The View of the War From a Florida Gas Station

Summary

The Daily – “The View of the War From a Florida Gas Station”

Date: March 27, 2026
Host: Michael Barbaro
Location: Independent Gas Station, Jacksonville, Florida
Produced by: Anna Foley and Caitlin O’Keefe

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Episode Overview

This episode personalizes the story of America’s latest war — the U.S. conflict with Iran — by exploring its effects at a single, independently owned gas station in Jacksonville, Florida. Through interviews with the station’s owner, Cam, and a diverse group of regular customers, the show offers an intimate look at how skyrocketing gas prices are tangibly affecting Americans’ lives, while also serving as a lens on national divisions, loyalty, betrayal, and sacrifice during wartime. The narrative tracks the daily dilemmas, anxieties, and frustrations as the consequences of global conflict ripple through a neighborhood convenience store.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Life at the Pump: Cam’s Perspective as a Local Station Owner

• The Human Scale of an International Crisis
  • Cam manages an independently owned gas station, personally setting prices while knowing most customers by name. He inherited the store from his father, an immigrant from Syria via Guatemala, who built close community ties ([04:09]-[05:36]).
  • Cam’s business philosophy centers on relationships: “These regular customers that I get in here, I mean, I've known them now for eight years. That's a longer time than I've known my kids.” ([05:42])
• The Pain and Pressure of Price Hikes
  • Cam describes how rising gas prices strain his community and himself. He feels distressed about having to raise prices, emphasizing his slim profit margins ([07:53]):

    "I mean, there's really such a small amount of profit to be made per gallon for a business like mine. I mean, I'm talking maybe 10 to 15 cents per gallon max." – Cam ([07:53])

  • He explains his balancing act:

    "Can I consider the customer when I'm, when I'm making these gas prices? Not really… I gotta at least make a couple cents off of each gallon or there's really no point in selling gas." ([08:36])

2. The Realities of Rising Costs

• Raising Prices in Real Time
  • The episode captures Cam physically raising the gas price as his competitors increase theirs, agonizing over the impact ([10:33]):

    "I don't like to do it when customers are pumping gas." – Cam

  • He jumps 20 cents in one day, from $3.79 to $3.99, while expressing concern that the increases are likely to keep coming.

3. Customers React: Voices From the Community

• The Impact on Everyday Lives
  • The hosts meet a range of customers who describe the concrete effects of rising prices:
    • Andrew, the Veteran:
      • Lives on a fixed income after leaving the military; is forced to cut back groceries and sometimes skip meals so his children can eat ([15:19]-[16:30]).

        "There’s been nights where her and I don’t eat and we’ll just let them eat, but we’re cool with that because, like, as long as our kids eat, we’re fine." – Andrew ([16:04])

      • Frames the war as “not our war” and wishes the U.S. would withdraw ([16:42]):

        "We just need to pull out and just not be there and just let the strait open up. It's not our war." – Andrew

    • William, the Trucking Company Owner:
      • Is paying $1,200–$1,600 to fill up his trucks with diesel, worries about the viability of small trucking companies ([17:27]-[19:25]).
      • Still supports President Trump’s rationale for the war despite the personal cost:

        "I don't think it's a big price to pay… But for the people of Iran, if I were going to endorse the war, it would be simply to free the Iranian people from this ridiculous regime." – William ([17:58], [19:07])

    • Sean, Licensed Medicare Agent:
      • Despite making $26/hour, she struggles to fill her tank, and expresses deep betrayal by Trump’s broken promise of “$2 gas” ([20:19]-[23:13]).

        “…I voted for this man, thinking that our economy is going to be amazing under him… And now I wish I never did that… We are not on the beach anymore. Take your shades off. The tsunami hit, and it was called President Trump." – Sean ([21:20], [23:07])

4. The War as a Local Referendum

• Gas Prices as a Political Barometer
  • For some, soaring gas prices are a direct, daily vote of dissatisfaction with the president and the war; for others, they're a necessary sacrifice for national security.
  • The episode highlights a sharp split: what one person deems a justifiable sacrifice, another views as an intolerable betrayal.

