The Presidential Dupe

The dispatch in this morning’s Times about President Biden and his dealings with the Saudis strikes a familiar note. Mr. Biden, in the Times’ telling, had “struck a secret deal” with the Saudis “to boost oil production through the end of the year” in an effort to help Democrats as they “deal with inflation and high gas prices heading into the November elections.” It sounds rather like President Trump’s “perfect” call with President Zelensky. That was back in 2019 and involved Mr. Trump asking the Ukrainian president “to do us a favor,” ostensibly about getting to the bottom of corruption allegations in Ukraine — including the possible involvement of President Biden’s son Hunter. Democrats impeached Mr. Trump over the call because, as they saw it, he “solicited the interference of a foreign government, Ukraine, in the 2020 United States Presidential election.” The Democratic solons were outraged that Mr. Trump “abused his power,” as Congressman Adam Schiff claimed, “by pressuring” Mr. Zelensky “to announce an investigation into President Trump’s political rival.” Mr. Trump acted “in pursuit of personal political benefit,” the articles of impeachment said. “The president and his men plot on,” Mr. Schiff contended. “The danger persists. The risk is real. Our democracy is at peril.”Funny thing, though. Mr. Schiff has yet to pipe up in response to the Times’ report today, all the louder the silence given that he did warn Mr. Biden against cozying up to Riyadh. In June, Mr. Schiff signed a letter “urging President Biden to take a more guarded approach to Saudi Arabia.” The letter’s signers observed that the Saudis had “repeatedly acted in ways at odds with U.S. policy and values.” The advice appears to have fallen on deaf ears.Even so, the Times reports there is anger among Capitol Hill Democrats, but not over any suggestion of an “abuse of power” by Mr. Biden. Instead, lawmakers “have been left fuming that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman duped the administration,” the Times says.” The administration had promised the oil deal with the Saudis would yield “a surge in production,” beginning in September. Just in time for gas prices to calm by Election Day.“There’s now a level of embarrassment as the Saudis go merrily on their way,” Congressman Gerald Connolly, who sits on the Foreign Affairs committee, told the Times. Even Mr. Biden’s “staunchest supporters,” the Times says, are seeing the failed attempt to forge a pact with the Saudis as “an example of the administration’s sacrificing principles for political expediency, and having little to show for it.”Treasury Secretary Yellen got in the act, too. In September she was lamenting America’s “continued dependence on fossil fuels” and touting the Biden administration’s shift “to clean sources and away from the volatility of fossil fuels and the autocratic regimes that often control them.” She was “dispatched,” the Times says, “to speak by phone” with Riyadh’s finance minister to help salvage the unraveling deal, “but that failed to sway the Saudis.”The pleas to the Saudis were particularly ham-fisted, in the telling of Riyadh’s energy minister, Prince Abdulaziz. “I keep listening to, ‘Are you with us or against us?’” the Times quotes the prince as saying. “We are for Saudi Arabia and the people of Saudi Arabia.” It reminds of George III’s reply to John Adams declaration that he had no attachments but to his own country. Quoth George: “An honest Man will never have any other.” Democrats in Congress can hardly balk about the failed deal. When the Biden administration briefed them on the terms, the Times reports, “the apparent oil pledge from the Saudis promised relief both for American consumers being pummeled by inflation, and for Mr. Biden and his embattled party as they headed into the November elections.” Just like Mr. Trump asking Mr. Zelensky for a favor as the 2020 presidential election loomed on the horizon.

The Presidential Dupe

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