Paul Krugman smacks down Trump speech with argument that $4 gas is ‘less than half’ of the Hormuz hit. Here’s what he’s talking about

In a primetime address to the nation Wednesday night, President Donald Trump cast the U.S. effort in Iran as a show of strength. But he left the timeline of the war’s end conspicuously fuzzy, pledging the U.S. would hit Iran “extremely hard” in the coming weeks. Markets didn’t love that ambiguity. Investors recoiled out of fears of an endless quagmire. But Trump tried to quell fears by downplaying the stakes in the Strait of Hormuz, insisting the U.S. doesn’t depend on the critical trade choke point.