5. Looking Forward: Cam’s Prediction

• No Relief in Sight
  • Cam predicts that higher prices are here to stay, likely rising above $4 and capping around $4.59/gallon, with little hope for quick relief ([23:44]-[24:39]):

    "Usually when it's quick to rise like this, it's slower to lower… I hope it doesn't go above 409. But as unpredictable as everything is and what's going on, you just never know." – Cam

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• On community responsibility:
  • “I hope they understand that I'm not pricing my gas to make a quick buck. I'm pricing my gas how I need to price it in order to stay afloat.” – Cam ([07:13])
• On scaling back life basics:
  • “Usually it comes from our grocery budget… There’s been nights where her and I don’t eat and we’ll just let them eat.” – Andrew ([15:48], [16:04])
• On Trump’s broken promise:
  • "Trump said that we were going to have lower gas. That was one of the things that he promised. And unfortunately, I voted for him as a black woman... And now I wish I never did that." – Sean ([21:20]-[21:37])
• On gas prices as sacrifice or betrayal:
  • “I don’t think it’s a big price to pay. I do worry about the commercial end of it… But I can afford it. I don’t like it, but I can afford it.” – William ([19:07], [19:40])
• On the emotional toll of current events:
  • “We are not on the beach anymore. Take your shades off. The tsunami hit, and it was called President Trump… Right today, I'm a sad American. I'm not real proud of us.” – Sean ([22:54], [23:13])

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Key Timestamps

• [01:09] – Cam explains the mechanics of changing gas prices
• [04:09] – Cam’s immersion in the community over nearly a decade
• [07:13] – Cam outlines his pricing philosophy and sense of responsibility
• [10:33] – The moment Cam increases his prices to match competitors
• [13:28] – Customers’ first reactions to sharp price increases
• [15:19] – Andrew, a veteran, discusses post-military life and financial struggle
• [17:24] – William, the trucking company owner, weighs higher costs against support for the war
• [20:19] – Sean shares her financial strain and political regret
• [23:44] – Cam forecasts likely future price trends

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Tone & Language

The episode is narrative-driven and empathetic, blending humor, frustration, resignation, and genuine sorrow. The voices are authentic, direct, and conversational, with Michael Barbaro guiding the narrative unobtrusively, allowing everyday people — and the ripple effects of their choices and struggles — to speak for themselves.

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Conclusion

This episode poignantly demonstrates how the costs of distant wars play out in American life — not as abstract numbers, but in daily angst, sacrifice, and political reckonings, all reflected in the price of a gallon of gas at a small Florida station. The local stories of Cam and his customers make the war’s impact personal, offering listeners a ground-level perspective on a national debate.

Transcript

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[Michael Barbaro]

Can I give them a four, please?

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

Yeah, that's it, brother. There you go, brother.

[Michael Barbaro]

Can you just explain what it is you're about to do?

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

I'm going to raise the gas price.

[Michael Barbaro]

From the New York Times, I'm Michael Balbaro. This is the Daily.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

So we got to go into the fuel manager menu and fuel price configuration.

[Sean (Medicare Agent)]

All right.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

I'm going to go from 449 on my premium to 469.

[Michael Barbaro]

For the past four weeks, gas stations across the United States have become a kind of microcosm of the war's domestic image impact. It's there at thousands of pumps and cash registers that a test of wills is playing out in real time.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

I just gotta download the fuel prices to my pumps and that's that price

[Michael Barbaro]

increased between gas station managers deciding day after day just how much to charge for a gallon of gas and already cash strapped consumers deciding just how much pain they're willing to endure. I mean, does any part of you just feel, like, really bad that you have to do that?

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

Yeah, Yeah, I feel bad. I mean, it's a necessity. I have to. But, yeah, I feel bad. That kind of hurts.

[Michael Barbaro]

Today, the view of this war from a neighborhood gas station in Jacksonville, Florida. It's Friday, March 27th. Okay, I think this is it.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

Yeah.

[Michael Barbaro]

Here we go. Yo, I'm getting there. Hey, Florida, Florida drivers. Last week, Daily producer Anna Foley and I headed to suburban Jacksonville to talk to a gas station manager named Kate.

