The GOP Is the Party of Gruesome Oil Profiteering

In the days leading up to the Fourth of July weekend, when millions of Americans travel by car, Republicans sought to blame President Biden and congressional Democrats for high gas prices. Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, in the midst of a tough reelection fight, blamed $5-a-gallon gas on “the elite Democrats that support President Biden’s environmental policies.” Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) accused Biden of “waging a holy war against American fossil fuels.” And Utah Representative Chris Stewart claimed that “President Biden’s energy policy is one of the greatest self-inflicted wounds in our nation’s history.”

Partisan finger-pointing is a common tactic in midterm election years. But this particular blame-shifting also allows Republicans to deflect scrutiny from the real culprits: fossil fuel companies that have been a major source of support for GOP politicians, who have embraced calls to sacrifice even the most pristine spaces to Big Oil exploitation.

Once the political party that used antitrust laws to break up petroleum conglomerates, the GOP is now the party of Big Oil profiteering. As such, Republicans have become the chief defenders of price gouging—and, by extension, pain at the pump.