Will Biden listen to Macron’s energy warning?
“I had a call with MbZ… He told me two things. I’m at a maximum, maximum… This is what he claims… And then he said… Saudis can increase by 150… Maybe a little bit more, but they don’t have huge capacities before six months’ time.”
Emmanuel Macron delivered this oil-production update to Joe Biden after a phone call with UAE leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan at yesterday’s G7 meeting in Germany. Whether a genuinely candid moment or a conversation deliberately started by the French president within earshot of the assembled press, mics picked up the exchange.
The unspoken implication of Macron’s update is that the administration’s strategy of relying on a boost in foreign oil output to ease soaring energy prices will not work. No wonder national security advisor Jake Sullivan was hovering nervously next to the two heads of state, eager to usher them to a more private location.
While Biden is keen to pin blame for rising prices on Vladimir Putin, he is desperate to avoid any acknowledgement of the trade-offs involved in the transition to a greener economy. Biden has recently softened his tone, last week acknowledging that America needs more refining capacity. But, as Michael Shellenberger recently noted, the president has been disgracefully misleading on domestic energy production for months.
Biden’s spokespeople have unconvincingly insisted that the federal government is no obstacle to domestic oil production while also claiming to belong to an administration fundamentally reconfiguring America’s energy output to lower admissions. Voters are not stupid. They understand that this is a circle that cannot be squared.
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Hunter’s disgraceful behavior met with a shrug
What will it take for the exploits of the president’s son to enter into mainstream political conversation? The Washington Post and New York Times may have finally acknowledged the veracity of the Hunter Biden laptop story that got the New York Post kicked off Twitter. But politically pertinent revelations about Hunter are still met with a shrug by any non-conservative media.
The latest example comes courtesy of the Washington Examiner. Andrew Kerr and Jerry Dunleavy report that Joe Biden appears to to have unwittingly financed his son’s liaisons with Russian-linked escorts. Read the full, eyebrow-raising story here — and then ask yourself whether there is any fresh revelation about Hunter’s various shady dealings and bad behavior that might register as a big story at this stage.
The ultra-MAGA gamble
Another day of primaries, another spate of inter-party meddling, with Democratic groups funding the most extreme candidates in Republican primaries across the country. Democrats are splurging on four of today’s races, backing stop-the-steal-style Republican hardliners in the hope they have an easier opponent in November.
William F. Buckley said his approach to picking candidates in Republican primaries was to be “for the most right, viable candidate who could win.” Now the Democrats are pushing a cynical version of that strategy, pouring millions into supporting the most right candidate who could win the primary but will lose the general. Or so they think.
The first thing worth noting about this trend is that it’s a risky move. The Democratic establishment isn’t exactly famous for having its finger on the pulse of America’s right-leaning voters. And so their assumptions about what Republican electability looks like are not necessarily something one would want to bet on. Second, as I have argued before, their willingness to prop up candidates who refuse to accept the result of the last election undermines the claims made by Democrats about the perilousness state of American democracy.
What you should be reading today
Peter Van Buren: What happened to US fighters captured in Ukraine?
Matt Purple: How MSNBC accidentally killed Roe
Edward Condon: Why the Catholic church won’t excommunicate Joe Biden
John H. Cochrane, Wall Street Journal: The Fed can’t cure inflation by itself
Kaylee Greenlee Beal, Kristina Cooke and Mica Rosenberg, Reuters: ‘Stacks of bodies’, forty-six dead after trailer carrying migrants found in San Antonio
Ben Jacobs, the New Republic: How Iowa fell in love with the Republican Party
Poll watch
President Biden job approval
Approve: 38.9 percent
Disapprove: 56.9 percent
Net approval: -18.0 (RCP Average)
Generic congressional ballot
Republicans: 49 percent
Democrats: 40 percent (Trafalgar)
