Literally, I could write a “Criminals and Camouflage” story almost every time President Trump opens his mouth. He is always seeking someone to blame — “criminalize” — or some way to find a hiding place for what’s really going on — cover-up, or “camouflage.”
This morning, as I turned on the news for my morning cup of tea, it was Trump criminalizing the oil industry because prices at the pump haven’t fallen rapidly enough, now that the Strait of Hormuz is allowing through a trickle of tankers compared to the number before February 28 and the start of the conflict with Iran.
“The big Oil Companies are not dropping their price at the pump commensurate with the sharply lower prices they are paying for Oil,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Those prices are dropping like a rock! In other words, customers are being ‘gouged.’ I have instructed the DOJ to immediately start looking into this. Gasoline prices better start going down a lot faster than what I’m seeing!”
On TV, he said prices should be $2.25 a gallon. Right, Donald. I think even you understand how the industry works. Pump prices go up daily based on the price of crude, but they only go down when all the oil purchased at the higher price has been depleted. In other words, we’ve got a ways to go.
You should have considered all these aftershocks when you launched your Iranian campaign, somehow believing that it would be Venezuela Redux, only it would take a couple of days, not hours.
