Obviously, the economy is a huge thing for voters right now. His numbers are pretty bad on the economy right now. He's argued that inflation has been defeated, but there's Republicans who are on the ballot that are running that are saying, 'We understand costs are going up.' If he gets on stage tomorrow night and says prices are going down, is that out of touch with how Texans feel?
Well, listen, we had four years of really high inflation under Biden. President Trump is right that the rate of inflation has slowed significantly. But there's a difference between the rate of inflation slowing and suddenly prices going down. That's very hard to make prices fall. And so are people still hurting? Yes. And that's why we've got to give at this convention and in the 56 days between now and election day, we got to give people a reason to show up. And I think we've had extraordinary successes these last two years. I think it's incumbent on all of us to make the case to the American people the wins that we've had for the American people.
But in terms of what things cost right now, I mean, prices have gone up since Trump took office. Gas is at more now at a much slower rate than they did during Biden. Biden, you had much higher inflation rates and the inflation rates have lowered in some areas, a lot of areas of food. We've seen prices going down recently. We just had a new jobs report that particularly non-educated workers are seeing jobs numbers go up significantly. That's really good for the economy and I think it also reflects the direction the Republican party has gone. We're a blue-collar party now. That's something that 20 years ago very few people would have believed. But that's the heart of our party now is truck drivers and steel workers and cops and firefighters. And I think we're seeing that in the jobs numbers.
The president himself says that gas prices, oil prices will come down when the war with Iran is over. He thinks they'll drop then. Right now, as you've seen, back in February, before the war started, I think we were paying 2.98 nationally. Now it's 4.15 nationally from AAA. When you look at those, by the way, under Biden, it was five and in California it was six and even approaching seven. So Trump said he was going to bring it down to $2, but it's first year in office. Trump brought it down a lot. It's a lot lower than it was under Biden, but it's higher now than it was before the war started.
Right. That's true. And anytime you have a military conflict in the Middle East, you can expect at least a short-term impact on gas prices.
And how long do you think Americans should be prepared to pay higher gas prices?
Listen, I want to see gas prices much, much lower. And I think bringing peace and stability to the Middle East is one way to do it. Another way to do it, which we're doing right now, is producing more oil and gas at home. You know, a decade ago, the Permian Basin, which is West Texas, produced about 2 million barrels a day of oil. Today, they're producing about 6 million barrels a day. And having government policies that actually support and encourage exploration of our own resources, that has enabled that has lowered gas prices a lot for ordinary Americans. But gas prices are higher right now. They're higher than they were earlier under Trump, but they're much lower than they were under Biden.
The US was producing more oil under Biden than it ever had in American history.
Which he didn't. We're producing much oil now than we were under Biden.
But if you're paying 4.15 for gas.
Well, it's 4.50. I would like that to be lower. But you know what? You were paying over five bucks a gallon under Joe Biden, which oddly enough, when CNN discusses it, y'all don't talk about that.
The fact that Trump has lowered gas prices significantly is still true. But they're higher than they were in February. They're higher than they were under Trump. They're lower than they were under Biden. So that's hard to say. But they're higher than they were under Trump six months ago. Why do you think that is?
Because of the war, of course.
So my question is, for how long do you think Americans should be prepared for that?
I think President Trump is a serious commander-in-chief. And when the Ayatollah says death to America, I believe him. And so I think he is acting heroically to stop the Ayatollah from having nuclear weapons, which I think if he had nuclear weapons, he would use them. And that his first responsibility as commander-in-chief and as president is to keep Americans safe and I think he is doing so decisively.
Do you believe that this is a war?
I think it is a military conflict. There's relatively little active military engagement right now. There are occasional skirmishes. There's some shots back and forth, but it's been several months since we've had sustained military conflict. What we're seeing right now is primarily an economic boycott against Iran, and it's imposing crushing consequences on Iran. About $500 million a day of economic pressure, and that's the principal lever the president is using.
But even though the United States just bombed five Iranian oil tankers today, I mean, you don't think that means the United States is at war right now?
I think compared to when we were doing massive bombing, look, we took out virtually the entirety of the Iranian military. The navy is at the bottom of the ocean. The air force is in rubble. Many of their missiles and drones have been destroyed. When we were doing sustained bombing, that was a very different phase. Are there some ongoing hostilities? Yes, but it is not a sustained and it is not a military conflict that has major engagement most days.
The reason I ask how long it could go on for is I asked the vice president this question last week and this is what he told me. He also did not call it a war, but this is what he said about when he believes it could come to an end. Will this war be over by the time of the midterm elections?
Well, Kaitlan, again, I wouldn't call it a war. Right now, there is no active shooting. When you ask when will this end, you're asking me a question like when will the Iranians stop shooting at ships? I think the reality is I don't know the answer to that question. You would have to ask the Iranians.
