Trump’s War Is Getting More Expensive Every Day

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:00]the war against Iran, it's push inflation to its highest level in years.

[00:00:03]The estimated cost of that war has risen $4 billion in just the past two weeks.

[00:00:06]And while Trump and his cronies, they claim that it's going to be over soon, the regime, they're expanding their claim over the Strait of Hormuz and threatening to bring the stockpile of uranium that it still possesses to weapons Right.

[00:00:15]But let's start with what's most directly affecting everyday Americans.

[00:00:18]And that is higher prices.

[00:00:19]because according to new official data, year over year inflation hasn't been this high since May you've got the Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting that the consumer price index grew by 3.8% in April compared to the previous year, up from 3.3% growth in March and 2.4% in and this comes as the jobs report released last Friday showed that wages only went up 3.6%, meaning that it is also the first time that inflation is outpacing wage growth since 2023, which is then way of people like the chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union telling CNBC.

[00:00:45]Inflation is the key drag on the US economy saying this is hurting Americans.

[00:00:49]and actually it may be even worse than the government's numbers suggest.

[00:00:52]with one firm which tracks daily prices of millions of consumer products sold by online retailers.

[00:00:56]Finding that the annual inflation rate actually reached 4.5% as of mid-April.

[00:01:01]that increased by almost a whole percent from March to which marked the third largest single month increase in the index history going back to 2008.

[00:01:08]now that said, you also had the head of this firm noting in a press release that food, household equipment and health prices showed relatively normal seasonal increases, saying, the only small comfort is that for now, the dramatic moves in inflation are largely limited to fuel but also, it's not a ton of comfort for the lower income Americans that are hit hardest by rising gas which by the way, up roughly 30% since last year and roughly 50% up since the start of the it's gotten so bad that Trump's now confirmed that he'd like to suspend the federal gas but also that only help a bid that would shave about $0.18 off a gallon.

[00:01:35]And that 50% increase equated to around an extra buck 50 on helpful, but not what I think a lot of people are wanting, which is anything with a massive impact.

[00:01:43]Plus, it would require congressional while in this case you've got some Republicans and even some Democrats getting behind the idea, you've also had members of both parties seeming with some noting that this would mean lost revenue for the Highway Trust Fund, which is the main federal funding source for highway and mass transit projects in the Everything is connected.

[00:01:58]Everything.

[00:01:58]And so a gas tax suspension could mean delayed roadwork and all while we're likely waiting for the increased cost of fuel to translate more and more into higher prices for other products.

[00:02:06]or with Citigroup, for example, telling its clients just this week that energy costs likely would not start to feed through to core goods prices for at least a few more current inflation is still well below 2022, which reached a 40 year high at 9.1% year over year, though of course people treat those as the Covid you still also have some economists suggesting that we are on track to eclipse that one reason analysis actually drew a parallel between the situation today and the situation in the late 1970s.

[00:02:29]or when the Iranian revolution kicked off, with the authors described as a second and more severe wave of inflation, followed by an initial wave a few years them explaining the Great inflation was not the initial surge, it was the failure to prevent the second of course all of this.

[00:02:40]It's also been paid for with tax dollars, though the question is how much and well with that last month you had Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst telling lawmakers at the war had come up with a $25 billion price tag up until that and then today, while joining Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to defend the Pentagon's record setting $1.5 trillion funding request.

[00:02:56]He said that the number had gone up to 29 and saying that this new estimate was because of updated repair and replacement of equipment costs, and also just general operational costs to keep people in with that, also saying that the number is subject to change depending on both ongoing assessments of the damage and what happens which is an important no, because as we talked about, Trump recently rejected Iran's latest offer is totally unacceptable.

[00:03:15]with that yesterday, he said that the ceasefire is the weakest it has been and describing it as being on massive life then today, he said in an interview, it's just a question of time.

[00:03:23]We don't have to rush anything.

[00:03:24]And we've wiped out their navy, we've wiped out their air force, we've wiped out their leadership.

[00:03:28]think we'll get there with them.

[00:03:29]And 100% we get the nuclear Right there.

[00:03:32]He's referring to Iran stockpile of nearly 1,000 pounds of uranium that's enriched to 60%, that's also something that he pretty much has to get out of there if he has any chance of kind of trying to play this off as a win of some but Iran, at least publicly, has given no indication that it's going to let that had a national security spokesperson in Iran's parliament actually claiming today that if the US or Israel attack Iran again, it would consider enriching this uranium to 90%, which is considered weapons you also recently had a government spokesperson saying Iran is still ready to go after fighting a 40 day war with the world's greatest military you identify with the Revolutionary Guard Corps naval forces, saying that the regime had expanded its definition of the Strait of Hormuz, saying the past, the strait was defined as a limited area around islands such as Hormuz and Gum.

[00:04:08]But today that has changed.

[00:04:10]The strait has grown larger and has turned into a vast operational But then also today you would exit ultimately we control the strait, because nothing's going in that we don't allow to go in.

[00:04:20]also you had him claiming that it's evident that the cease fire remains in As you know, for the most part, a cease fire means the fire is ceasing.

[00:04:26]And we know that has occurred while negotiations occur.

[00:04:29]but of course the fire hasn't actually totally Iran has not only attacked several countries in the region, but also targeted American forces the US has fought off those attacks while also launching strikes on Iranian territory.

[00:04:39]In response on the question of whether the US would attack Iran again said wouldn't give any information.

[00:04:44]But he said it remains a possibility and that the conflict will ultimately be resolved on Trump's We have a plan to escalate if necessary.

[00:04:50]We have a plan to, retrograde, if necessary.

[00:04:54]We have a plan to shift assets.

[00:04:55]How this gets resolved will be on our terms, on President Trump's terms.

[00:04:59]And we have all the munitions and capabilities necessary to enable that.

[00:05:02]but on that last part, well, the US may have enough for whatever comes next with Iran.

[00:05:06]The real question is whether it has enough for what might come after And that doesn't seem to be a question that Seth is too keen on the munitions issue issue has been foolishly, and unhelpfully overstated, where we know exactly what we have, we have plenty of what we need.

[00:05:19]with that coming just days after Democratic Senator Mark Kelly told CBS News Face the Nation that it is shocking how deep the US has gone into its munition stockpiles.

[00:05:27]that's not just yapping.

[00:05:27]That is a claim backed up by independent reporting from multiple media outlets and the center for Strategic and International in fact, Hegseth himself had this exchange with Kelly in his previous testimony before Congress.

[00:05:37]We can't make these munitions overnight.

[00:05:40]And it's clear from your budget request that you know that.

[00:05:44]Can you tell us how many years specifically is it going to take to replace these systems?

[00:05:53]think that's exactly the right question to Senator, because the timeframe we were existing under was unacceptable.

[00:05:59]Okay.

[00:05:59]Well, what this budget does I mean, months and years past years, I mean, we're building new plants in real time, though, just to replace what we would send if I said months.

[00:06:09]And then you said years.

[00:06:10]But it depends on the weapon system.

[00:06:12]but despite all that, after Kelly's comments on CBS, Hegseth accused him of leaking classified information and announced that the Pentagon would review his with this coming only a few days after an appeals court seemed to reject headsets attempt to punish Kelly for being one of the several Democratic veterans turned lawmakers publicly urging service members to refuse illegal right, even after a federal judge already ruled earlier this year that the Pentagon's efforts were unconstitutionally retaliatory.

[00:06:33]actually, Kelly, responding to this latest effort by denying the accusation and sharing the clip of their previous exchange and not classified.

[00:06:39]It's a quote from you.