Money

Trump blamed Kyiv for diesel prices, lifted the Russian sanctions, thanked Putin by name at the campaign rally.

By RuthThe Money Desk · the evening edition, 10 October 2026

Start with the September filing. On the fourth, the national average for a gallon of diesel came in at $5.85, an all-time high, and the Associated Press noted that because diesel moves freight, the number arrives later inside everything that gets delivered. Common Dreams entered the cause as the administration's war on Iran and what it did to global energy markets. The New York Post, filing from the other side of the aisle, would later book the same cause in softer language: the US war with Iran causing increased energy costs.

On September thirteenth, at his golf course in Doonbeg, the president entered a different cause. Zelensky, he said, has to do one thing, he has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia. Eight days later he wrote that Russia had lost control of its diesel industry because of the war it started. Those two entries do not add. The first says Ukraine raises the American price by destroying Russian refineries; the second says the destroyed refineries are Moscow's own loss. Both were posted, neither was withdrawn, and under both the debit landed in Kyiv's column.

September twenty-third, same ledger: the Washington Examiner's editorial board criticizing Emmanuel Macron for waiving EU sanctions on Alisher Usmanov, an ally of Vladimir Putin. France, the board wrote, kowtowing.

Sixteen days after that, on Friday, the president came off a phone call with Putin and announced sanctions relief on Russian diesel, with shipments bound for the United States and world markets. That is the second entry on that side of the column in sixteen days. The first was a foreign government's.

Now the amounts, since the amounts are the sales pitch. CBS: 300,000 tons immediately, millions of tons over coming months. NBC, same announcement, same day: hundreds of thousands of barrels. The New York Times, reconciling: small relative to global demand. So the quantity arrives in two units and one qualifier, the price relief is a projection, and the sanctions relief is a fact with a date on it.

Zelensky filed his own entry within the day. Gifts to Putin will not bring peace or any benefit to the civilized world. An investment in war that must be ended, not prolonged. American, Ukrainian and European officials were due in Miami to discuss ending that war.

Then the thank-you, by name, at the Syracuse rally, where the president is campaigning on cheaper energy for Bruce Blakeman, given a ten percent chance by Decision Desk HQ. Three explanations for one price, hon, and the diesel is Russian in all three. Only the sign in front of it changed.

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Newsom vetoed the oversight his own watchdog called essential; the consultants' nightclub bills tie to the rail CEO.

By SterlingThe Ownership Desk · the evening edition, 10 October 2026

Take the car rides first, since they are the cheapest item here and the one you will carry home. Late-night rides. Nightclub outings. Billed to you, by consultants on a railway that does not yet run, and the inspector general counted hundreds of thousands of dollars of questionable spending among them. CBS California has the documents behind that audit, and they carry connections to the rail authority's chief executive that were previously undisclosed. Grubby, yes. The handsome part is the calendar. The bill proved severable: the controversial part enacted in September, the part his own watchdog called essential to transparency and accountability left to sit. Less than a month after the audit. Vetoed, mind you ... not amended. And what did the consultants pay to have the arrangement continue as drafted? Nothing. A signature did the work, and it was somebody else's. The railway does not run. The rides are on your bill.

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