Experts say end of war won't fix Trump's gas mess in time for GOP: 'Could get a lot worse'

The economy has been pushed to the brink as President Donald Trump escalated his war with Iran, sending the price of oil and gas surging and setting off a new wave of inflation.

But even if that war is resolved now, it's likely too late to fix the economy ahead of the midterms, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.

"Amid the economic pressure, Trump is showing new urgency for a deal with Iran, hoping to reopen the Strait of Hormuz," said the report. "But even if there’s an agreement, analysts warn it will take a long time for energy prices to fall back to earlier levels — with ripple effects continuing to hit transportation, plastic and chemical costs."

Harvard economics professor and former International Monetary Fund chief economist Kenneth Rogoff had a grim assessment: “I don’t want to understate it, but it has the potential to soon get a lot worse.”

Ultimately, said the report, "The issue that plagued Joe Biden and powered Donald Trump’s return to power is still the No. 1 concern for voters. Only now Trump is the one taking blame for high prices, and he’s struggling to ease the anxieties."

Trump, for his part, has been trying to manage the political aspect of the crisis by denying it even exists, saying affordability "doesn't mean anything" and it's all a "con job" manufactured by Democrats to hurt him.