Jennifer Bowers BahneyApr 13th, 2026, 12:00 pm

Republican Majority Whip Sen. John Barrasso (WY) claimed Monday that Democrats “like high gas prices,” when asked about President Donald Trump’s strategy with the Strait of Hormuz on Fox’s America’s Newsroom.

After host Dana Perino showed a graphic of gas prices climbing to an average of $4.12 a gallon, Barrasso said his constituents in Wyoming “love the president and support the president, what he is doing, and specifically with Iran.”

“And, yeah, gas prices are on their minds as they always are for our producers and farmers and ranchers and people that drive long distances in Wyoming,” Barrasso said, continuing:

They also understand that what the president is doing in an effort to provide stability in that part of the world will have good long-term impacts in terms of energy prices. They also understand that Republicans are the party of energy dominance. Democrats like high gas prices because of their radical climate agenda. So, people understand what the president is doing, agree with him, and know that we need peace and stability, and need to protect America long-term from the threat of Iran, which has been there, and they’ve been at war with us for 47 years.

Perino then played a clip of the American Gas Association president saying the price of fertilizer “is a real concern going into farming and planting season that countries around the world that rely on the Strait of Hormuz for fertilizer won’t have it.”

Perino asked Barrasso if that was on the mind of his constituents in the agricultural state.

“Well, it certainly is,” Barrasso answered. “Fertilizer prices came up when I was visiting with agriculture leaders…It’s of concern. What the president is doing is right in terms of [the Strait] of Hormuz and the blockade. We are not going to be held hostage. We’re not paying ransom to Iran. The president is right, it’s going to take a little bit of time. We’ll get in there and clean out the mines that are there. The U.S. Navy has for decades provided freedom of navigation around the world, and we’re not going to be held hostage by Iran.”

Watch the clip above via Fox News’s America’s Newsroom.

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