Trump Voters Lash Out To MS NOW About Gas Prices Amid War That’s ‘Raising Our Prices’

Trump voters in Florida lashed out over gas prices and the Iran war in on-the-spot interviews with MS NOW journalist and documentarian Alex Tabet, one of whom asked, “What are we really doing there, besides raising our prices?”

As the Iran war rages through a third week, attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz have exacerbated surging prices and roiled the stock market.

The Trump administration got more bad news this week when wholesale inflation came in more than twice as high as expected and gas prices skyrocketed.

Tabet spoke to fishing industry workers this week, many of whom he said voted for Trump, and said they’re “pissed off” about gas prices and the war. And they had “a clear message” for President Donald Trump:

FISHERMAN 1: You know, he pleaded to the people, the people. Make America great again. We’re tearing America apart right now.

MS NOW JOURNALIST AND DOCUMENTARIAN ALEX TABET: Fishermen here in Cortez, Florida are pissed off. Pissed off with the president, who many of them voted for, and they’re angry because of skyrocketing diesel prices.

FISHERMAN 2: I’m really scratching my head because I voted Republican, and most of us in the fishing industry did, and we’re not seeing the positives come out of it, why we voted that way. We’ve talked about no new wars, and here we are in a new war. I’d just like to see something in the middle with common sense.

MS NOW JOURNALIST AND DOCUMENTARIAN ALEX TABET: Now, before the war in Iran, gas coming from this pump in Cortez was going for $3.29 per gallon. Now, gas from this is closer to $5 a gallon. And for boats like this one, Linnea, which is about to go out on a two-week sword fishing trip. It needs 4,600 gallons of diesel, and with prices like these, that’s making business unsustainable. All of that on top of the fact that these fishermen are also having to contend with President Trump’s erratic tariff policy.

FISHERMAN 2: When the tariffs initially went into effect, there was a huge jump in all of our tackle and supplies. And even though the tariff percentages were rolled back a little bit, our suppliers never rolled back their prices.

MS NOW JOURNALIST AND DOCUMENTARIAN ALEX TABET: Now the manager of this family-run fishing company here in Cortez, Karen Bell, tells me that the tariffs and the diesel prices mean she’s going to have to raise the price of fish, and that cost is ultimately going to be incurred by the customers.

KAREN BELL: I’m going to try to push prices up. I hope consumers realize that when we push prices forward or up, it’s not really something we want to do.

MS NOW JOURNALIST AND DOCUMENTARIAN ALEX TABET: And one fisherman warned me that this could mean the endof the industry here in Cortez

FISHERMAN 1: Oh this is this could be the final start for a lot of people for a lots of people in this industry man I mean we’re already taxed to death everything the cost of everything tackle the cost of operation and then the fuel going up it could be nail in the coffin for a lot people and it’s sad It’s a swift kick right in the stomach, man, and it’s a pile of stress, and you add to the stress. I’m already stressed out from keeping the boat running, making my crew a check, bringing us all back safely. We’re offshore two weeks at a time. It’s stressful enough, just that, and then you add on top of that the cost of fuel rising the way it is. It is just out of control.

MS NOW JOURNALIST AND DOCUMENTARIAN ALEX TABET: And these fishermen have a clear message to President Trump about who’s suffering from this war back home.

What would your message be to President Trump right now about this war?

FISHERMAN 1: Think about the people, think about the people. The working-class people like us.

It’s not just the fishermen, the truck drivers, the delivery, the shipping companies. It’s gotta have a major, major effect on everybody.

Just you and I, you driving to and from work. My wife said she paid almost over $4 for regular gas. That’s unheard of. I mean, add the cost of living, and then you add that on top, it’s terrible.

Just please think about the people, man. What are we really doing there, besides raising our prices?

Make America great again. We’re tearing America apart right now. And it’s sad, because it’s the working class people that are suffering the most.

Watch above via Alex Tabet and MS NOW.

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