[William (Trucking Company Owner)]

Cam.

[Michael Barbaro]

Judy. Hey, guys.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

What's going on? Welcome here.

[Sean (Medicare Agent)]

Hi.

[Michael Barbaro]

Michael. Cameron. Nice to meet you.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

Nice to meet you.

[Michael Barbaro]

Now, why this station and this manager. We can come on back. Okay. Because Cam runs a quickly vanishing business in this country, an independently owned gas station. You got some serious Little Debbie.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

Serious Little Debbie stuff? Of course. Yeah. Right there, right in front. Staring at me across the way all day, whispering my name, honey buns.

[Michael Barbaro]

Meaning that Cam, and Cam alone sets the price. I've never been in the guts of the. Of the cashier's.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

Is that all you ever dreamed of?

[Michael Barbaro]

The cashier's wing of the store. We met him on a Tuesday when regular unleaded gas at his station cost $3.79 a gallon, about 40% higher than before the war started.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

$7.99.

[Michael Barbaro]

Cam was manning the cash register of the station's convenience store. And it's inside this store on a residential street across from an elementary school, where you really see how intimately he's woven himself into this community.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

What's up, Rick? Mr. Lee. Hey, Lewis. Yeah, you're good, brother.

[Michael Barbaro]

Are you on a first name basis with a lot of customers?

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

I am, yeah. Yeah. After eight years, almost nine years. This July will be nine years. I got a lot of regulars that come in here.

[Michael Barbaro]

Cam took over the business about a decade ago from his father, who started buying convenience stores after he immigrated to the US From Syria by way of Guatemala.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

This gas station in particular, he bought right around the time my sister was born, I believe. Seems to be a trend. He has a kid, he has a gas station, he has a kid, he has a gas. I don't know.

[Michael Barbaro]

And Cam grew up watching his father really become the unofficial mayor of this neighborhood.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

He always goes back to the show Everybody Loves Raymond. That's his name, Raymond. So even growing up as a kid, we couldn't go out to eat without running into somebody that he knew from one of the stores. A waiter, somebody in the back cooking our food in the kitchen, somebody waiting in line for their coffee. He knows everybody.

[Michael Barbaro]

And it went beyond just knowing everybody. His father's customers were treated as an extension of the Judy family.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

I didn't know the extent of my dad's impact on some of these customers until I started working here. When someone would come in here and tell me, like, you know your dad, like, my power was off. And he. He loaned me the money I needed to get the electricity back on, you know, and stuff like that. It's like, dad, did you really do that? He's like, of course I did. They've been coming to my store for 10, 15 years.

[Michael Barbaro]

So for Cam, this was really the only way he knew to run a business.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

These regular customers that I get in here, I mean, I've known them now for eight years. That's a longer time than I've known my kids. I only got a four year old, so some of these people, they've been around for my wife's pregnancies I had several regular customers. When they found out my wife was pregnant, they brought me boxes and boxes and boxes of diapers. Like, it's just really cool. I don't think a lot of people get to experience that. Where a customer comes to your business almost every single day, sometimes up to six times a day, they become a huge part of your life. They really do.

[Michael Barbaro]

And just to give you an example, when Cam catches local students shoplifting, which happens with some frequency, he never calls the police. He tells somebody else.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

I know their PE Coach. He comes in here every day. So I tell him. I show him a picture of the kid on my camera, and he makes them run laps or push ups out of here.

[Michael Barbaro]

Yes, that's local justice.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

I love it.

[Michael Barbaro]

So when the war broke out a few weeks ago, right before the war,

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

I remember we were sitting at 279

[Michael Barbaro]

for a long time, and Cam realized he was going to have to raise

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

gas prices from 279 to 299 to 309.

[Michael Barbaro]

Over and over.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

We went up almost 20 cents in

[Michael Barbaro]

48 hours and over again.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

Gosh, it's been almost every day.

[Michael Barbaro]

He wasn't repeatedly raising gas prices on strangers. He was raising prices on people he really cares about, People who he knows are already stretched very thin.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

I hope they understand that I'm not pricing my gas to make a quick buck. I'm pricing my gas how I need to price it in order to stay afloat.

