Are you sick of paying high gas prices? Well, you’re just going to have to tough it out because paying more for gas is the right thing to do. We have an overseas dictator to defeat, after all, despite the fact that we’re not actively at war with him.

According to President Joe Biden, the high gas prices you’re currently enduring are necessary for as long as it takes to defeat Russian president Vladimir Putin and his war on Ukraine.

This came after a reporter asked him how long American drivers would have to endure gas prices this high as a “premium for war.”

“As long as it takes,” Biden said, “so Russia cannot in fact defeat Ukraine and move beyond Ukraine. This is a critical, critical position for the world. Here we are. Why do we have NATO? I told Putin that in fact, if he were to move, we would move to strengthen NATO. We would move to strengthen NATO across the board.”

🚨: NY Times' Jim Tankersley asks Biden, "How long is it fair to expect American drivers to pay that premium" for the war in Ukraine?

Biden: "As long as it takes." pic.twitter.com/PnRX95xT48

— John Cooper (@thejcoop) June 30, 2022

This reasoning might work on leftists who like to put the Ukraine flag in their Twitter handles, but for everyone else, this isn’t a good reason. It’s unclear how long this war is going to go on, and “it’ll happen till it doesn’t” isn’t going to put voters at ease. Appealing to their better angels with lies is only going to further anger people every time they have to make a pass at the pump.

Moreover, for many other Americans, it’s clear that this is just a thin cover for the fact that the Biden administration has created this gas crisis by refusing to lift regulations on oil companies, allowing them to drill and refine oil here in the states.

(READ: Oil and Gas Associations Unite to Destroy Biden’s Narrative About Who’s Behind the Energy Crisis)

Biden knows that this mess is happening to America because his administration won’t cooperate with oil companies due to an agenda the Democrats wish to upkeep and a narrative they don’t want to lose. Not to mention moving toward opening up oil companies for further business would upset his radical base.

When it comes to the gas crisis, Putin isn’t the problem, it’s Biden. By attempting to, once again, put this on Putin he’s appealing to emotions most Americans don’t have, and every time he does he only makes them angrier.