict if after 60 days Congress doesn’t formally declare war or provide specific statutory authorization
The 93rd Congress performed as the Constitution intended, as the first branch of government, with the sole power — yes, sole power — to make laws, declare war, control taxes, and permit spending.
Richard Nixon vetoed the War Powers Resolution of 1973.
The 93rd Congress didn’t cower.
The very day Nixon vetoed the bill, October 24, 1973, the Senate voted to override the veto and a couple weeks later the House did the same.
With regard to the current situation — “a skirmish,” “a little excursion,” “a little detour” — the US is at war with Iran and none of the three points required by the War Powers Act have been performed by the Trump administration.
But it seems that doesn’t matter.
Somehow congressional Republicans believe the president is some sort of savant in all areas, almost as much as the president thinks he is.
When he wants to get something done, he pulls out the Sharpie and signs an Executive Order. There have been 259 so far this term. Possibly more by the time you read this. And he has some 980 days to go.
Joe Biden signed 162 during his entire term in office and you’d think that he would have had that autopen sign a whole lot more.
The mantra “We cannot let Iran get a nuclear bomb” is an excellent goal, but there has never been an explanation or vague description of how that will be accomplished.
Although the president said after Operation Midnight Hammer that the Iranian capacity for producing nuclear weapons was “obliterated,” somehow in eight months — the time between the operation (June 21-22) and the start of the war (February 28) — the Iranian capacity was reconstituted from “nuclear dust.”
So what are we to believe when there seems to be an ever-shifting description of what’s happening or why the country is at war? How many times have we heard a “deal” is eminent before it isn’t? How many times have we heard that other countries need to participate before we hear that the US doesn’t need them? How many times have we heard the Iranian military capacity is sunk or smashed before there’s word of more missiles flying?
How many times have we had a clear explanation — or any explanation, for that matter — of how this will end?
Put a microphone in front of a Republican in Congress and you’ll just hear the same phrases repeated over and over about 47 years and the coming precipitous drop in gas prices.
Meanwhile, everyday Americans are wondering about how they’re going to fill their tanks and buy some ground beef for a Memorial Day barbeque (in May 2025 a pound of ground beef was $5.98 per pound; it is now $7.01).
In his State of the Union Address on February 24, 2026, President Trump excoriated the Biden Administration for high inflation and high prices.
Inflation was at 3.0% at the end of the Biden Administration. It is 3.8% today.
The president said: “The cost of chicken, butter, fruit, hotels, automobiles, rent, is lower today than when I took office, by a lot. And even beef, which was very high, is starting to come down significantly. Just hold on a little while, we're getting it down. And soon you will see numbers that few people would think were possible to achieve just a short time ago.”
Since the end of the Biden Administration the price of chicken is up 3.9%, butter up 22.2%, fruit 6.1%, and rent up 4.2%. Hotels, which are not as necessary as food, have had a price decline of 3.2%. According to Kelley Blue Book, “The average transaction price (ATP) for a new vehicle purchased in April was higher than March and above year-ago levels .... The ATP for a new vehicle, according to Kelley Blue Book, was $49,461, up 1.8% from one year earlier. Prices last month were higher by 0.7% from March, above the long-term average of 0.3%.”
Yes, we are seeing “numbers that few people would think were possible to achieve just a short time ago.