"You’ll see Iran in a couple of weeks, if you don’t mind," Trump told a crowd on Tuesday during a rally in Lubbock, referencing plans to potentially renew a major air campaign on Iran. Days away from the midterm elections, and White House officials are still talking about a 'short, intense' war against Iran after election day. The same talking point of a 'short' war was initially rolled out over seven months ago upon the start of Operation Epic Fury, ironically enough.
Among outspoken ardent supporters of Trump's decision to start yet another war in the Middle East, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas also near the conflict's start echoed early White House proclamations that it would just be a campaign of 'several weeks'. He voiced this precisely in a March 23, 2026 interview, seeking to assure the public the conflict wouldn't last very long. Any update on this Ted Cruz?
This is some rare, albeit inadvertent, truth spoken straight 'out of the mouths of NeoCons': "I don't believe that what is happening in Iran will be front and center in November. If it extends that long, we've done something wildly wrong... The president said at the beginning this is going to be a matter of several weeks," Cruz had said at the time.
He even emphasized as a conclusion to the remarks:
"I don't think the president is envisioning anything that extends multiple months, much less multiple years."
Now, well over half a year later and amid a developing quagmire, we don't expect that Cruz will revisit this awkward and inconvenient past statement. Instead, there's just been a constant doubling and tripling down of "winning" in the Strait of Hormuz, or a "nothing to see here..." among GOP war supporters.
And yet many voters on the Right - especially on the younger side - will not forget....
"It's just absurd pricing right now"
The above impromptu interview has some bearing on another more recent claim put out by Cruz. He has claimed just weeks ago that "not a whole lot of real people" feel betrayed by Trump's starting a new war in the Middle East (after constantly saying the opposite on the campaign trail and stretching back years).
"Real people"....
But the Trump White House doesn't seem to be getting the memo, and is instead just bulldozing ahead with a "trust the plan" narrative (assuming there is a 'plan' at all?).
Trump at rallies across the nation has lately been sticking to his line that oil and gas prices will drop "like a rock" immediately after the war ends - though crucially, without defining what that endpoint looks like.
There have also been some disturbing moments where he almost seems to mock his audience for not being able to access or afford the finer things in life, at a moment the majority of the American public is busy dealing with soaring cost of living and energy prices.
This was on display at a recent Republican pre-midterm rally in the southern Texas coastal area, in Corpus Christi - a city and region which has seen recent years or even a couple decades of economic decline. Not a winning strategy to subtly treat your constituency as 'the poors'...
"Go to Florida, go to any one of our great places. You can even come to Mar-a-Lago," Trump had said Tuesday night.
“The problem is that for $5,000, the most you’ll be able to buy is a hamburger and maybe a small dessert.” He then told the audience, "I’m not even sure you could buy that." Though intended as a joke, it might not have landed too well amid an affordability crisis.
"No, don’t go there. That’s not a good place if you’re price-conscious," Trump had added, perhaps trying to soften the awkwardness of his boasting of the opulence he's personally accustomed to at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
Of course, the $5K figure was also an allusion to the president having pledged $5,000 to every adult citizen if Republicans retain majorities in both the House and Senate. Trump assures that no one will get a check if his fellow Republicans fail to reach a takeover.
Below: From an initial timeline prediction of 'days' to '2 to 4 weeks' to maybe 'six weeks' or a 'couple months' - to now "a long time"....
Straight from POTUS's mouth: "We could leave now, but we want to make sure it lasts for a long time."
In meantime, he's insisting the Iran war was worth it, stressing the country can't be allowed to have a nuclear weapon - a talking point that goes all the way back to the 1990's in some form or another.
In short, while it is once again actually the oil execs and big defense contractor firms raking it in, the White House messaging is that struggling Americans should shut up and say 'thank you'...