Well now. President Trump got on the phone with Vladimir Putin on Friday and came away announcing a deal to import Russian diesel into the United States. Over 300,000 tons right away, then 500,000 more in November, then a million tons after that, and three million tons “within a short period of time.” That’s a lot of diesel, folks, and every gallon of it comes with a little receipt that reads: payable to the man bombing Ukrainian apartment buildings.
Now I know what you’re thinking, because I was thinking it too. Diesel hit $6.52 a gallon in September, a record, and it was still $6.28 as of this announcement. That’s not a gas price, that’s a car payment. Our farmers and truckers are getting squeezed till they squeak, and anybody who says otherwise hasn’t filled up a pickup lately. So yes, I understand the temptation. Prices are high, Putin’s got fuel, let’s make a deal.
But here’s where I have questions for the manager. Congress passed a law in 2022 banning Russian energy imports. Not a suggestion, not a strongly worded letter. A law. It said, plain as a Sunday hymn, that the United States doesn’t buy oil from Russia until Russia stops killing Ukrainians and stops threatening our NATO allies. And the six senators who stood up Sunday, four Republicans and two Democrats, said exactly that: “President Trump’s decision to allow Russian diesel imports to the U.S. runs directly counter to that law.”
Those Republicans are Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Thom Tillis and John Curtis, joined by Democrats Jeanne Shaheen and Richard Blumenthal. When Susan Collins and Richard Blumenthal agree on something, honey, that’s not partisanship, that’s a miracle on the order of loaves and fishes. And their reasoning is simple enough for anybody raised right to understand: “The United States should not provide Putin with a financial lifeline while Russia continues to kill Ukrainian civilians.”
That’s not a talking point. That’s a moral fact. You don’t hand your wallet to the bully on the corner because he promised to knock a nickel off your groceries. Every ton of diesel we buy is money Putin turns around and spends on missiles, and pretending otherwise requires a level of squinting I’m not willing to do.
Now Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming went on “Face the Nation” and said the president “is balancing and has to make tough decisions.” Balancing. Bless his heart. There’s also the matter that the administration didn’t consult Congress or submit any explanation as required by statute, which Senator Tillis pointed out on “Meet the Press” makes a legitimate case that the president isn’t following the law. Meanwhile Chuck Schumer, Shaheen and Elizabeth Warren called the whole thing a betrayal of Ukraine and our European allies, and even a stopped clock gets to be right twice a day.
And Mr. President, with all the love in my heart: “Lower prices for Americans, especially our Great Farmers, Ranchers, and Truckers, is my Greatest Priority” is a fine sentiment, but you don’t get there by making America’s truckers dependent on a dictator’s fuel spigot. That’s not a deal, that’s a leash. Putin can turn it off the moment it suits him, and a man who invades his neighbors will eventually find it suits him.
Common sense says you don’t fund the war machine to save thirty cents a gallon. Six senators said it out loud Sunday. The administration should listen, reverse course, and do it before one more ruble lands in Moscow.