HEBRON, Kentucky — As the war in Iran sends gas prices climbing and rattles markets, President Donald Trump is heading to Ohio and Kentucky to promote his economic record.
The trip will bring him into the district of Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky), one of the most outspoken Republican critics of the conflict, highlighting the tensions between his foreign policy and the anti-war message that helped power his MAGA movement.
Trump is first expected to showcase his efforts to lower prescription drug prices at the pharmaceutical company Thermo Fisher Scientific in Cincinnati, then to deliver a speech focused on his economic policies at Verst Logistics in Hebron, Kentucky.
The tour comes at a delicate moment for Trump’s economic message in a midterm year. Even before the conflict with Iran rattled energy markets this week, polls showed voters increasingly uneasy about the economy, with concerns about affordability and the cost of living emerging as a central vulnerability for Republicans ahead of the midterm elections. The war-induced turmoil in the oil and stock markets this week have only added to GOP anxieties as the Trump administration has issued conflicting messages about how long the strikes will last.
Ahead of the trip, Trump lashed out at Massie in a post on Truth Social, writing that he will go down as “the WORST Republican Congressman in the long and fabled history of the U.S. Congress.”
Massie, a libertarian, was one of the first Republicans to announce his opposition to the Iran war, warning on X that the conflict was not “America First” — a political slogan that Trump has used to describe his approach to policymaking. Massie co-sponsored a resolution to curb Trump’s powers in the Iran war that was narrowly rejected by the House, and he has repeatedly criticized the administration publicly for spending billions of taxpayer dollars in the conflict.
Last year, he co-sponsored legislation that pushed the Justice Department to release files related to the investigation into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including those that mention Trump.
Trump has retaliated by endorsing Massie’s primary challenger, farmer and former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein. The race will be a referendum on Republicans’ opinions on the Iran war. The majority of American voters oppose the conflict, but 85 percent of Republicans said they supported the intervention, according to a Monday Quinnipiac University poll.
Trump has faced consistently poor approval ratings, and he faces the weakest ratings on his handling of inflation, according to a February Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll.
The White House late last year started a nationwide tour to respond to voters’ concerns about affordability ahead of the midterm elections, with stops so far in Pennsylvania and Georgia. He often touted the administration’s efforts to lower the price of gas in those speeches, creating a challenge as he returns to the road Wednesday.
The administration has announced a number of measures to temporarily respond to voter pressure at the pump. At Tuesday’s news briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration “fully expected” the spike in oil prices.
The administration has offered risk insurance to oil tankers operating in the region, and the U.S. Navy will escort them when necessary, Leavitt said, adding that the administration is also drawing up plans to keep the Strait of Hormuz, a key channel for oil shipments, open.
The International Energy Agency on Wednesday also announced its largest-ever release of oil reserves — 400 million barrels — in an effort to control oil prices that have spiked because of the war.
Trump should focus on encouraging voters to “stay the course,” said Stephen Moore, a longtime economic adviser to the president. He said rising gas prices could pose a challenge in the midterms if the conflict is drawn out. Moore said he has discussed how to lower the price of gas in the short term with top administration officials, and he described them as “open minded.”
His recommendations include temporarily suspending the federal gas tax or suspending some regulatory requirements for refineries to quickly provide relief to consumers.
“The only long-term solution is to bring this war to a successful completion,” he said.
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