Nebraska congressman on President Trump’s remarks on Iran, oil prices and USS Abraham Lincoln

(CBS, KYMA) - Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) spoke with Ed O'Keefe on Face the Nation Sunday about President Donald Trump's remarks about Iran and oil prices.

"For you to pay a tiny little bit more for your gasoline, just remember you're doing it so that a very evil country cannot have a country really, it's the number one state sponsor of terror in the world. We don't want to have them have a nuclear weapon. So remember that when you have to pay a little bit more, you're at $4. It's okay. I mean...I'll never apologize. I did the right thing," President Trump spoke.

This prompted O'Keefe to ask Rep. Bacon if he believes the president's justifications for rising gas prices across the country are helpful to Republicans on the ballot this fall, to which the congressman said:

"I think...he was being honest. And I think he was setting maybe false expectations in the previous months during the initial, you know, parts of this campaign with Iran, saying, 'We're going to get a deal tomorrow, we're going to get a deal tomorrow,' and not, 'This is going to be a longer term fight,' and I think he needed to set appropriate and honest expectations here. Iran has killed about 1,000 Americans. It...has been the world's leading exporter of terror. In fact, 600 Americans were killed in Iraq from primarily those very dangerous roadside bombs that Iran made and sent to all the terrorists in Iraq. And I just think it was important for him to level with the American people. This is going to be a tough fight, and...we cannot allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. I don't think we should allow Iran to kill 1,000 Americans. This should probably been done a long time ago. But I think...he started out this whole war with, 'This is going to be an easy fight. We're going to be done here. It's going to take a month, two months. Okay, we're going to get a deal tomorrow.' And I think that those false expectations hurt him, and it's hurt the favorability of what we're trying to do here."

When asked if he senses Americans' economic pain, Bacon said:

"He doesn't communicate it well. As you mentioned, he makes light of the affordability question, and we do have an affordability problem. And I think, you know, I think a better way for him to frame it, we had 9% inflation under Joe Biden. Of course, it went down towards the end of his presidency, but the Americans have never recovered from that. And once again, inflation is slightly higher than wages. I think most Americans are feeling the pain at the grocery store and the gas. So, I think it's better just to acknowledge, 'Hey, this is a problem, and we got to work towards getting wages climbing faster than inflation.' But one of the ways we could do that is to change his tariff policy. Tariffs have hurt inflation. It's not only just the war with Iran and gas; tariffs have also had an impact here. And I would encourage the president to review the tariff policy. Global tariffs, it ends up being a tax on consumers, and we're paying more because of it."

During the interview, O'Keefe and Bacon talked about the USS Abraham Lincoln, who is expected to return to port after being deployed for nine months amid concerns about living conditions aboard the vessel.

When the president was asked about concerns regarding the USS Lincoln's conditions, he said, "No, no, no. Not nearly long enough."

This led O'Keefe to ask if Trump was wrong to be dismissive about the concerns aboard the Lincoln, and Bacon said:

"I think so...It would have been better to acknowledge, hey, long deployments are hard. You know, I did one year in Iraq. I had another three other deployments to Iraq or the area that were shorter. But when I was in Iraq for a year, there were Marines and soldiers there for 18 months. So I think it's better to acknowledge, 'Hey, this is hard on the families. It's hard on the service members. Thank them for being willing to defend our country and doing these 10-month deployments if you're on an aircraft carrier.' I think that would have been a much more better way of addressing this issue. It is hard on families, we should acknowledge that. But we've done it for previous wars and deployments, and we'll have to do so in the future. I think that's a better way to phrase it."

To watch more of O'Keefe's interview with Bacon, click here.