“President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, is telling his advisers to bring ideas to the Oval Office to lower gasoline prices in the wake of the U.S. attack on Iran,” Politico reports.

“The attack and Iran’s subsequent targeting of the Persian Gulf’s energy sector has sent crude oil up more than $10 a barrel, lifting gasoline prices to their highest levels since Trump took office last year.”

Playbook: “Wiles knows a crisis when she sees one. Ideas under discussion in the White House include a temporary holiday on the gasoline tax — although that would require action from Congress, and there’s no guarantee oil refiners and gas stations would pass savings along. Some administration officials also floated using the U.S. military to defend energy infrastructure in the Middle East.”

“President Donald Trump said the US will provide insurance guarantees and naval escorts to ensure safe passage for oil tankers and other vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, aiming to head off a potential energy crisis caused by the war with Iran,” Bloomberg reports.

“When the U.S. and Israel launched a wave of strikes on Iran over the weekend, some Democrats warned about the impact on energy costs. Now that those predictions have come to pass with an uptick in global prices for natural gas and crude oil, Democrats are pouncing — and Republicans are pushing back,” Politico reports.

“Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) started to set the tone for the GOP’s messaging Monday afternoon, saying he expected prices to return to prewar levels soon.”

Said Thune: “I think that there will be, hopefully, a cessation of this in the not-too-distant future, at which time my assumption is that that’ll stabilize a bit. Anything that happens in the Middle East seems to set off an increase in oil prices.”

Washington Post: “These full-throated endorsements of a renewable energy source that has been much maligned by Trump and his advisers represents a departure from what had been a pillar of the MAGA energy agenda.”

“It reflects a realization taking hold more broadly among Republicans that solar power — long embraced by liberals — is increasingly indispensable to America’s bid to dominate AI, close a yawning ‘electron gap’ with China and contain runaway residential electricity costs.”

“President Trump took the stage Friday against a backdrop of crude storage tanks at the Port of Corpus Christi in Texas and touted low fuel prices to a small crowd of supporters,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Said Trump: “Slashing energy costs is among the most important actions we can take to bring down prices for American consumers.”

“Just a few hours later, the U.S. and Israel launched overnight strikes against Iran that risk sparking a wide conflict in a region that churns out about one-third of global crude—potentially snarling Trump’s stated goal to make life more affordable for U.S. consumers.”

“Brent crude jumped 10% to about $80 a barrel over the counter on Sunday, oil traders said, while analysts predicted that prices could climb as high as $100 after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran plunged the Middle East into a new war,” Reuters reports.

“Democrats on Saturday seized on President Donald Trump’s decision to attack Iran as a new front in their energy affordability campaign,” Politico reports.

“Crude prices had already begun climbing on Friday in anticipation of military action in Iran, a major oil producer that also sits at the Strait of Hormuz, a key chokepoint for fossil fuel shipments.”

Slightly more Americans think Democrats are the party most committed to reducing energy prices, a new Politico poll has found — yet another sign of potential trouble for President Trump and the GOP on the issue of affordability.

New York Times: “American presidents have long been accused of plotting to control foreign oil. But while the United States has built relationships and even intervened abroad for oil, it has never simply seized control of another country’s oil reserves.”

“A majority of Trump-coalition voters back solar power, especially if the panels are made in the U.S. and without Chinese materials,” Axios reports.

“Trump officials are moving against renewables on several fronts, including Interior Department permitting restrictions and the GOP budget law hastening the end of project subsidies.”

“But the poll commissioned by U.S. manufacturer First Solar suggests that a big swath of his coalition is partial to the tech.”

“President Donald Trump mounted a dramatic intervention into the nation’s largest power market on Friday, aiming to quell political headaches over rising electricity prices fueled by new data centers across a clutch of swing states,” Politico reports.

“The unprecedented move by the White House is an attempt to ensure one of the brightest spots in the economy — the surge in construction of data centers devoted to artificial intelligence — isn’t hamstrung by one of the biggest drags — the rising cost of energy.”

“U.S. forces seized a sixth oil tanker on Thursday morning,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“OPEC members struggling to preserve their market share amid a sinking price for oil now have an unexpected new variable to contend with: President Trump’s move to dominate Venezuela’s oil supply and push the market in a direction that would benefit American consumers,” the Wall Street Journal reports.