OPINION:
To all the people out there clutching their pearls over the Iran war, how it affects the cost of energy and how that, in turn, will affect the midterm elections, I urge you to consider a few things before going full throttle on hitting the panic button.
First off, thanks in part to President Trump’s tax cuts from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, White House Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett predicts unprecedented economic growth of 6% later this year. Imagine what that would do to the already burgeoning stock market, hovering at an all-time high of 50,000.
Second, with Mr. Trump becoming fed up with what is left of the Iranian leadership, he is getting perilously close to obliterating the Iranian nuclear threat once and for all. Once that foreign policy triumph and national security threat is over and done with, he says, gas prices will drop “like a rock” — while his approval ratings skyrocket.
Third, we will be getting a new Federal Reserve chairman in a few days, and he will more than likely slash interest rates to Mr. Trump’s liking. In fact, instead of slashing it all at once for the 3-percentage-point drop the president requested last year, it just might be to maximum political advantage to stagger the rate by 0.50 percentage points each month leading up to November.
Finally, I strongly suspect Republicans will flood the airwaves with the excerpt from Mr. Trump’s State of the Union address in which he challenged the members of Congress to stand and applaud if they believe their “first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens and not illegal aliens.”
Mr. Trump excoriated the Democrats for not standing in solidarity with American citizens, while the Republicans gave a raucous standing ovation.
I believe this moment in history will come back and haunt the Democrats, who are still pushing for 90/10 losing issues such as open borders and allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports.
As I see it, the 2026 Democratic Party just might be the weakest and most vulnerable political party in history, comparable to the 1976 New York Yankees getting mauled by the Big Red Machine in a lopsided World Series.
EUGENE R. DUNN
Glen Burnie, Maryland
Please read our comment policy before commenting.