[Michael Barbaro]

And just to explain how this works, this is actually not making Cam more money.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

My distributor of fuel is charging me per gallon, and then I have to account for if they're going to charge me to get it to the gas station. So trucking fees, trucking fees to the. To the store itself. And then we also have to account for the different fees that are associated with the customer purchasing gas, the credit card companies and debit card companies.

[Michael Barbaro]

For Cam, the margins on gas are actually pretty slim.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

I mean, there's really such a small amount of profit to be made per gallon for a business like mine. I mean, I'm talking maybe 10 to 15 cents per gallon max for.

[Michael Barbaro]

For my store, his pumps hold about 8,000 gallons, which usually lasts a couple of weeks. And so 10 cents of profit on that is about $800, which is a surprisingly small amount of profit for a gas station to make on gas. How did you think about this question of how much you could increase the price at the pump? Knowing your customer, how did you balance all that?

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

I mean, my regular customers, they're pretty loyal I like to think that they would choose my store over a big corporate owned gas station or a big chain gas station franchise like that, just because it's my store. Can I consider the customer when I'm, when I'm making these gas prices? Not really. Because, you know, as much as I love my regular customers, I can't take a loss per gallon. I can't. It would be even. It'd be difficult to even figure out what my break even number would be. You know, gotta at least make a couple cents off of each gallon or there's really no point. And selling gas, selling gas. I could take the gas price of that big chain gas station up the road that's priced at 399 today. I could say, well, I'm independently owned. I need to have a bigger profit margin and price mine for 409. I could do that. You know, there's no problem with me doing that. I know gas station owners that do do that. They go 10 cents over their nearest big corporate gas station just so that they can make a little bit more of a profit margin. I choose not to specifically because of the relationship I have with my regular customers. I would love for this to be over next week and I go back to 279 a gallon. That'd be awesome. I hope beyond hope that it is temporary and it does not last long. But yeah, I do worry about the longevity of these high prices. It would be a strain on a lot of people, myself included.

[Michael Barbaro]

But despite his best intentions, as we wrapped up our conversation and Cam's day came to an end, he checks in on prices around town. Most of his rivals were at 399A gallon for regular. He had been holding steady at 379. He looks out at the pumps.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

I don't like to do it when customers are pumping gas.

[Michael Barbaro]

And he makes the call to raise the prices.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

So I'm going to raise it from 379 to 399.

[Michael Barbaro]

That's a big jump.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

It is a big jump. Yeah.

[Michael Barbaro]

So if I go outside right now, even on that big sign.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

Big sign is happening right now too. And that's. It's almost instant. Yep.

[Sean (Medicare Agent)]

Boom.

[Michael Barbaro]

We'll be right back. This podcast is supported by nrdc, the Natural Resources Defense Council. The Trump administration just carried out the largest environmental rollback in American history. They eliminated the endangerment, finding a core scientific and legal foundation for tackling climate pollution. This is illegal and NRDC is suing to stop them. For a short time. Listeners of the Daily Will have their gift matched to support their legal challenge. Go to nrdc.org daily matching outfits, extravagant birthdays, many nicknames. A few classic moves of a dog obsessed parent. Ollie is obsessed with how obsessed you are with your pup. So they strive to give your dog the best. From fresh human grade dog food to in app health. Check ins to track your dog's well being. You could say Ollie feeds the obsession. Visit ollie.com daily and use code daily to get 60% off your welcome kit. Ollie feed the obsession.

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[Michael Barbaro]

Good morning, Cam. Morning.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

It's cold.

[Michael Barbaro]

It's called for Florida.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

Yes, it is. That's right.

[Michael Barbaro]

The next morning, just before 7am, Anna and I returned to the gas station to watch Cam open it up for the day.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

Just gotta turn the lights on, turn the gas pumps on and we're open for business.

[Michael Barbaro]

Those were the pumps.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

The pumps, yep.

[Michael Barbaro]

We wanted to understand just how much this relentless increase in gas prices, including Cam's most recent hike, were hurting his customers. So this is, this is 399 day. Do you think that people are going to notice the 20 cent increase today?

