President Donald Trump insisted he didn't care whether Iran returned to the negotiating table, but CNN's Jeff Zeleny argued that he couldn't afford to ignore the issue.
The 79-year-old president's approval ratings have been tanking as fuel prices soar as a result of his decision to launch a U.S.-Israeli joint military operation in the Middle East, but Trump insists he's not concerned about the war's impact on the global economy.
"Their promise was that theywere going to open the Hormuz Straight, they didn't do it – they lied," Trump told reporters over the weekend. "I don't care if theycome back or not. If they don'tcome back, I'm fine."
Trump also told reporters that U.S. forces had obliterated Iran's navy, air force and radar capability, along with its top leadership, but he reiterated that he didn't care what happened next.
"He doesn't care," noted CNN's Erica Hill. "How much do Republicans care in this moment?"
Zeleny assured her that GOP lawmakers felt differently, and he said the president himself was concerned about the war's impact on November's midterms.
"They care a lot," he said. "I mean, thereality is the president alsocares. That's why he'scontinually looking for an offramp and signaling the marketsthat an end is in sight in Iran, but his time frame is muchshorter here than others. But ofcourse he cares. It's one of themain reasons that the president,from since the last summer, hasbeen trying to engineer theredistricting, the mid-decaderedistricting, and there was abig vote coming up on that in Virginia. So, yes, the bottomline is the president caresabout control of the House of Representatives and gas prices."
Other panelists agreed that spiking fuel costs were worsening the affordability crisis, and former Republican congressman Charlie Dent agreed the president had to fix that before voters head to the polls.
"Bottom line, what thisis going to be all about isit's the party in power," Dent said. "It'sabout the economy, it's aboutaffordability and, frankly, thepresident's conduct in office,you know, fighting with the popeand all sorts of other thingslike that. That's what this isabout, and, of course, the Iranwar is also playing into thisbecause you can draw a straightline from the Iran war togasoline prices and the closureof the Strait of Hormuz. So thecompounds, the affordabilityproblems that Republicans arefacing."