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Lemon Denies Economics, Claims More Oil Supply Won’t Help

By Pluralist / July 20, 2022

In what seemed to be a mildly heated exchange on CNN’s Don Lemon Tonight with CNN commentator and former Ohio Governor John Kasich Monday night, Lemon demonstrated his aggressive ignorance of how economics works as he angrily argued that increasing the supply of oil wouldn’t bring down prices. “What you’re saying is not right,” he shouted at Kasich.

Discussions centered around energy and gas. The two sides were at odds. Throughout the discussion, voices were raised, interrupting occurred, and in the end, Kasich tirelessly stated, “We just disagree on this.”

Kasich explained that in this time of hardship for the American people more things need to be done; his solutions included Biden meeting with “executives here and trying to open some pipelines. Reducing regulations. Do some drilling… We’ve got oil in this country that we are not producing.” But above all, the former governor stated that what Biden needs to do is “take a chapter from Bill Clinton and tell us that he feels- he feels our pain.”

Lemon, on the other hand, could not deny this more and showed he didn’t know how supply and demand works.  “Well, more pipelines, that’s not going to- that’s not going to- but more pipelines are not going to drop the price of oil.” He continued later saying, “That’s not going to lower the price of gasoline because we’re not in an energy shortage, we’re not in an energy crunch. The prices are just high.”

CNBC, Washington Post and National Review all have reported in the past six months on the U.S.’s new energy crisis. But Lemon will not deny it.

This dialogue lasted over four minutes, with both sides slamming into one another to get their final point across. Lemon tried to move on, but Kasich was persistent and brought up the facts, pointing to Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia to beg them to produce more oil (which Lemon claimed wasn’t part of the trip):

Lemon’s first frantic attempt to pivot away from getting schooled on the issue involved CNN’s favorite topic. “Let’s talk about January 6, because we are not in an energy shortage. I’m sorry. That’s not, what you are saying is not right,” he told Kasich.

But even before the discussion about energy started, Lemon struggled to defend the President from his terrible poll numbers, bolding and declaring that the numbers may “require a leadership change.”

From both a political and energy standpoint, the two can agree a change needs to be made, and Kasich made that clear: “Look, the fact to the matter is, they’ve shut down pipelines, they’ve harassed processors, they have overregulated.”

Hulu & IHOP sponsored this segment. The link will take you to their contact info. 

To view the full transcript, click “expand”.

CNN’s Don Lemon Tonight

07/18/22

Eastern at 10:41.41

LEMON: The President of the United States, Joe Biden, is now back home after his Middle East tour. The President faces widespread dissatisfaction at home about his performance as a president and the current state of the nation. This is it, friends.

CNN poll shows that just 38 percent Americans think Biden’s job as President is satisfactory. Eight out of ten Americans feel things are not going well.

John Kasich, CNN’s Senior Commentator is available to help you dig into those numbers. Hello, John. Good evening.

JOHN Kasich, CNN POLITICAL Commentator: Good morning, Don. Thank you.

LEMON: These numbers don’t look good for the top issues that voters care about. Seven out of 10 Americans aren’t happy with the President’s economy management. This will be an issue both in the 2024 midterms as well.

KASICH: Yes. It’s a poll on his economic performance. The results are worse than his overall approval. In the 30s. Don’t get me wrong, but it is always your pocketbook. It’s always the pocketbook that matters. In this instance, it is clear what the people pay to fill up their gas tank. When they go to the shop, the prices have gone up.

People who don’t have much are particularly affected. The blue-collar workers are struggling to make ends meet, and are extremely unhappy. Joe Biden should take a page from Bill Clinton to tell us how he feels.

Sometimes he will say, “Well, things are great or they are going well. They’re on a good track.” But they aren’t on the right path. He should get together with everyone else to say “Look, I got it!” It is going to be harder. We will bring down these prices. All that. We don’t hear him say that.

This is what he needs to do. Although people like him personally they don’t feel the same compassion for this economic problem that I do.

LEMON: You got —

KASICH : But he has to do it.