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

Definitely. Oh yeah. 379 to 399. It's a big jump. And yeah, we'll definitely get some people in here that are. And we were just, we were 20 cent cheaper yesterday. What happened, Cam

[Michael Barbaro]

over at the pumps, if you want to talk about gas prices, let me start cussing now, huh? People did not hold back.

[Sean (Medicare Agent)]

It's out of hand, out of hand.

[Michael Barbaro]

Oh my God.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

It's awful. It's just gonna affect so many people.

[Michael Barbaro]

I mean it's really so sad because

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

people already struggling and this was just so unnecessary.

[Andrew (Veteran)]

It's like you're paying double now than what you was paying a couple weeks ago.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

People that's on fixed income, they have a tough time with these gas prices.

[Michael Barbaro]

See $100.98.80. That's a very expensive amount of gas. Never been this bad, man. Most people didn't stick around for a very long conversation. They got back in their car, they told us they had to go to work. But among those who really talked to us, what became clear was just how minutely they could describe gas prices, impact on their finances, and how these far higher prices have become a kind of referendum, a referendum on the war in Iran, on President Trump himself, and really on the entire promise of America. Yeah, we're talking to people about gas prices, if you have thoughts.

[Andrew (Veteran)]

Oh, I've seen them. Two something. Now they're at four.

[Michael Barbaro]

So, yeah, we met a guy named Andrew who, like many people in Jacksonville, is a veteran. The region is a major military hub.

[Andrew (Veteran)]

I mean, I just got out of the military about a year ago, so, like, now I'm on, like, a fixed income type stuff. So, like, seeing the gas prices go up really kind of hinders that a little bit.

[Michael Barbaro]

Were you in Iraq?

[Andrew (Veteran)]

Right. Afghanistan, Jordan. Afghanistan area. Okay. And yeah, once I saw that they cut off the straight. There go the gas prices.

[Michael Barbaro]

When you fill your car, what is the actual cost now?

[Andrew (Veteran)]

50 bucks. That's usually like 30.

[Michael Barbaro]

So where has that come from in that, like, pie chart of your house?

[Andrew (Veteran)]

Usually it comes from our grocery budget because, like, everything else is, like, bills. Can't skip bills. I mean, sometimes if we need to, we'll skip a bill, but we'll just. Just go right back to it. But usually the allotment comes from our grocery bills.

[Michael Barbaro]

And does it change how you eat?

[Andrew (Veteran)]

Yeah.

[Michael Barbaro]

Can you give me an example?

[Andrew (Veteran)]

Like, we've been going to those food banks every now and then, which help out. I like those. A lot of local churches do help out, so that's pretty nice. I have three kids, so I make sure that they eat first. So usually we'll get all their food first, and then my wife and I will be like, okay, we have this much left. Let's get us some dinners. So, like, there's been nights where her and I don't eat, and we'll just let them eat, but we're cool with that because, like, as long as our kids eat, we're fine.

[Michael Barbaro]

That's a really meaningful sacrifice.

[Andrew (Veteran)]

I mean, they come first. So, I mean, we're fine. We can handle it. But I think I give it a month before all this levels off. Maybe.

[Michael Barbaro]

You hope?

[Andrew (Veteran)]

I hope. Yeah, one can hope. We just need to pull out and just not be there and just let the strait open up like, it's not our war.

[Michael Barbaro]

It's not our war.

[Andrew (Veteran)]

It's not our war.

[Michael Barbaro]

Well, thank you for spending time with us.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

Of course.

[Andrew (Veteran)]

Thank you.

[Michael Barbaro]

And thank you for your service. I appreciate it. Andrew is literally Skipping meals because of this war. But we also met somebody whose financial pain is just as immediate, but who sees the war and Trump's rationale for it in a totally different light. We're hanging out with Cam to talk about gas prices. He let us spend the day with him. What's your name?

[William (Trucking Company Owner)]

William.

[Michael Barbaro]

And what are you for work?

[William (Trucking Company Owner)]

I own a trucking company.

[Sponsor/Advertiser]

Whoa.

[Michael Barbaro]

So you.

[Andrew (Veteran)]

This is important.

