Want to know why gas costs so much? Trump may be long out of power, but the impact of his corrupt treachery lives on...

It was a double-whammy for two of then-President Donald Trump's biggest patrons, Vladimir Putin and American fossil-fuel billionaires and their industry: the price of oil was too damn low.

Between the pandemic-induced collapse in demand for oil and the price war Saudi Arabia was then fighting with Russia — two of the world's largest producers — Putin was being pinched badly. And in America, from Pennsylvania to Texas, oil producers were outright losing money on the oil they pumped. Gas prices were at record lows, gutting the profits even of refiners.

So, Trump acted. It seemed inexplicable at the time, but in retrospect (knowing now how tied to Putin he was) it makes perfect sense.

Read more at HartmannReport.com.

-Thom

Wednesday's Daily Stack

Article: "Exposed: The Trump, Putin & Saudi Connection to High Gas Prices " by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Saudi's killer crown prince and UAE leader decline phone calls with Biden until demands are met" by Meteor Blades.

Article: "Special Report: Trump told Saudi: Cut oil supply or lose U.S. military support - sources" by Timothy Gardner, Steve Holland, Dmitry Zhdannikov, Rania El Gamal.

Article: "Factbox: The ebb and flow of sanctions on Iranian oil" by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Shadia Nasralla.

Article: "Saudi Crown Prince Says Khashoggi Was Killed 'Under My Watch'" by Jared Malsin.

Article: "Saudi, Emirati Leaders Decline Calls With Biden During Ukraine Crisis" by Dion Nissenbaum, Stephen Kalin and David S. Cloud.

Article: "Ukraine accuses Russia of Mariupol hospital bombing 'atrocity'" by Guy Chazan.

Article: "Chernobyl plant disconnected from power grid; Ukraine demands cease-fire for urgent repairs" by Adela Suliman and David L. Stern.

Article: "1967 Oil Embargo" by Wikipedia.

Article: "As Biden considered sanctions against Russian oil, Fox & Friends repeated the network's top 4 lies about gas prices" by Allison Fisher.

Article: "1979 oil crisis" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Are Republicans Patriotic Enough to Support a Ban on Russian Oil Imports Without Turning It Into a Hustle?" by Thom Hartmann.

Event: March 10 @ 6pm (PT)" Seattle Townhall Books webinar: 'The Hidden History of Big Brother in America'".

Article: "Russia Says They Won't Overthrow Zelensky, Occupy Ukraine" by Brendan Cole.

Article: "Pulitzer Prize-winning historian explains Putin's miscalculation of NATO: 'He was listening to Trump'" by Travis Gettys.

Site: Bumper stickers.

Article: "Why the US rejected Poland's plan to send fighter jets to Ukraine" by Veronica Stracqualursi.

Article: "Why Big Oil & the GOP are Sabotaging Ukraine, America, Our Atmosphere & Our Next Generation" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Ex-ERCOT chief says Abbott directed freeze blackouts to stop before decision to run up billions in bills" by James Osborne.

Article: "Big wins for renewable energy in the 'Build Back Better' bill" by John Engel.

Article: "Lend-Lease" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Republicans Siding with Putin Loathe Democracy & Honest Elections" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Korean War" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Police action" by Wikipedia.

Article: "'Republicans Have a White Nationalist Problem': Florida Newspaper Lays Waste to the GOP" by Travis Gettys.

Article: "Nixon's Southern strategy" by James Boyd.

Video: "Ronald Reagan States' Rights Speech in Philadelphia, MS", August 3, 1980.

Article: "Mississippi civil rights workers' murders" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Donald Trump, Jr. makes curious campaign detour" by Rachel Maddow.

Video: Willie Horton 1988 Attack Ad.

Article: "'Drug dealers, criminals, rapists': What Trump thinks of Mexicans" by BBC.

Article: "Donald Trump wants immigrants from Norway, rather than 'shithole countries' in Africa" by Serina Sandhu.

Article: "Koch Industries" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Oligopoly" by Wikipedia.

Article: "History of Oil" by EKT Interactive.

Article: "President Biden Targets Antitrust Enforcement to Increase Competition in New Executive Order" by Greenberg Traurig.

Article: "US Education Secretary Warns Florida on 'Don't Say Gay' Bill Passage: 'All Schools Must Follow Federal Civil Rights Law'" by David Badash.

Article: "Watch: 'LGBT Is Not a Permanent Thing' Declares Florida MAGA Senator Speaking in Support of 'Don't Say Gay' Bill" by David Badash.

