Fox Business Network host Larry Kudlow made an appearance on this Thursday's America Reports on Fox "news," and was asked by host Sandra Smith how long he thought Americans were going to be able to weather higher energy prices, and after blowing smoke up everyone's rear about how the price of gas will supposedly come back down quickly once the war with Iran is over, basically told everyone to just suck it up and get over it.

SMITH: What's your takeaway?

KUDLOW: It's phenomenal — that's a big number, and it shows you how resilient the economy is. Business is strong, profits are booming. That's why the stock market is hitting all-time records in the middle of this war, with high energy prices. I don't deny it.

I'll just say this on energy: it's a small price to pay to take out Iran. It's a small price to pay to prevent Iran from acquiring any nuclear capabilities whatsoever. It's a small price to pay to hopefully engineer some kind of real regime change, because this is the most gruesome, Nazi-like government we've seen in 100 years.

Americans, I think, should be very proud of what their president and military are doing here.

And you see it in this summit with Xi — he's not disagreeing. Even though China helped create Iran in the first place by buying 90% of their oil and financing everything Iran was doing, from missiles to nuclear weapons to enrichment and all the rest of it, he's not bellyaching. You don't hear a peep out of him on that point.

So it's $4.50 to $5 gasoline. Live with it. It's going to come way down once this war is over. My guess is that after this summit is completed, you will see the completion of the bombing mission. There'll be additional combat, and then completion of whatever they're calling it — Project Freedom — that will open up the Strait of Hormuz without any tolls. The United States will take control of it for a good long while.

I don't know what the rest of it's going to look like, but I think they've been planning for this — ironically, on the airplane to Beijing. This will not last forever. The oil prices, the gasoline prices will not last forever.

Scott Bessent said today in Beijing that there will be disinflation in the second half of the year. I believe he's right. We've got a couple of rough months ahead on inflation — yes, we do — but I think it will end quickly.

SMITH: That's very much in line with the New York Post editorial board today.

KUDLOW: And that's what's so important about this economy.

SMITH: I get it. However—

KUDLOW: We are a resilient economy. No one is close to us. We have resources. We can produce military weaponry and soldiers — men and women — like no other country in the world.

SMITH: You give us a lot of room for optimism. Let me just finish with this, because the board agrees with you and says April's inflation spike is no cause for panic — but only if we finish off the Iran situation fast. The point is, we can deal with this for a while. But President Trump has promised this is a short-term situation. How much longer can the consumer weather this?

KUDLOW: Weather this? How about a year?

SMITH: Okay.

KUDLOW: Are you looking at these retail sales? This is three months of data —

SMITH: I am. But I also saw the inflation report.

KUDLOW: March and April were war months — rising gasoline and energy months — and we're still growing at 9%-plus over the past three months. I don't know if we'll get 4% GDP growth, but the Atlanta Fed is projecting around 4% for the second quarter based on what we know now. The first quarter was 2% — there's nothing wrong with that — and I believe it will be revised higher.

We're in a business boom right now. I keep making this point: profits are booming. Profits are the mother's milk of stocks and the lifeblood of the economy. There's a reason these stock market indexes are rising — it's not fluff, it's not irrational exuberance. It's basic, old-fashioned business profits. Look at the job reports coming in strong.

I'm just saying: we have the resources to do this. Our economy will not be damaged. We are resilient. We've had sound low-tax and deregulation policies, and drill-baby-drill energy policies, and all of that is coming home to roost. Yes, I am an optimist, and I think the president deserves enormous credit for what he's trying to accomplish. Meanwhile, Xi is not even bellyaching — though he may be trying to stir the pot on Taiwan.

h/t Media Matters