President Donald Trump’s decision to ban three major media outlets from the White House was met with a collective sigh Saturday from two prominent Republicans, one of whom argued the move was particularly poorly timed.

On Friday, Trump announced that he would be banning MS NOW, CNN and Politico from the White House, accusing the outlets of reporting “FICTION and LIES.” He also warned that “Other Fake News Media Outlets” would also be banned from the White House at a future date.

The White House followed through on Trump’s announcement Saturday as the three outlets were prohibited from accessing the White House grounds, with the Trump administration facing “mounting accusations” that it had violated the First Amendment.

With the midterms just weeks away, however, and with gas prices continuing to increase at unprecedented rates, one prominent conservative characterized Trump’s latest outburst as self-defeating.

“He certainly uses brash tactics to take over news cycles. I would argue that quite often these are unhelpful to him,” said Douglas Heye, former communications director for the Republican National Committee, speaking with The New York Times for its report published on Saturday.

“We are 45 days ahead from the election and what are we talking about this week and going into next week? Nothing about Donald Trump’s plan to lower prices.”

Sarah Matthews, a lifelong conservative who served as deputy press secretary during the first Trump administration, argued that Trump’s latest attempts to “bully” his adversaries into submission were being met with greater and greater pushback.

“He thinks that he can bully anyone or any entity into doing whatever he wants and he’s seen it work out for himself with the entire Republican Party bending the knee to him,” Matthews told the Times. “He is facing pushback from the courts, the Fed, people in his own party, and he’s lashing out.”

The United Nations (U.N.) General Assembly rebuked the Trump administration this week after the U.S. blocked a foreign leader from attending the annual gathering of the international body in New York scheduled for next week.

As reported by Reuters, the Trump administration extended visa sanctions last Wednesday against Palestinian officials, whom U.S. State Department officials accused of working to “internationalize the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” The visa sanctions include Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, thereby barring him from visiting the United States for the U.N.’s annual meeting.

In a vote of 152-3, however, members of the U.N. voted to allow Abbas to attend the annual meeting virtually, with a number of U.N. members condemning the United States for barring a head of state from attending the event.

“The United Nations Headquarters Agreement clearly provides that the issuance of visas to representatives of Member States participating in UN meetings constitutes an international obligation of the host country,” said Chinese U.N. Deputy Permanent Representative Sun Lei in a statement.

“At a time when the Palestinian people are suffering oppression and the foundations of the two-State solution are being undermined, depriving Palestine of the right to present its case before the UN, make its appeals, and call for international assistance is without legal basis, unacceptable in conscience, and indefensible in reason.”

The three nations that voted against allowing Abbas to virtually attend the annual U.N. meeting were the United States, Israel and Paraguay, the South American nation whose president, Santiago Peña, holds a deep connection with the state of Israel, stating last year that he sees Paraguay “as an extension of the Israeli territory.”

“The resolution adopted today provides for special arrangements for Palestine’s participation in the general debate and other activities of the 81st session of the General Assembly,” Sun continued. “These arrangements represent a temporary remedy, adopted out of necessity to address the unjust treatment endured by Palestine.”

A new “disaster” in the Middle East may further jeopardize Republicans’ electoral prospects in November, with the GOP already facing an uphill battle amid soaring prices, two analysts warned on Saturday.

According to BBC, the Yemeni militant group known as the Houthis claimed to have carried out missile attacks on Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, as well as on “energy sites” on Saudi Arabia’s west coast, which borders the Red Sea. The attacks, one analyst warned, could raise global oil prices — which have climbed significantly in recent days — even further.

“Creates quite the predicament,” warned CNN national security analyst Alex Plitsas. “Attacking Saudi oil raises prices. Saudi is also a major US ally. Failing to respond to that is problematic for the alliance, but also could cause a second choke point in the [Bab al-Mandeb Strait], also causing prices to rise. Six weeks before elections.”

This month, the Iran-backed Houthis have gained significant control over the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a critical global shipping chokepoint in the Red Sea. The developments risk sending global oil prices even higher as the Houthis vow to block Saudi shipments of oil through the shipping waterway.

National-security writer and geopolitical analyst Brandon Weichert called the development a “disaster,” and warned that it was an example of an ongoing “once-in-a-lifetime” shift on the world stage.

“This is a disaster. And oddly everyone just seems to be acting like it'll all work out,” Weichert wrote in a social media post on X Saturday. “It'll work out all right. In the form of a once-in-a-lifetime changeover in power and influence. You are witnessing the end of the US-led global empire in real time. And it's stupider than ever.”