ICYMI: POLITICO: ‘Oh, boy’: Oil industry frets over Trump’s profit-minded Iran post

Trump celebrated skyrocketing oil prices and even his oil and gas buddies didn’t like it 

“The idea that the industry profits from war and death is not one a VP of public relations wants to promote”

Washington, DC – As Americans face soaring gas prices from what is now the worst disruption to oil supplies in history, Donald Trump took to Truth Social to brag about getting rich off his war in Iran. Trump claimed that “when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money.” Trump is talking about the people he cares about most – billionaire oil and gas donors – not the working families who will pay the price for his reckless war. Gas prices have increased to multi-year highs since Trump attacked Iran. The price of diesel, which is used to transport freight, manufacture goods, and support agriculture, has skyrocketed by more than a dollar since the start of Trump’s war.

POLITICO: ‘Oh, boy’: Oil industry frets over Trump’s profit-minded Iran post

President Donald Trump may think his war in Iran is a boon for the oil industry — but his way of putting it is causing consternation.

“The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money,“ Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Wednesday as crude prices rose to $95 per barrel, a 40 percent increase from where they were before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran nearly two weeks ago…

“The idea that the industry profits from war and death is not one a VP of public relations wants to promote,” said Mark Jones, political science fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute.

Trump’s post drew groans from some in the industry.

“Oh, boy….” one oil industry source responded when shown Trump’s social media post.

Trump’s message also feeds into a perception that oil companies are looking to gouge consumers, said a second industry official granted anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly…

Trump on the campaign trail made a point of asking oil industry executives for a billion dollars, but the industry overall contributed $75 million, according to an analysis of campaign contributions by the environmental communications firm Climate Power — less than Trump’s campaign received from SpaceX, the firm owned by billionaire Elon Musk. Harold Hamm, the chair and founder of oil company Continental Resources and an informal energy adviser to Trump in his first and second terms, initially backed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in the 2024 presidential campaign…

In Trump’s post, the president isn’t talking about families grappling with their bills, said Jesse Lee, a senior adviser at Climate Power.

“Trump is talking about the people he cares about most — the oil and gas billionaires who spent millions of dollars to get him elected,” Lee said in an email. “Trump will always put his billionaire buddies first, and working families will always be left to pay the price.”

Rising oil prices are expected to be a political liability for Republicans heading into midterm elections later this year. Even besides higher prices at the local gas station, the effect of increased crude costs will hit voter pocketbooks in a myriad of ways.

Companies across a range of industries have started to implement energy surcharges to absorb higher fuel costs, Raymond James analyst Pavel Molchanov said in note to clients…