Republican senator scrambling to defend Trump makes startling admission: ‘I feel the pain’

A Republican senator admitted that Americans were feeling “pain” from President Donald Trump’s decision to launch a war against Iran.

Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) appeared Thursday on Fox News, where he told anchor Sandra Smith that fuel costs would go back down once hostilities cooled after the unraveling of the memorandum of understanding signed last month.

“It’s important, I don’t discount it,” the Indiana Republican said. “I hear from Hoosiers that talk about high gas prices, and we want gas prices to come down, and the good news, as you saw when the president signed the short-term [memorandum of understanding] with the Iranians, you saw gas prices immediately go down; now they are creeping back up.”

The 14-point framework agreed to by the Trump administration mandated a permanent ceasefire, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and 60 days to negotiate a nuclear agreement, but the terms of that memorandum are effectively dead with the resumption of military strikes.

“We know that as soon as we strike a deal and end Iran’s ability to have a nuclear weapon and we can finish the war,” Banks said, “we know gas prices will immediately go down to where they need to be, lower than we’ve ever seen before because of President Trump’s energy policies.”

“This is temporary,” he added. “I feel the pain. I hear this from Hoosiers as well. Gas prices will go down as soon as Iran does the right thing and ends their nuclear program.”