[Michael Barbaro]

So you're involved in the trucking business at a time when gas is $4 a gallon?

[William (Trucking Company Owner)]

Well, diesel's 5 in some states. We're paying 6 and $7.

[Michael Barbaro]

So a lot of money is of kind coming out of your pocket.

[William (Trucking Company Owner)]

Well, you're pumping 250 gallons every time you fill up.

[Michael Barbaro]

Yeah.

[William (Trucking Company Owner)]

So do the math. It's costing anywhere between 1200-1600 for a tank of fuel now.

[Michael Barbaro]

Wow.

[William (Trucking Company Owner)]

And then the rates have not gone up.

[Michael Barbaro]

So you'd be a strong candidate for being very upset about this war.

[William (Trucking Company Owner)]

I would be, yeah. But I think that it's worth it. I'm a Trumpster, but let me tell you, I have some issues with him at the moment, but I still support what we're doing in Iran because I've been watching it all my life. I'm 70 years old, so I support it. But for the people of Iran, if I were going to endorse the war, it would be simply to free the Iranian people from this ridiculous regime. What happens after that? Who knows? Did they have a nuclear weapon? Why wouldn't they? So I don't know what drove his decision to do this, but I feel like it was very serious, you know.

[Michael Barbaro]

So you have faith that if the President has determined that the United States should be involved in a war against Iran, that he knows something and he's made this decision wisely?

[William (Trucking Company Owner)]

I truly believe that. Yes. He is not one to just go out and I don't think to just start this up for, you know, to hide the Epstein files or whatever. So that's all I know. That's all I can tell you.

[Michael Barbaro]

So if the war is justified, is the gas price increase a small price to pay, or does it feel like a big price to pay?

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

Anything?

[William (Trucking Company Owner)]

I don't think it's a big price to pay. I do worry about the commercial end of it. If there's no assistance or if there's no way to. I mean, a lot of these smaller trucking companies, people don't understand how many have gone out of business from. From the rate wars. Okay. Now, the ones that survived that have

[Michael Barbaro]

to pay the gas prices. Right.

[William (Trucking Company Owner)]

It'll kick them right over the edge. So I am concerned about that. Hopefully it won't last that long. I think the war over there is going to last longer than four weeks, you know, But.

[Michael Barbaro]

But you can afford these gas prices?

[William (Trucking Company Owner)]

Yeah, I can afford it.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

Yeah.

[William (Trucking Company Owner)]

I don't like it, but I can afford it.

[Michael Barbaro]

Thank you for your time.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

Yes, sir.

[William (Trucking Company Owner)]

Thank you. Good luck to you guys.

[Michael Barbaro]

So despite these higher prices, William is standing by the president for now. But there's a whole group of people for whom the promise of lower prices, including lower gas prices, was their primary reason for voting for Trump. So now every trip to the gas pump feels like a betrayal. We're talking about gas prices.

[Sean (Medicare Agent)]

Unbelievable. Especially when we thought we were about to get those lower gas prices. I was happy for a couple weeks when I was 2 that I was like, now it's hard.

[Michael Barbaro]

Including a woman who goes by Sean and is a licensed Medicare agent.

[Sean (Medicare Agent)]

I make $26 an hour. Now you tell me, why should it be hard for me to put gas in the car?

[Michael Barbaro]

So you just put six bucks in.

[Sean (Medicare Agent)]

$6.

[Michael Barbaro]

Why so little? I mean, it was expensive. That was an expensive.

[Sean (Medicare Agent)]

It's hard right now. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Like on top of gross nursery, on top of rent. Because, I mean, I pay $2,000 to live every month. Now we're talking about gas. I have to ride to work. Okay. I have grandchildren. I have two elderly parents that live in my home. One of them who has stage five kidney disease. Okay. And I just took him to dialysis. So even with incomes, it's going like this.

[Michael Barbaro]

You're down the.

[Sean (Medicare Agent)]

Down the drain.

[Michael Barbaro]

You said you were excited for $2 gas.

[Sean (Medicare Agent)]

Like, oh, my God. I was like, we are here.

[Michael Barbaro]

And was that something you heard from the president in his campaigns? Was that where you heard that from?

