NFL-reporter-turned-Senate-hopeful Michele Tafoya offered an outrageous suggestion to Americans to offset the cost of rising gas prices.
Donald Trump’s approval rating has taken a battering in recent weeks, tumbling to 42 percent – its lowest ever – per a new Daily Mail/JL Partners poll on Friday, amid the economic strain triggered by the US’s military operation in the Middle East.
In retaliation for the joint US-Israel strikes, Iran’s counterattack has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil trading channel, sending global gas prices rocketing.
However, Tafoya, a Republican candidate for the US Senate in Minnesota, has claimed that it should be the American public making sacrifices in their daily lives to combat the rising cost of living.
‘I think right now at least just kind of keeping a stiff upper lip. Maybe you take one less trip to Starbucks and so that gas goes a little further,’ she told Tennessee’s KWAM radio host Todd Starnes on Wednesday.
‘Until this thing is over and these gas prices go back down again, let’s just try to be patriots about this,’ Tafoya continued. ‘Whether you agree with it or not, we’re there and we’ve got to support our men and women in uniform.’
Ex-NFL reporter Michele Tafoya suggested Americans make concessions amid rising gas prices
Donald Trump’s approval rating has taken a battering in recent weeks, tumbling to 42 percent
Referencing the scrap drives of the 1940s, Tafoya urged the American public to ‘get behind our servicemen and women’ as they did during the Second World War.
While she acknowledged the financial frustrations and hardship that the conflict in the Middle East had inflicted on the US, Tafoya claimed that most Americans will ‘want’ the military operation to go ahead.
‘It’s a rough time. It’s a challenging time to be in America,’ she said. ‘People want stability, they want change, and I really believe that people, particularly on the Republican and independent side, want to see this president’s agenda continue to go forward.’
Tafoya’s remarks left voters furious with many calling out the retired sports reporter on social media.
One social media user replied to a clip of Tafoya’s interview, writing: ‘Once again, a bunch of rich people and politicians telling struggling people to “suck it up”? Just wait until the midterms? Then you will find out how we feel about the message.’
‘You just lost my vote,’ another enraged user bluntly posted.
‘The only “patriots” Tafoya knows are the ones she interviewed leaving the locker room after halftime,’ added a third, referring to Tafoya’s broadcast career.
‘You’re not gonna stir up some old school wartime spirit. Not for this conflict,’ another claimed.
Global gas prices have rocketed since the conflict in the Middle East began last month
Tafoya, an outspoken supporter of Trump, is running for the US Senate seat in Minnesota
The Iran war has already created pain at the pump for Americans, with gas prices up to $3.90 a gallon nationally, compared to the $2.90 a gallon Americans were paying before US strikes started on February 28.
A staggering 54 percent said they’d blame Trump if gas prices rose as a result of the conflict, with only 20 percent pointing a finger at Iran.
Among Trump’s voters, 27 percent would blame Trump, while 38 percent answered Iran.
There is also very little appetite for gas price hikes to guarantee a military victory.
Only 19 percent said they would tolerate gas prices increasing by $1, with 12 percent saying they would be OK with gas prices rising $2 to win the war in Iran.
In 2024, Trump ran on curbing inflation and improving President Joe Biden’s post-Covid-19 economy, as well as keeping the US out of ‘forever’ wars.
Now, economic sentiment is at its worst since the inauguration, with 54 percent of registered voters saying they believe the economy is worsening, up from 44 percent last month.
Tafoya spent more than a decade as a sideline reporter for NBC’s Sunday Night Football, before stepping away from the sport and leaving the network in 2022 to pursue a career in politics.
Tafoya spent more than a decade as a sideline reporter for NBC’s Sunday Night Football
In January, Tafoya, an outspoken supporter of Trump, launched her campaign for the Senate seat being vacated by Tina Smith.
She will face former Iowa State basketball star Royce White and former Navy SEAL Adam Schwarze in the state’s Republican primary.
A 61-year-old married mother of two, Tafoya revealed her political beliefs a decade earlier when she described herself to Sports Illustrated as ‘a pro-choice conservative.’
She previously became an easy target for fact-checkers in February when she made a questionable claim about Democrat-led California.
‘Almost 30 percent of Californians are homeless on any given night,’ she told Greg Gutfeld, celebrity doctor Drew Pinsky, actor Zachary Levi and contributor Kat Timpf on Fox News.
America’s most populous state has an estimated 187,000 homeless individuals, according to federal data. And while that staggering number accounts for roughly a quarter of all homelessness in the United States, it is far from 30 percent of California’s 38 million residents.
Tafoya’s claim went uncorrected, although Gutfeld did show his surprise by repeating: ‘Thirty percent!’
Tafoya did walk that figure back slightly, saying: ‘I think it’s 28 percent, so close to 30 percent of their population is homeless on any given night.’
