Biden’s Handlers Find Another Authoritarian State to Buy Oil From

by ROBERT SPENCER

This isn’t rocket science: gas prices are hitting astronomical new heights every day because Old Joe Biden closed the Keystone Pipeline, ended our energy independence, and forced us to rely on supplies of Russian oil that have become problematic in all kinds of ways with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Yet even as the crisis intensifies, Biden’s handlers refuse to reverse course and restore America’s own oil supplies; instead, it is courting authoritarian regimes, as if paying Russia for oil wasn’t enough financing of tyranny already. Next in line: Venezuela.
 
First came the Islamic Republic of Iran. On Wednesday, MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle asked Transportation Secretary Pete “Mr. Mom” Buttigieg if Biden would consider “working something out with Iran” for oil. Buttigieg wouldn’t rule out that possibility: “Look, the president has said that all options are on the table. But we also need to make sure we’re not galloping after permanent solutions to immediate short term problems where more strategic and tactical actions in the short term could make a difference.”
 
But the “Death to America”-chanting mullahs aren’t enough. Fox News reported Sunday that “several senior Biden administration officials from the White House and State Department traveled to Venezuela on Saturday to meet with the Russian ally as Moscow’s economy begins to crater under the weight of sanctions, according to a report.” The idea is to entice the brutal hard-Left regime of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro away from Moscow’s embrace. The U.S. used to be Venezuela’s biggest customer for its oil exports, but the Trump administration put sanctions on those exports in view of the Venezuelan regime’s tyrannical behavior and election fraud.
 
But for Biden’s handlers, that sort of thing is no problem, as is clear from the fact that the administration’s trip to Venezuela was “the highest-profile one to Venezuela from American officials in years.” The agenda is obvious: “Some in the U.S. are considering Venezuelan oil as a possible substitute to Russian imports, as more American politicians say the U.S. needs to end its reliance on Russian oil, which could help finance Putin’s war.” Maduro opened the door to this himself on Thursday, saying: “Here lies the oil of Venezuela, which is available for whomever wants to produce and buy it, be it an investor from Asia, Europe or the United States.”
 
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It’s astonishing that we have an administration that would rather buy oil from two regimes that terrorize their own people than take the steps that would restore the energy independence the United States enjoyed under the Trump administration. This is partly because the “adults” who are back in charge now are so spiteful, hateful, and immature that they must do the opposite of whatever Trump did, no matter how well it worked and how ill-advised the alternative. Biden’s handlers also have to please the green energy advocates who form such an important part of their base and who apparently don’t mind the environmental damage that results from the production of oil if it takes place in far-off countries and isn’t on CNN.
 
Imagine if Biden’s handlers reversed course, reopened the Keystone Pipeline, and worked to restore America’s energy independence. The economy would improve, gas prices would go down, and we would be free of potentially dangerous entanglements with the likes of Russia, Iran, and Venezuela.
 
What’s the downside, apart from a few angry green energy advocates? It’s tempting to think that Biden’s handlers are behaving in a stupid and short-sighted way in all this, but they’re actually anything but stupid, and that leaves only one alternative: their America-Last priorities are on full display here. Biden’s handlers appear to be so committed to socialist internationalism that they would rather see corrupt, authoritarian regimes in other countries benefit than see the American people relieved from their increasingly severe economic plight.

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