Outside the Beltway

President Donald Trump delivers remarks to military families at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Friday, February 13, 2026.
Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok

High Oil Prices are Good!

Dear Leader says so.

Steven L. Taylor
14

Comments

President Donald Trump delivers remarks to military families at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Friday, February 13, 2026.
Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok

As we all know, we have always been at war with Eastasia.

Dear Leader notes:

No doubt this is all multi-dimensional chess.

Of course, all snark and literary allusions aside, this is just another example of when he says that “we” make a lot of money, he doesn’t mean us normal people. He means, at best, the economy as a whole, but really just means the investor class. I bet he made quite a bit of money in the last couple of weeks, as it seems rather likely that some of his holdings are in oil stocks.

Categories

, , , ,

Tags

14 responses to “High Oil Prices are Good!”

  1. Daryl Avatar
    Daryl

    I damn sure hope Dems are already making an ad featuring this!!!

    That photo…I love when he does the mental floss dance with his itty bitty hands…

    2
  2. Michael Cain Avatar
    Michael Cain

    On the subject of impending shortages… Qatar has shut down their liquefied natural gas production. This also shuts down their helium production. Qatar produces about 35% of the world’s helium. They have already announced they will not be making their March deliveries. Spot prices have doubled. In addition to being essential for MRI medical imaging, helium is also critical in integrated circuit production. The big semiconductor companies in Taiwan and South Korea are making the kinds of comforting noises about diversified suppliers that I associate with “in two weeks, the wheels are going to fall off”.

    4
  3. charontwo Avatar
    charontwo

    @Michael Cain:

    Do you have links?

  4. CSK Avatar
    CSK

    I’m so glad Trump is “stoping” the Evil Empire.

    1
  5. Michael Cain Avatar
    Michael Cain

    @charontwo:
    Gasworld
    Reuters
    The interpretation of Taiwan and South Korea’s remarks is my own :^)

    1
  6. charontwo Avatar
    charontwo

    @Michael Cain:

    Thanks

  7. gVOR10 Avatar
    gVOR10

    @CSK: Didn’t the Evil Empire used to have three members?

    1
  8. CSK Avatar
    CSK

    @gVOR10:

    Yeah. Now it only has one: Iran.

    2
  9. charontwo Avatar
    charontwo

    How China is affected by Donny’s excellent adventure, an analysis:

    “Link”

    When oil tankers idled outside the Strait of Hormuz and Brent crude spiked past $120 a barrel, something peculiar happened in Beijing. Nothing. No emergency meetings of the State Council. No frantic calls to Gulf monarchies. No diplomatic missions dispatched to broker ceasefires. Chinese state media covered the Iran war with the detached interest one might reserve for a natural disaster in a distant country—regrettable, certainly, but fundamentally someone else’s problem. For a country that imports more crude oil than any other on earth, the calm was remarkable. It was also strategic.

    The Iran war has become an unexpected stress test for how China thinks about power, vulnerability, and opportunity in the global energy system. Beijing’s response reveals a country that is far less exposed to oil shocks than conventional wisdom suggests, yet still deeply aware that the geopolitics of energy can quickly turn economic advantages into strategic advantages.

    What the conflict has clarified is the emerging architecture of China’s energy statecraft: build structural insulation at home, avoid military entanglement abroad, and convert crisis conditions into technological and industrial advantage. Whilst the United States scrambles to reassure allies while redeploying missile defences from Korea, and manage yet another Middle Eastern quagmire, China has been quietly constructing an alternative model—one in which energy security flows not from aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf but from solar panels in Xinjiang, battery factories in Jiangsu as well as coal mines in the North-West. The world is taking note.

    3
  10. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    On the other hand, he’s threatening other countries to bail him out of the mess he’s made in the Gulf (I know what I said).

    1
  11. JohnSF Avatar
    JohnSF

    @Michael Cain:
    Also about 20% of all treaded nitrate ferilisers (a lot is not traded, but it will still spike prices), 20% of liquefied natural gas, 25% of ammonia, 10% of global aluminium production, 15% of ethylene, about 5% of all petrochemicals.

    In addition, which seems to being widely missed: the GCC states rely on imports for about 85% of their food requirements

    1
  12. JohnSF Avatar
    JohnSF

    @charontwo:
    China is going to be hurt, and badly, by the shortages, price rises, and falling demand.
    But there’s little they can directly do at this point.

    Given that, the obvious play is to prep the ecnomy as best as possible for an emergency, then sit back and wait to scoop up any diplomatic and economic benefits.
    For instance, a role as an intermediary.
    Or part of a post-war “stabilisation coalition”.

    And to benefit from a lot of countries who are coming to view a US combining recklessness and incomptence (and in particualr the US-Israel partnership) as a positive threat to their key interests.

    Plus a lot of increased demand for solar panels and wind turbines.

    1
  13. gVOR10 Avatar
    gVOR10

    @Kathy:

    It’s hard to know what El Taco means, because he has no idea himself.

    Saw something yesterday, photoshop of a warrior in ancient Chinese armor with Trump’s face, General Don Tzu’s Art of War, “ If I don’t know what I’m doing, then neither does my enemy.”

    2
  14. JohnSF Avatar
    JohnSF

    @gVOR10:
    The alternative ending of Machiavelli’s The Prince:

    “Or, I dunno, lets just go nutz and be heroes, dude!”

    Possibly.

    Or Clausewitz:

    “War is a mere continuation of politics by other means. Therefore let’s just go crazeee!”

    😉

    3

Latest Posts