It’s quite a thing to be able to lie through your teeth on a subject, like literally any time Donald Trump is making a pronouncement about the Iran War, while simultaneously managing to flatly admit how utterly powerless your administration is to bring that war of your own choosing to an end. Trump managed to do exactly that this week when, while stumping before the RNC Convention and pleading with people to “pretend I’m on the ballot” as if his average approval rating isn’t 38%, he simultaneously claimed that Iran will absolutely, positively stop fighting immediately once the November midterm elections are over. No really, he actually said the following:
“The war will be over very shortly after the election. They’re hanging out for dear life, hoping that we lose, so they can deal with dumb, weak Democrats and they can have their nuclear bomb. But we’re not going to let that happen.”
There’s so much there that doesn’t make sense, in just those few sentences, that it’s difficult to even know where to begin. First, the simple fact that even if Democrats managed to pull off an electoral miracle and take back control of both houses of Congress, those new members of Congress wouldn’t actually be sworn in until January. Then there’s the fact that Congress is not actually involved in Iran negotiations in the first place, so who are the “dumb, weak Democrat” dealmakers that Iran would supposedly be interacting with here, when all the (constantly failing) negotiations have been handled by Trump flunkies? And finally, why should Iran give up on a war they’ve very much won, by demonstrating that their nation and even their “obliterated” military capabilities can threaten global shipping and transport of oil in the Strait of Hormuz at literally any time they wish?
HEADLINE: "Trump says the US-Iran war will end right after midterms"
ALT HEADLINE: "Trump to re-use lie about ending a war right after election because, hey, the idiots fell for it last time!
www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfe…
— Mike Elgan (@mikeelgan.bsky.social) 12:13 PM · Sep 10, 2026
Let’s put all of those points aside. Even if Trump was not lying (he is), and even if Iran was going to roll over immediately after the midterms (they’re not), it would still amount to Trump admitting that his administration is utterly powerless to end the war before then, and there are still FIFTY THREE DAYS (53!) until the midterms arrive! The media simply runs with Trump’s choice of headline (“Trump says Iran will surrender after midterms”), rather than the implication of his own statement: “Trump promises that Iran War is definitely continuing for a few more months regardless of anything else that happens.” Imagine how different the response would be if the President simply waddled up onto stage and led off with “I’ve decided there’s absolutely no way we’ll try to end the Iran War for the next 53 days, even though Brent Crude is now $107 per barrel.” Whatever the response would be to that statement, that’s the response people should have right now, to this absurd Trump line about the midterms. He just promised the war would continue for another two months! Does anyone else want to point that out?
Beyond the absurdity of Trump now effectively trying to put the unpopularity of the conflict in Iran on Democrats by implying that Iran is trying to influence our election results to get them elected, he is admitting the powerlessness of the United States to have any more active hand in resolving this situation, even as the economic effects of that situation threaten to reach their worst levels yet.
Oil, of course, is the canary in the coal mine, and many factors are pressing oil toward highs not seen since the initial height of the armed conflict, which was the last time we broke the $100 per barrel psychological barrier. Most people walking down the street are to some level now unwillingly aware of the tactical importance to the oil industry of the Strait of Hormuz, through which American warships have been attempting to escort tankers in recent days. Regardless, both sides have stepped up their firing on targets connected to oil shipping, with the U.S. sinking Iranian tankers, and Iran firing missiles at both U.S. warships and commercial tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, as well as firing ballistic missiles at U.S. military bases in Jordan. Regardless of the effectiveness of these attacks, each incident of renewed firing makes the companies owning tankers more skittish to attempt to conduct business through Hormuz.
But that’s not the only thing now sending global oil prices careening upward. Along the Red Sea, Iranian-backed Houthi allies in Yemen have renewed their own threats against oil tankers and shipping passing through the Bab el-Mandeb, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, and also handles millions of barrels of oil per day. The Houthis have struck at Saudi Arabia, wounding dozens and igniting fires at oil production facilities throughout the kingdom. They’re also captured new strategic territory such as the Yemeni seaside town of Mocha, which is only 50 miles from Perim Island, which sits directly in the Bab al-Mandeb chokepoint and would allow the Houthis to effectively shut down this entire waterway. And with its ability to transport and sell its oil affected, in addition to literal attacks on its oil facilities, Saudi Arabia has responded by reporting that the country’s daily oil production (6.2 million barrels) has dropped to the lowest level it’s been at since 1990. For the rest of us, that simply means higher oil prices, higher prices on shipped goods, higher gas, etc, etc.
US media generally is paying no attention to the Saudi-Houthi war, which is also causing considerable oil supply disruption. Saudi Arabia says operations at several energy facilities in the kingdom’s south were halted after attacks. www.bloomberg.com/news/article…
— Scott Horton (@robertscotthorton.bsky.social) 8:00 PM · Sep 9, 2026
We shouldn’t have to come right out and directly state that Donald Trump is lying when he says this surge in dire, oil-related news throughout the region is somehow going to simply resolve itself once the midterm elections are over in November. It should be painfully obvious to every single U.S. voter that this is some bullshit Donald Trump is saying to try to avoid having people treat the midterm elections as a referendum on an extremely unpopular war. It’s just one more lie among the countless ones he told at the RNC convention yesterday, such as claiming that if Republicans retained both chambers of Congress that he would somehow start cutting $5,000 checks for every American adult, despite the $1 trillion price tag that action would instantly cost. Trump says a lot of things; almost all of those things are some species of lie. Everyone should understand this.
What’s remarkable is to readily admit to such utter powerlessness in the midst of your own lies–to admit to one of your own, adoring audiences that your diplomats and various suit-wearing men aren’t even going to try to end the Iran War quagmire you’ve embedded us in during the next two months leading up to the midterms. Why not at least pretend that you’re going to make some progress on this front? Not that it would mean anything if Donald Trump claimed a deal was in place, of course. We’ve already been down that road, with the “memorandum of understanding” signed in June. Perhaps we should attach photocopies of it to each new missile we fire?
Trump says 18 Americans dying fighting Iran is “small potatoes”
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2:50 PM · Sep 4, 2026
You think you’re depressed about this whole mess? Donald Trump is apparently so checked-out that can’t even bring himself to bother lying about ending the “small potatoes” war (that has cost $40 billion) within the next few months. That’s how little he cares about it at this point. He’s busy having AI design Nazi-inspired uniforms for the Space Force instead, instead of focusing on the war that has cost us 18 American lives to date. Average price at the pump? That’s $4.27 as of Thursday, and climbing. Remember that when you vote early, but not by mail. The President says the war will continue for months to come.
