Doesn't Trump want lower oil prices to help mid-terms and inflation?

Did the GOP want lower oil prices in 2008, or any time during the Bush junta?

Graph of retail gas prices, from the early 90s, from the EIA

eia.gov: U.S. All Grades All Formulations Retail Gasoline Prices (Dollars per Gallon)

The Bush junta was headed by two people with close ties to the oil industry. Remember the chatter that invading Iraq would lead to dramatically *lower* prices? Remember the excuses about "WMDs", and "9/11"? All lies. Only outcome was higher prices, which was a completely predictable outcome, from disrupting Iraqi production with an invasion.

At the same time, in 2008, that prices were soaring, and the media hype and hysteria machine was in overdrive about "peak oil", Bush was tightening supply even more, by buying up more oil for the SPR.

Now, the Trump regime, having already throttled Venezuelan production, is talking about taking more oil off the market, by adding to the SPR. The SPR is redundant, because the US has more than enough domestic production to meet current needs, so why would Trump want to put more in the SPR, other than to tighten supplies on the market?

Jan 16, 2026

Trump Admin Weighs Oil Swap With Venezuela for Strategic Petroleum Reserve

newsweek.com - Trump doe venezuela oil exchange spr

Same NeoCon ideology driving now. Does Trump care about drug trafficking in Venezuela? The DEA has had it's eyes on Dulcy Rodriguez for years. Trump pardoned the coke trafficking former President of Honduras, and the meth trafficking son of an Arkansas GOP Congressman. Does Trump give a whit about Iranian demonstrators? He has suggested demonstrators in the US be shot. It's all about excuses to attack other people's oil production.

Remember how Bush leveraged the soaring price of gas in 08, to push for deregulation of the oil industry? I remember him pushing to eliminate Federal regulation of offshore production, and proposing refineries be built on military bases, to take them outside of state regulation. Now? I commented some days ago, about an advert from the API, advocating for more deregulation, that has been running constantly on TYT over the last couple weeks.

Steve