LEMON: When 79 per cent of Americans think things are terrible, it’s going to take a major leadership shift, just like you suggested. Your answers may not be correct, but I’m sure you are right. Is there a way to get this country on the right track?

KASICH : Okay, so let’s start with energy. You know, he’s in the Middle East asking countries to make more oil. He ought to be meeting up with the executives in order to try to open more pipelines. Reducing regulations. Get involved in drilling. It’s not possible to tell them to make more oil, when they’re not making it — when there’s oil in the country we don’t produce. Inflation is another issue

LEMON: We don’t need more oil pipelines.

KASICH: It’s processing, look Don, it’s processing, it’s pipelines, and it’s committing that we are not going to have such regulatory stranglehold that companies are not going to invest. They’re watching from the sidelines right now. They claim they don’t have any idea what would happen tomorrow.

Don’t get me wrong, I just want to tell you what I hear here. We would have more oil, and prices will fall if they do not. Markets live in hope. The markets respond to hope. We aren’t going to continue spending this much money. There are ways we can save money. These are just the kinds of items I want. I will go to the store to see the prices. I will tell the people that I got it, and they are currently working to save money.

LEMON: Yeah.

KASICH – I believe we should have more.

LEMON: Listen.

KASICH: He is going to save himself. However, they will be crushed in the House. The Senate situation is slightly different, because a few of the Republican Senate candidates are simply not qualified candidates. It’s possible for them to lose. However, the Democrats can continue. It’ll be Republican in the House.

LEMON: Look — look, what you think the fixes are, I’ll grant you that. You said that you wanted more oil flow and gas flow. Or, opening up some pipelines.

KASICH: Right.

LEMON: Studies show that this does not affect the price of oil. I would say that gasoline is now cheaper. This won’t lower gasoline prices because there isn’t an energy crisis. These prices are very high. This has nothing to do the flow of money into the country.

KASICH: Don, Don, no — look, the fact to the matter is, they’ve shut down pipelines, they’ve harassed processors, they have over regulated, and they’re not saying that we are going to increase domestic supply. They don’t want to —

LEMON: John. The domestic supply of lemons has no relationship to the cost. That’s what I am referring to.

KASICH: Don’t worry if there aren’t enough people. If they haven’t got the supply then prices will go up. Sorry, but that is just the truth.

LEMON: Okay, now let’s get to the —

KASICH: That’s like saying that we can print — but wait!

LEMON: Because we don’t have gasoline, people won’t wait in the gas stations.

KASICH: If we have no inflation, then we can keep printing money for ever.

LEMON: This is not all that matters. Everything you have said, I also agree with. However, we do not have an energy scarcity. Gas is not in short supply. There is a price, and the prices are very high. By increasing gasoline flow

KASICH: Don’t forget that gasoline is made from oil.

LEMON: John, I get that.

KASICH – It becomes refined.

LEMON: That’s wrong. It’s going to raise the cost of gasoline. That’s not the way it works.

KASICH – Do you understand why he’s over there? Is that what he was up to in Saudi Arabia?

LEMON: He would like them to reduce the price of oil and not increase.

KASICH: No. They should produce more, he says.

LEMON: OK.

KASICH: He’s saying, “Produce more.” Don, we are facing a shortage of supply.

LEMON: It’s not a shortage of energy.

KASICH: This is something we can debate all day.

LEMON: Okay. Let’s discuss January 6. We aren’t in energy crisis. I’m sorry. It’s wrong, you don’t know what is right.

KASICH : Ok. But we disagree.

LEMON: While we agree with you, your statement is incorrect. LEMON: We are not experiencing an energy crisis.

KASICH – Don when he is gone

LEMON: But you won’t. You cannot create another pipeline which will lower gas prices.

KASICH — Saudi Arabia (Inaudible), Don — Don, was he —

LEMON: This isn’t what’s going on right now. It’s not 1970 without Jimmy Carter.

KASICH – Don’t worry, Don. Energy companies don’t make the investment in production. He went to Saudi Arabia and asked them to improve the supply. This is what he did — around the world that was all he was doing.

LEMON: It’s nothing to do with today’s gas prices.

KASICH: OK.

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