Donald Trump: American Crime Figure— What About His Enablers?

Trump Woos The Oil Barons Back

ny Mark Bryan

Trump has always been steeped in criminal behavior and his entire life has been about what he could get away with. His idol has always been Mafia lawyer Roy Cohn. Other than “what he can get away with,” he knows no bounds. Even now, in the midst of a criminal trial, he’s baiting the judge to lock him up for a contempt charge. Reporting for Time yesterday, Eric Cortellessa wrote that “Some in Trump’s orbit are rooting for chaos, encouraging him to engineer a standoff with the American judicial system. They argue that the image of a former President sitting in a prison cell for speaking his mind would turn public opinion against the proceedings. Trump ‘should fight it even if it means jail,’ says Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist… Within Trump’s inner circle, there’s a debate over whether he should take the witness stand in his own defense… Some Trump allies argue the risk of him drawing a perjury charge is too great, given his proclivity for making false statements.”

“Making false statement” (including under oath) is just one of the attributes that makes up America’s most disgusting spoiled brat. I was especially struck this week by a Washington Post reporter about an offer he made to a gaggle of oil billionaires. For a billion dollars he said he’d tank the efforts Biden has made to cope with the increasingly existential threat of Global Warming. Josh Dawsey and Maxine Joselow reported that in return for the money he “pledged to scrap Biden’s policies on electric vehicles and wind energy, as well as other initiatives opposed by the fossil fuel industry.

The oil and gas industry are major contributors to the Republican Party. The top dozen recipients of their money so far this cycle:

• August Pfluger (R-TX)- $573,721

• Señor Trumpanzee- $501,014

• Ron DeSantis $496,927

• Ted Cruz (R-TX)- $445,232

• Nikki Haley- $431,817

• Kevin Cramer (R-ND)- $382,514

• Tim Sheehy (R-MT)- $368,285

• Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)- $322,199

• John Barrasso (R-WY)- $316,794

• Steve Scalise (R-LA)- $313,053

• MAGA Mike (R-LA)- $298,096

• Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)- $292-471

The Oil and Gas oligarchs aren’t used to politicians standing up to them and they went to Mar-a-Lago to win to Trump. But his response even stunned some of them. “You all are wealthy enough, he said, that you should raise $1 billion to return me to the White House. At the dinner, he vowed to immediately reverse dozens of President Biden’s environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted, according to people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation.”

Giving $1 billion would be a “deal,” Trump said, because of the taxation and regulation they would avoid thanks to him, according to the people.

Trump’s remarkably blunt and transactional pitch reveals how the former president is targeting the oil industry to finance his reelection bid. At the same time, he has turned to the industry to help shape his environmental agenda for a second term, including the rollbacks of some of Biden’s signature achievements on clean energy and electric vehicles.

The contrast between the two candidates on climate policy could not be more stark. Biden has called global warming an “existential threat,” and over the last three years, his administration has finalized 100 new environmental regulations aimed at cutting air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, restricting toxic chemicals, and conserving public lands and waters. In comparison, Trump has called climate change a “hoax,” and his administration weakened or wiped out more than 125 environmental rules and policies over four years.

In recent months, the Biden administration has raced to overturn Trump’s environmental actions and issue new ones before the November election. So far, Biden officials have overturned 27 Trump actions affecting the fossil fuel industry and completed 23 new actions affecting the sector, according to a Washington Post analysis. The Interior Department, for instance, recently blocked future oil drilling across 13 million acres of the Alaskan Arctic.

Despite the oil industry’s complaints about Biden’s policies, the United States is now producing more oil than any country ever has, pumping nearly 13 million barrels per day on average last year. ExxonMobil and Chevron, the largest U.S. energy companies, reported their biggest annual profits in a decade last year.

Yet oil giants will see an even greater windfall— helped by new offshore drilling, speedier permits and other relaxed regulations— in a second Trump administration, the former president told the executives over the dinner of chopped steak at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump vowed at the dinner to immediately end the Biden administration’sfreeze on permits for new liquified natural gas (LNG) exports— a top priority for the executives, according to three people present. “You’ll get it on the first day,” Trump said, according to the recollection of an attendee.

The roughly two dozen executives invited included Mike Sabel, the CEO and founder of Venture Global, and Jack Fusco, the CEO of Cheniere Energy, whose proposed projects would directly benefit from lifting the pause on new LNG exports. Other attendees came from companies including Chevron, Continental Resources, Exxon and Occidental Petroleum, according to an attendance list obtained by The Post.

Trump told the executives that he would start auctioning off more leases for oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, a priority that several of the executives raised. He railed against wind power, as The Post previously reported. And he said he would reverse the restrictions on drilling in the Alaskan Arctic.

“You’ve been waiting on a permit for five years; you’ll get it on Day 1,” Trump told the executives, according to the recollection of the attendee.

At the dinner, Trump also promised that he would scrap Biden’s “mandate” on electric vehicles— mischaracterizing ambitious rules that the EPA recently finalized, according to people who attended. The rules require automakers to reduce emissions from car tailpipes, but they don’t mandate a particular technology such as EVs. Trump called them “ridiculous” in the meeting with donors.

The fossil fuel industry has aggressively lobbied against the EPA’s tailpipe rules, which could eat into demand for its petroleum products. The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, an industry trade group, has launched a seven-figure campaign against what it calls a de facto “gas car ban.” The campaign includes ads in battleground states warning that the rule will restrict consumer choice.

…Biden’s EV policies have also sparked opposition in rural, Republican-led states such as North Dakota, where there are far more oil pump jacks than charging stations. A key figure leading the Trump campaign’s development of its energy policy is North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R), who has been talking extensively to oil donors and CEOs.

At a fundraiser on Saturday in Palm Beach, Fla., Burgum told donors that Trump would halt Biden’s “attack” on fossil fuels, according to a recording of his remarks obtained by The Post.

“What would be the No. 1 thing that President Trump could do on Day 1? It’s stop the hostile attack against all American energy, and I mean all,” Burgum said. “Whether it’s baseload electricity, whether it’s oil, whether it’s gas, whether it’s ethanol, there is an attack on liquid fuels.”

Burgum also criticized the Biden administration’s policies on gas stoves and vehicles with internal combustion engines, claiming that they would prevent consumers from buying both technologies. While the Energy Department recently set new efficiency standards for gas stoves, they would not affect the stoves in people’s kitchens or those currently on the market.

“They’ve got some liberal idea about what products we need,” Burgum said. “You all need EV cars. You don’t need internal combustion. We’ll decide what kind of car you’re going to drive, and we’re going to regulate the other ones out of business. I mean, it’s just in every industry, not just in cars, not just in energy. They’re telling people what stoves you can buy. This is not America.”

…One person involved in the industry said many oil executives wanted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or another Republican to challenge Biden. But now that Trump is the nominee, this person said, they are going to embrace his policies and give.

Dan Eberhart, chief executive of the oil-field services company Canary and a Trump donor, said the Republican onslaught of donations was not surprising.

“Biden constantly throws a wet blanket to the oil and gas industry,” Eberhart said. “Trump’s ‘drill baby drill’ philosophy aligns much better with the oil patch than Biden’s green-energy approach. It’s a no-brainer.”

Alex Witt, a senior adviser for oil and gas with Climate Power, said Trump’s promise is he will do whatever the oil industry wants if they support him. With Trump, Witt said, “everything has a price.”

“They got a great return on their investment during Trump’s first term, and Trump is making it crystal clear that they’re in for an even bigger payout if he’s reelected,” she said.