Seven months ago Donald Trump started a war with Iran he said would take “four to five weeks.” Now he’s decided the reason your diesel costs so much is the president of Ukraine.
Earlier today I wrote about the 77 million people who voted for the dumbest human on earth. I figured I’d have to wait a while for a fresh example. Turns out he’d already handed me one the day before.
Here’s what happened. On Friday Trump announced a deal for Russia to ship the U.S. diesel, starting with more than 300,000 tons and growing from there, and the Treasury said it would temporarily waive sanctions on Russia’s energy sector to make it happen. That’s the same Russian energy sector Trump signed a sanctions law against last month. Zelenskyy said the deal plays into Russia’s hands, which is a polite way of saying we’re now buying fuel from the guy bombing his country. On Saturday Trump told reporters, per CBS News, that Zelenskyy “wants to make problems for our farmers, our ranchers, with diesel fuel,” and “I think it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president.” Meanwhile, Russian strikes killed at least 20 people in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, three of them kids.
So let’s talk about why diesel is expensive. Ukraine has been hitting Russian refineries, and that does squeeze global supply. I’m not going to pretend otherwise. But the price didn’t go nuts because a country defending itself blew up some refineries. It went nuts after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28 and the Strait of Hormuz shut down. According to the government’s own Energy Information Administration, diesel averaged $3.72 a gallon in February, the month the war started. In March it jumped to $4.92. September averaged $6.29, the highest monthly figure on record and well past the 2022 peak. Regular gas is sitting around $4.36, still 46 percent above where it was before the war.
And the war that was supposed to be quick? PolitiFact counted the promises. “Four to five weeks” on March 1. “I always thought it would be four weeks” on March 2. “Within two weeks maybe, two weeks, maybe three” on March 31. In late September he told TIME that the press fed people the four-to-six-week number, and PolitiFact rated that False. He said the nuclear goal was “attained” back in March. It’s October. We’re still there, and farmers are still paying for it at the pump.
This is the part that makes me crazy. I can respect a president who says the war is costing more than I thought, here’s why it’s worth it. That’s an argument. Blaming an ally for a price spike you kicked off yourself, then rewarding the guy invading that ally with a sanctions waiver, isn’t an argument. It’s a toddler pointing at the dog after the cookie jar hits the floor.
Nobody forced this war. Iran wasn’t marching on Ohio. Trump picked this fight and set his own deadline, and he blew through it months ago. Now he wants a scapegoat who doesn’t even get a vote in our midterms.
My two cents: if you start the fire, you don’t get to blame the neighbor for the smoke.
Photo by Robert F. W. Whitlock via Openverse/Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY 2.0.