The U.S. war on Iran has driven up gasoline prices, alarming drivers around the world and spurring renewed interest in electric vehicles. Gasoline prices are rising and “so are searches for EVs,” said InsideEVs.

Will the crisis in the Middle East “finally mean that people will want EVs”? said Matt Hardigree at The Autopian. The end of tax credits for electric cars has produced a drop in EV sales, dropping by half from 12% of all vehicle sales in 2025. Automakers have “largely cut production” of EVs, and the EVs that remain on the market are “super cheap,” as dealers try to unload inventory. A “prolonged period of higher energy prices” could change that dynamic. Come summer, there “might be fewer affordable EVs and higher energy prices.”

The road to energy independence?
Electric vehicles are “not the answer to oil shocks,” said Kevin Williamson at The Dispatch. Look to China, where oil consumption is increasing despite the proliferation of cheap and abundant EVs because there are “many things you can do with oil other than refine it into gasoline and diesel.” Imported oil fuels the country’s growing petrochemical industry, which makes plastics and other products. Back in the U.S., commuters with “relatively short daily drives” might benefit from EVs, but that “would not have the effect of lowering U.S. oil consumption.”

Fuel price security
U.S. carmakers are bracing for “ripple effects” from the war, said The Detroit Free Press. They will face new challenges if this “stretches out and causes extended disruption to oil supplies,” said Sam Abuelsamid, the vice president of market research at Telemetry. General Motors, however, “might be in a good place with its electric vehicle lineup."

“I’m sure glad I bought an EV and solar panels,” said Ryan Cooper at The American Prospect. The stereotype is that electric vehicles are for “environmentally conscious liberals.” But they are also “much cheaper to operate than gas cars.” In a world with roller-coaster gas prices, EVs offer “fuel price security,” which is easier on the wallet.

President Donald Trump’s consolidation of power across the federal government continues apace. With it, a similar form of conservative capture has been mirrored across the avenues of mass media in the U.S.

From the rolling public turmoil at The Washington Post under Jeff Bezos and CBS under Bari Weiss to behind-the-scenes machinations at institutions like The New York Times and the growing media empire of David and Larry Ellison (pictured above), swaths of mainstream American media have begun embracing a decidedly conservative agenda. These are the other media players that have been helping fuel America’s rightward media pivot.
 
Patrick Soon-Shiong, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, after nixing a planned 2024 endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris, justified his decision as righting an “unacceptable” wrong at the paper he purchased in 2018. “As you can see,” it was “because it’s a left lean” that they “wrote terrible stories” about Trump, said Soon-Shiong in a podcast interview with arch MAGA personality Tucker Carlson. The billionaire physician and investor is trying to “attract more conservative readers to his newspaper,” said Politico. 

Lachlan Murdoch, News Corp
Scion of the powerful Rupert Murdoch-founded News Corp dynasty, eldest son Lachlan completed his bid to assume control of his father’s empire in September 2025. The move guaranteed that the “empire’s various outlets, including Fox News, The New York Post and The Wall Street Journal, will remain conservative” after 95-year-old Rupert’s eventual death, said The New York Times. Lachlan is seen as being the “most likely heir to preserve the conservative identity that defines his father’s portfolio,” said NPR News. 

Brian Calle, LA Weekly
When Seminal Media investment group purchased LA Weekly in 2017, it quickly installed Brian Calle, a “conservative-leaning former opinion editor,” to lead its new acquisition, said The Wrap. Calle’s tenure began with a series of deep layoffs, prompting a “furious counterattack” by former staffers who “alleged Calle heads a conservative conspiracy” to transform the “historically progressive” publication into an “alt-right rag,” said Columbia Journalism Review. “Downplaying” his rightward inclinations is “exactly the opposite” of what Calle should be doing, said the right-leaning National Review in 2018 after he assumed control of the paper. “Prudent conservatism can save the LA Weekly.”

Emergency personnel and a search-and-rescue dog investigate the remains of a strike in Tehran, Iran, two weeks into the ongoing U.S.-Israeli barrage. At least four cultural and historical sites, including palaces and an ancient mosque, have been damaged in the attacks on Iran so far.
Majid Asgaripour / WANA (West Asia News Agency) / Reuters

A fresh perspective on Marilyn Monroe, a celebration of Edmonia Lewis’ intricate marble sculptures, and a first-of-its-kind Raphael retrospective are a small sampling of the absorbing museum exhibitions opening in museums across the U.S. this spring. Get ready to stare. 

‘Edmonia Lewis: Said in Stone,’ Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts
The Black and Indigenous sculptor from New York “achieved improbable mobility and international fame” during the 19th century, said The New York Times. She’s finally getting her first, and long overdue, major retrospective at the Peabody Essex Museum and Georgia Museum of Art, an exhibition a “decade in the making.” (through June 7, Peabody Essex; Aug. 8, 2026-Jan. 3, 2027, Georgia Museum of Art)

‘Raphael: Sublime Poetry,’ The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
This “monumental” display of Raphael’s work “reconstructs” the artist’s entire career, with a special emphasis on his “depictions of women” and “mastery across media,” said Artforum. Works on loan include “The Virgin and Child with Infant Saint John the Baptist in Landscape (The Alba Madonna)” from the National Gallery of Art. (March 29-June 28)

‘Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon,’ Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Los Angeles
You might think you know Marilyn Monroe, but this exhibition, timed to coincide with what would have been her 100th birthday, promises to give new insight. The exhibition features several of her most famous costumes, including the gorgeous (and rarely displayed) fuchsia dress she wore in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” (May 31, 2026-Feb. 28, 2027)