[Sean (Medicare Agent)]

Trump said that we were going to have lower gas. That was one of the things that he promised. And unfortunately, I voted for him as a black woman. I voted for this man, thinking that our economy is going to be amazing under him.

[Michael Barbaro]

Yeah. And.

[Sean (Medicare Agent)]

And now I wish I never did that.

[Michael Barbaro]

Are you mad that he started this war and raised.

[Sean (Medicare Agent)]

Yeah, because to me now, it's not even about people no more. It's about money. I know we are in America and we think we're safe, but we're casualties of war. We have to start speaking out against what's going on over there, because we will be them if we don't stand up for them.

[Michael Barbaro]

You're upset I'm upset. I mean, you're crying.

[Sean (Medicare Agent)]

I'm upset.

[Michael Barbaro]

Do you feel like you were kind of hoodwinked?

[Sean (Medicare Agent)]

Yes, I was hoodwinked. This man talked about we were gonna be great again, and I did kind of see that in my eyes. Like, we were not the America that we used to be. So, okay, we have this man coming through, and he's bold and he's powerful. He pumped me up off of I'm a good man. But then he really was a wolf in sheep's clothing. I got everything I want. I got your vote. And now I'm just gonna tear it down. It's all about me and my money and my big rich friends. So I'm upset. I made the wrong vote. And I need everybody to understand what we going through. Like, stop. We are not on the beach anymore. Take your shades and off. The tsunami hit, and it was called President Trump. We got to get up. I'm a proud American. Very, very proud American. And right today, I'm a sad American. I'm not real proud. I'm not real proud of us.

[Michael Barbaro]

Well, thank you for sharing. Take care. So I think we're wrapping up KMR reporting at the gas station, and I wonder if you can forecast a little bit in the next week and whether you think you're going to have to keep raising prices, what it would take for you to lower them.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

I don't see lowering happening anytime soon. Usually when it's quick to rise like this, it's slower to lower. I don't think it's going to take a week for me to have to raise it honestly, above 399. As I was driving into work today, I passed by a gas station charging 405 for credit card purchases on gasoline.

[Michael Barbaro]

Regular.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

Regular. And it was an independent as well. Same as mine. Probably over the weekend, I'll probably have to go above $4. And as far as going well beyond $4, I could see it capping around 459. That's my estimated price cap, I believe.

[Michael Barbaro]

How do you come up with that number?

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

That's probably the highest that I remember ever putting my gas prices at. I hope it doesn't get to 459. I hope it doesn't go above 409. But as unpredictable as everything is and what's going on, you just never know.

[Michael Barbaro]

Well, thank you again.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

Thank you guys for all the time you've absolutely. I appreciate y' all coming out here and talking to me about this.

[Michael Barbaro]

Till next time.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

Yes, sir.

[Michael Barbaro]

We'll be right back.

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[Michael Barbaro]

Here's what else you need to know today.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

They now have the chance, that is Iran, to permanently abandon their nuclear ambitions and to chart a new path forward.

[Michael Barbaro]

We'll see if they want to do it. On Thursday, President Trump sought to ratchet up pressure on Iran to enter into diplomatic negotiations to end the war.

[Cam (Gas Station Manager)]

If they don't, with their worst nightmare in the meantime, we'll just keep blowing them away.

[Michael Barbaro]

Unimpeded, unstopped. Trump's latest threat came as Israel claimed it had killed a key Iranian naval commander who had led Iran's effort to close the Strait of Hormuz and as Israel expanded its ground operations in Lebanon. Meanwhile, the crisis at America's airports could soon come to an end after the Senate voted early Friday morning to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, which has been shut down for weeks. The bill, which now heads to the House, would fund every major DHS operation, including airport security, except for immigration enforcement. Today's episode was produced by Anna Foley and Caitlin o'. Keefe. It was edited by Devin Taylor. Contains music by Dan Powell, Diane Wong, Alicia Etoupe Marian Lozano and Chelsea Daniel. Our theme music is by Wonderly. This episode was engineered by Alyssa Moxley. That's it for the daily I'm michael balboro. See you on Sunday.

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[Michael Barbaro]

Whew.

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