Article: "Indivisible Launches Campaign Pressing Biden to take Executive Action on Student Debt, Climate" by Emily Phelps.

Article: "Vladimir Putin's 'Crimea effect' ebbs away 5 years on" by Roman Goncharenko.

Quote: "As a matter of fact, in interviews in 1999 with respected journalist, and long time Bush family friend, David Herskowitz, then Governor George Bush stated: 'One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief. My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it. If I have a chance to invade... if I had that much capital, I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I'm going to have a successful presidency." - My Testimony for the Downing Street Memo Hearings" by Cindy Sheehan, June 16 2005.

Article: "Eminent domain" (takings clause of 5th amendment) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Keystone Pipeline" (KXL) by Wikipedia.

Case: "Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission" (2010).

Article: "MSNBC's Joy Reid: World paying attention to Ukraine because it's a 'White ... Christian nation'" by Brandon Gillespie.

Article: "What We Know About The 5 Meetings Between Trump And Putin" by Allegra Kirkland.

Article: "Trump's disclosure endangered spy placed inside ISIS by Israel, officials say" by Brian Ross, James Gordon Meek, Randy Kreider.

Article: "White Supremacists Encouraging Members to Spread Coronavirus to People of Color, Jews, Cops: FBI" by KC Baker.

Video: Thom Vs The Freedom Convoy - You Are Pathetic on Masks & Putin.

Article: "'Bonkers': MAGA Lawmaker Turns to Texas Vigilantism for Bill Banning Women From Leaving Missouri to End Pregnancies" by David Badash.

Article: "'Periods for Pence' Campaign Targets Indiana Governor Over Abortion Law" by Mitch Smith.

Article: "Thomas More" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Donate to help those escaping Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine".

Article: "Fox Newsers rally around Rick Scott's radical GOP blueprint" by Matt Gertz.

Article: "Rick Scott's Company Committed Historic Medicare Fraud. He Will Now Lead Trump's Health-Care Push" by Matt Stieb.

Article: "Contract with America" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Fuel taxes in the United States" by Wikipedia.

Article: "GOP nominee for Michigan legislature is a QAnon supporter who endorsed call to kill Biden, Fauci, and others" by Eric Hananoki.

Article: "2nd militia member pleads guilty in plot to kidnap Mich. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer" by Don Jacobson.

Article: "An armed Pokemon and a man with a doll in a noose were among the anti-lockdown protestors outside the Michigan Capitol" by K. Thor Jensen.

Book: The Hidden History of Big Brother in America: How the Death of Privacy and the Rise of Surveillance Threaten Us and Our Democracy by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Home mortgage interest deduction" by Wikipedia.

Article: "The American Empire Self-Destructs, But Nobody Thought That It Would Happen This Fast" by Michael Hudson.

Site: Adam Tooze.

Article: "Why is the Biden administration uniting our adversaries?" by Fareed Zakaria.

Article: "Putin's war reminds us why liberal democracy is worth defending" by Fareed Zakaria.

Book: The Economic Weapon: The Rise of Sanctions as a Tool of Modern War by Nicholas Mulder.

Podcast: "The world is at financial war" by Adam Tooze.

Article: "Jerry Brown to run new California-China Climate Policy Institute" by Zack Budryk.

Article: "Washington's Crackpot Realism" by Kathleen Ronayne.

Article: "Dollar diplomacy" by Wikipedia.

Article: "What if Keynes Had Won the Argument on a Global Currency?" by Tom Williams.

Article: "Russian-Run RT News, Sputnik Channels Still on YouTube in US as Sites Are Banned From Social Media, TV in EU" by Deborah Hastings.

Article: "Fairness Doctrine" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Section 230" by Wikipedia.

Law: "Telecommunications Act of 1996" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Price controls" by Wikipedia.

Law: "Taft-Hartley Labor Act", 1947.

Thursday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 12-3pm ET

Don't Say Gay Bill Passes...now what? I'll be talking with Shevrin "Shev" Jones PhD, Florida State Senator / Executive Director-Florida Reading Corps / Former Chemistry Teacher

And, the best of the rest of the news along with your calls right here on...

The Thom Hartmann Program, Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week for "we the people"

And don't forget...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...

Why Gas Costs So Much? Trump, Saudi Arabia & Putin Exposed!

Will Nuclear War Happen When Oligarchs Go Insane?

Thom Vs The Freedom Convoy - You Are Pathetic on Masks & Putin