In what can only be described as a masterclass in treating global energy crises the way most people treat a triple bogey, former President Donald Trump has once again demonstrated a remarkable ability to dismiss complex geopolitical situations with the casual confidence of someone who has never had to worry about heating oil prices.
The Strait of Hormuz—the narrow waterway through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil passes—remains effectively shut down. This is not a metaphor. This is not a negotiating tactic. Ships carrying energy supplies that power hospitals, factories, and yes, even golf courses, are currently unable to transit one of the planet’s most critical chokepoints. Oil prices have responded accordingly, jumping sharply as traders priced in the reality that a significant portion of global energy supply is currently being held hostage by geopolitical tensions.
Into this moment stepped Trump, who apparently looked at a serious diplomatic proposal to end the underlying conflict and decided it was not worth his time. The dismissal was casual enough that you could almost hear the club hitting the ball in the background. No detailed counterproposal. No strategic alternative. Just a wave of the hand and a move on to the next hole.
Here is what makes this genuinely funny in a way that hurts: Trump’s casual dismissal of a peace proposal—any peace proposal—has immediate, measurable consequences for people who will never meet him, never vote for him, and definitely never play golf with him. A family in Germany trying to heat their home next winter will pay more. A shipping company moving goods from Singapore to Rotterdam will spend more on fuel surcharges. A retiree on a fixed income will see energy bills climb.
But from Trump’s perspective, apparently, this is just another negotiation where someone else made an offer he did not like, so he rejected it without a counter. Except in this case, the “negotiation” is not about a hotel deal or a television contract—it is about whether 20 percent of global oil supply stays locked behind a geopolitical standoff.
The absurdity deepens when you consider the actual mechanics. The proposal on the table was designed to de-escalate the exact situation that is currently making oil expensive. A functioning proposal would have meant the Strait of Hormuz reopens, supply normalizes, prices drop, and everyone—including Trump, who famously loves cheap energy—gets what they want. Instead, Trump treated it like a bad opening offer on a condo in Miami: rejected on principle, no follow-up, move to the next property.
What is particularly rich is that Trump spent his presidency bragging about his ability to negotiate and make deals. “Art of the Deal,” and all that. Except deals require both sides to actually want a resolution. When one side is so confident in their position—or so indifferent to the consequences—that they can casually dismiss any path to peace, you do not get a deal. You get higher oil prices, global economic friction, and a lot of people worse off.
The market has already spoken. Oil jumped because traders understand a simple truth: when a geopolitical crisis gets more likely to persist, energy gets more expensive. When a potential off-ramp gets dismissed by someone with enough political influence to matter, the crisis gets longer odds of resolution. When a former president treats a global energy crisis the way he treats a bad lie on the back nine—with a shrug and a move to the next shot—the rest of the world has to price in the probability that this thing drags on.
So yes, Trump dismissed a proposal to end a war that is currently shutting down one of the world’s most important oil chokepoints. And yes, oil prices soared in response. And yes, millions of people who have never heard of Trump and could not care less about his golfing will end up paying more for energy because of it.
If that is not the perfect encapsulation of modern geopolitics—where the casual whims of the powerful ripple out to make life slightly worse for the powerless—then nothing is.
The lesson, as always, is simple: when someone with a megaphone dismisses a path to peace, assume the crisis gets worse. Price accordingly. And maybe do not expect the people making these decisions to lose any sleep over the heating bills they just made slightly more expensive.