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 they were going to open the Hormuz Straight, they didn't do it – they lied," Trump told reporters over the weekend. "I don't care if they come back or not. If they don't come 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, the reality is the president also cares. That's why he's continually looking for an off ramp and signaling the markets that an end is in sight in Iran, but his time frame is much shorter here than others. But of course he cares. It's one of the main reasons that the president, from since the last summer, has been trying to engineer the redistricting, the mid-decade redistricting, and there was a big vote coming up on that in Virginia. So, yes, the bottom line is the president cares about 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 this is going to be all about is it's the party in power," Dent said. "It's about the economy, it's about affordability and, frankly, the president's conduct in office, you know, fighting with the pope and all sorts of other things like that. That's what this is about, and, of course, the Iran war is also playing into this because you can draw a straight line from the Iran war to gasoline prices and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. So the compounds, the affordability problems that Republicans are facing."
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