Buying Russian Diesel: Trump Makes America Disgusting Again

On October 9, Trump posted on Truth Social that he had just spoken with Putin by phone, and that Russia would immediately supply the United States with more than 300,000 tons of diesel, another 500,000 tons in November, then 1 million tons, and after that another 3 million tons. The reason he gave was that getting cheap fuel to Americans, especially farmers, ranchers and truckers, was his "Greatest Priority." Afterward he even made a point of thanking Putin.

The call was originally supposed to be about a suspected plague case in Russia, and somewhere along the way it turned into buying diesel. Is this the art of the deal, or a great power's graceful improvisation? I'm no politician, so what do I know. The same day Trump put down the phone, the U.S. Treasury Department issued a temporary license: for Russian diesel loaded onto tankers before that day, U.S. sanctions won't take effect until April next year. The Russia-Ukraine war has gone on for more than four years, and every previous easing on Russian fuel lasted at most thirty days; this is the first time it has been this long. Look at the Treasury's efficiency. Everyone knows how long it normally drags its feet over a single license, yet the boss finishes one phone call and the paperwork is on the desk right away. Tsk, tsk.

Trump went to war with Iran, and fuel prices in the U.S. kept climbing. The national average for diesel is a little over $6.20 a gallon, and on September 22 it hit a record $6.52. The midterm elections are just over three weeks away, and truckers and farmers are his base. I get how much pressure that puts on him. But Trump, in mid-September you yourself said that paying a bit more for fuel was worth it, that it was a small price to pay for stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. How is it that barely three weeks later you no longer want to pay even that small price? Or rather, who are you planning to shift it onto? Whether that is just or not, you're not even going to think about it? If you give up justice for votes, won't you end up losing even more votes?

To put it bluntly, he wants to trade Ukrainian blood for a few cents off the price of fuel.

Why has Russia had no diesel to sell these past few months? Because Ukraine has hit its refineries with drones again and again. The International Energy Agency estimates that Russia's diesel output has fallen by about 30 percent, and since July Moscow has simply banned diesel exports to keep its own market supplied first. This is a bit of leverage that Ukrainians paid for with their lives. With one phone call, Trump found Putin a buyer and helped him push open the door on sanctions. The Kremlin answered very readily, saying Russia "confirmed its readiness to supply oil and oil products," and Deputy Prime Minister Novak promptly said export restrictions would be lifted ahead of schedule. What the money from that diesel will end up turning into, I don't need to spell out.

What's even harder to stomach is that just a month ago Trump signed a Russia sanctions law, the one pushed by Senator Graham, which sanctions Russian officials, banks and the shadow fleet, and imposes tariffs of up to 100 percent on the five biggest buyers of Russian oil and gas. Last summer he used India's purchases of Russian oil as grounds to slap an extra 25 percent tariff on Indian goods, and he pressed NATO allies to stop buying Russian oil. If it were only a matter of not being willing to pay even a "small price," the logic would still hold up, but once you put it side by side with everything else you've done, it falls apart completely. When others buy, they're fueling the war and have to be punished; when you're short of fuel yourself, you pick up the phone and buy it in person, and even say thank you. A double standard like this doesn't even bother with a fig leaf.

Zelensky's reaction didn't surprise me one bit. He called it "a weak decision by strong partners" — a civil, restrained phrasing, even a little self-abasing; I even heard people demanding that he say "thank you." He said Russia would repay this deal with further terror and perfidy, and that gifts to Putin will not bring peace — that much is practically certain. At the same time, Trump's envoys were in Miami discussing a ceasefire plan with Ukrainian officials, and Zelensky said these talks had become a smokescreen for Putin — looking at it now, that may well be Trump's aim too.

Even the deal itself may not add up. One analyst said that 300,000 or 500,000 tons isn't really much relative to U.S. diesel consumption. The White House hasn't made clear who will pay, when the fuel will arrive, or whether the November shipment can reach port before the November 3 vote. Diesel futures dipped after the news, but few experts are optimistic about how much prices at the pump will come down. To put it bluntly, America may well be trading its own credibility and Ukraine's plight for a nice-looking headline before the election.

As a rebel, I firmly despise Trump's "diesel domestic diplomacy." What is it that we rebels oppose? Dictators, centralized rule and social injustice. For years Xi Jinping has been giving Putin transfusions, buying his oil and selling him machine tools and drone parts. There isn't anyone in rebel circles who hasn't criticized and exposed it: it is bankrolling a war of aggression. We stood on solid ground — America was sanctioning Russia while the CCP was pumping blood into it; of the two poles of today's world, who stood for justice and who stood for evil was clear at a glance. But now an American president is doing the same thing for a few cents off the price of fuel. What do we have left to scorn Beijing with, to spit on Xi Jinping with? The CCP's propaganda machine loves to say America is hypocritical and that Western values are just talk, and with this one phone call Trump has handed them the material with his own hands. Zhongnanhai is probably very pleased these days — when the top student flunks, it's as good as the bad student making progress!

Trump's slogan is "Make America Great Again." Whether a country is great depends on whether it can hold on to its values and its bottom line when it has to pay a price. Running to the aggressor to buy fuel the moment you're short, and then thanking him for it — how is that any different from the CCP, or from India? It's even worse! At least they didn't put on a good-guy act from the start! Isn't this exactly the kind of thing some second-rate, lowlife backwater like Honduras would do? In front of the Ukrainians, in front of the countries it urged not to buy Russian oil and even hit with tariffs, Trump has thrown America's face on the ground and stomped it to a pulp, and he still brags about "superintelligence, America leads"? If you ask me, letting silicon-based life rule over carbon-based life sooner rather than later would be far better than leaving these dumbass carbon-based lifeforms to wreck things themselves. I'll stop here; any more and I'm going to throw up.

Trump: Make America Disgusting Again!