Transcript: Rep. Don Bacon on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Aug. 16, 2026

The following is the transcript of an interview with Rep. Don Bacon, Republican of Nebraska, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Aug. 16, 2026.

ED O'KEEFE: We turn now to Republican Congressman Don Bacon. He joins us from Omaha, Nebraska. Good morning, Congressman, and we understand it is your birthday. So happy birthday, and thank you for spending part of it with us.

REPRESENTATIVE DON BACON: Good morning to you, and yeah, I'm nine years old and dog years, so that makes me feel better.

ED O'KEEFE: Okay, well, if you could do the math, you'll figure that out. But we appreciate you being here. I want to start this morning with something the president had to say on Friday about the state of the economy and the state of the war with Iran. Take a listen.

DONALD TRUMP: 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, it's- I'm not- I'm not- I'll never apologize. I did the right thing.

ED O'KEEFE: I know you're not running for re-election this fall, Congressman. But in the context of the midterm elections, is the president's justifications for gas prices across the country helpful to Republicans on the ballot this fall?

REP. BACON: I think here in- in the tape you just played, 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- 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 was the- 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 do not- 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.

REP. BACON: But I think with the- 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 that- those false expectations hurt him, and it's hurt the- the favorability of what we're trying to do here.

ED O'KEEFE: But do you get a sense he feels the pain of Americans, the economic pain?

REP. BACON: 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.