The Patriot Post® · The Democrats' Manufactured Gas Crisis

By Emmy Griffin ·
https://patriotpost.us/articles/126273-the-democrats-manufactured-gas-crisis-2026-03-27

When Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama’s former chief of staff and potential 2028 presidential candidate, popularized the phrase, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste,” little did he realize that mentality would become the modus operandi for every Democrat.

With the war in Iran raging for nearly a month now and the Strait of Hormuz being blockaded by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the price of oil has risen significantly, and the markets — and gas prices — have responded accordingly.

The national average for a gallon of gas was $2.95 a month ago; today, it’s just below $4, and the Democrats — gleefully, it seems — have launched a campaign to accentuate the pinch Americans are feeling.

At some fuel stations, our blue-haired leftist friends have begun putting “I did that” Trump stickers on the gas pumps — a turnabout, of sorts, to the “I did that” sticker trend during Joe Biden’s inflationary tenure.

Guest commentators on CNN tried to point fingers at President Donald Trump, but, thankfully for America, GOP strategist Scott Jennings was there to shut down that nonsense.

The prize, however, goes to Governor Gavin Newsom.

In California, gas prices are outrageous. I have previously explained the reasons for that state’s sky-high fuel prices, which are a combination of bad policy (shutting down refineries, mandating a certain blend) and worse policy (higher gas taxes, environmental reparations, attempting to phase out gas-powered cars).

Prices in California are usually about $2 higher than the national average. Sure enough, the per-gallon cost there is currently about $5.82.

“The state imports about 60% of its crude from overseas — up from 5% in the mid-1980s — about a third of which comes from the Middle East,” according to The Wall Street Journal editorial board. “About 15% of the state’s refined fuels are also imported, much of which depends on Middle East crude.”

Remember, this is not because there is no crude oil to pump in the state of California. There is plenty of black gold there, particularly offshore. However, California has rendered itself incapable of producing its own energy because of regulations, restrictions, and other policy nonsense related to its “green energy” initiatives. The state has actively created the conditions that shuttered refineries and made fuel companies unprofitable. This self-righteous stance doesn’t just affect California, the world’s fourth-largest economy; it stunts the entire western seaboard in terms of energy.

Therefore, earlier this month, President Trump used a Cold War-era law, the Defense Production Act, to bypass California regulations and ease its residents’ energy burden. Energy Secretary Chris Wright instructed Houston-based Sable Offshore Corp to begin offshore drilling and to reopen a pipeline that California shut down in 2015 after an oil spill.

Wright explained that these initiatives will “address supply disruption risks caused by California policies that have left the region and U.S. military forces dependent on foreign oil.”

Is Governor Newsom excited for the potential relief for his constituents? Absolutely not. He instead instructed California Attorney General Rob Bonta to sue the Trump administration. Newsom also called Trump’s invoking emergency powers a “political attempt to point the finger at California to divide and distract the American people from his wartime failures.”

Clearly, the rising price of gas is being exploited as a propaganda tool for the Left, and Democrats are using it every chance they get. They are not America First; in fact, they are more of the light-up-the-gas-station-and-walk-away type. America can burn for all they care.

The Democrat Party wants to capitalize on the pinch we are feeling in our pocketbooks by maximizing the pain — a manufactured crisis being made worse by bloviating leftists.

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