Trump changes his tune on oil prices: From the Politics Desk

This is the online version of From the Politics Desk, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

In today’s edition, Jonathan Allen sorts through President Donald Trump’s messaging shift on oil prices. Plus, Jane C. Timm dives into the bills at the state level that seek to accomplish what Trump wants to do nationally with the SAVE America Act.

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— Adam Wollner

As the Iran war drags on, Trump changes his tune on gas prices

Analysis by Jonathan Allen

President Donald Trump executed a swift shift in messaging on the Iran war and gas prices this week. And it just takes a little understanding of mathematical values to see.

With the cost of oil surging, Trump initially told the American public that the benefits of the war outweighed the drawbacks of price hikes, which hit consumers not only at the gas pump, but in the form of increased costs for goods transported on vehicles that use fuel.

“They’ll drop very rapidly when this is over, and if they rise, they rise,” Trump said of gas prices in an interview with Reuters last week. “But this is far more important than having gas prices go up a little bit.”

The “this” he mentioned twice without naming: the war.

In that original construct, the Iran war had a positive value, but rising gas prices had a negative value. Trump basically contended that the result is a net positive, despite the pain at the pump.

But this morning, Trump altered the formula.

“The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money,” he wrote on Truth Social. “BUT, of far greater interest and importance to me, as President, is stoping an evil Empire, Iran, from having Nuclear Weapons, and destroying the Middle East and, indeed, the World.”

In the newer construct, gas price spikes are no longer a negative. Instead, Trump framed them as a positive byproduct of the war — an additional pro rather than a stubborn con. For those who might not agree with him on gas prices, he maintains that the war itself is the more important concern. So, no matter what type of value is attached to the gas prices — positive or negative — they remain less weighty than the war.

It remains to be seen whether his new math catches on with the American public. But for Trump, as the chief spokesman for the war, it may be more important to make sure that he is not undercutting his own policy. When he was arguing that the policy created one good result and one bad result — countering Iran and raising gas prices, respectively — he risked suggesting in his own words that his actions were yielding mixed results.

More on the Iran war:

Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei vows vengeance in fiery first statement, by Alexander Smith and Daniel Arkin

Iran appears to have conducted a significant cyberattack against a U.S. company, a first since the war started, by Kevin Collier

White House compares deadly conflict with video games and movies in memeified videos to win support for Iran war, by Allan Smith and Richard Engel

Trump warns Iranian World Cup team away from U.S. for ‘their own life and safety,’ by Jonathan Allen

Follow live updates →

As Trump pressures Congress on the SAVE America Act, states push their own versions

By Jane C. Timm

As a Republican push to pass the SAVE America Act has stalled in Congress, even amid escalating pressure from President Donald Trump, efforts are underway at the state level to fill in the gaps.

Lawmakers in a dozen states have advanced legislation this year that would require residents to prove their U.S. citizenship to register to vote or bring photo ID to the polls, according to the Voting Rights Lab, a nonpartisan group that tracks election legislation. Those proposals are two of the central planks of the SAVE America Act at the national level.

The latest example comes in Florida, where the Republican-led Legislature is poised to pass a bill this week requiring election officials to confirm the citizenship of voters through government databases when they register to vote or update their registration, as well as during list maintenance. If a voter’s eligibility is in question, they will be asked for proof of citizenship.

The legislation, once it reaches GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk for a signature, would largely go into effect next year, after the midterm elections.

Bills to add a proof-of-citizenship requirements to voter registration have also passed through both legislative chambers in South Dakota and Utah, where they await the signatures from their Republican governors.

Mississippi lawmakers in both chambers of the Legislature have passed bills that would make some voters show proof of citizenship when registering to vote. They will need to reconcile amendments on the legislation before it can go to the state’s Republican governor for a signature.

In Iowa, Republicans in the state Senate passed a bill that would ask some voters for proof of citizenship, sending it to the House. And in Kansas, Republicans in the House passed a similar bill.

Plus, new voter ID restrictions have been approved by at least one legislative chamber in eight states, according to the Voting Rights Lab: Arizona, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Utah and West Virginia.

Voter impersonation and noncitizens casting ballots — the problems these bills seek to address — are exceedingly rare and already illegal. But election experts warn these proposals would affect wide swaths of U.S. citizens without ready access to the documentation the bills require of voters.

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That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner.

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