Manchin Shows How Bereft of Sense Biden Is Right Before SOTU – Opinion

What’s astounding about Joe Biden and some of the Democrats is that they are still refusing to acknowledge how his bad policies have led to this situation with Russia invading Ukraine. He fails to grasp how his bad policies made us dependent upon foreign oil and Russia specifically. This is perhaps the most important thing for us.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said it in a nutshell, “Joe Biden becoming president is the best thing to happen to Vladimir Putin.” He helped Russia get their Nord Stream 2 pipeline completed and he cut our energy production ability into the bargain, two things that Russia couldn’t want more. Meanwhile, our buying of Russian oil increased under Joe Biden, with us still reportedly buying 595,000 barrels a day, even now, after they’ve invaded.

Was that what the administration responded to? What are they going to do to make that change? Nope.

As we reported before, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki indicated they weren’t planning on making any changes to increase American production and she reiterated that over the past couple of days on ABC “This Week” on Sunday and then on Fox. She only said that we need to reduce our oil use.

Psaki’s Brain SNAPS in Half During LIVE Interview— Says America Should Produce LESS Oil as MAJOR Energy Crisis Unfolds pic.twitter.com/NyslpRtobB

— Benny (@bennyjohnson) March 1, 2022

Psaki says policies to expand U.S. energy production are “not policies that would address the issue” of surging gas prices and foreign energy dependence. pic.twitter.com/AGIIppKsvP

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 1, 2022

Now, you wouldn’t want sanctions to affect Americans more than Russians, but she’s not saying they’re going to make any effort at all to move away from Russian oil and produce more of our own. That’s madness, especially given the stark reality of what that oil dependence can lead to.

But now, while the White House is still refusing delivery on reality and is going to try to spin some kind of tale to the American public tonight about how wonderful everything is, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) — the sane Democrat — isn’t buying it. Manchin wants Biden to prohibit all Russian crude oils imports.

WATCH: While the United States buys millions of barrels Russian oil, Russia is attacking the sovereign and free nation of Ukraine. This is why I am calling for @POTUSStop all Russian imports immediately pic.twitter.com/2Npde27X31

— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) March 1, 2022

“It makes no sense at all for the United States to be buying millions of barrels of Russian oil and other petroleum products while Russia attacks the free and sovereign nation of Ukraine,” the West Virginia senator tweeted Tomorrow is Tuesday. [….]

According to U.S. Energy Information Administration data, Russia supplied more oil for the U.S. last year than any other country. The United States imported almost 3 billion barrels, which is roughly 670,000 barrels per hour, of Russian oil in 2021.

Manchin, the chair of Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee stated that dependence on foreign oil posed a threat to national security and demanded more domestic production.

“The entire world is watching as Vladimir Putin uses energy as a weapon in an attempt to extort and coerce our European allies,” Manchin said in a statement Monday. “While Americans decry what is happening in Ukraine, the United States continues to allow the import of more than half a million barrels per day of crude oil and other petroleum products from Russia during this time of war.

“This makes no sense at all and represents a clear and present danger to our nation’s energy security,” he said. “If there was ever a time to be energy independent, it is now.”

That makes sense. Manchin stated that he would like to see a Biden plan to address inflation and other issues. This should be Biden’s message. But chances that Joe Biden will listen to Manchin’s sense? There is no chance. As we previously noted, they’re still talking with Russia about things like climate change and not cutting that off. Priorities.

Biden should listen to Manchin, but of course, he won’t. Biden is totally in the pockets of the left, which means that he will take this country into consideration even if it means following their climate narrative. You may hear a tip of the hat to how he cares about prices going up for Americans — yet he will do nothing to make it stop or move us back to the independence that we had under President Donald Trump.