From§Each

Page F2From§Eachthe noon edition — 23 September 2026

Trump blames Zelensky's refinery strikes for a diesel record his own war hit first.

By RuthThe Money Desk

“Chris Wright Sells Trump’s ‘Energy Dominance’ Vision”, 23 September 2026 (Photo via The New York Times — the original report)

As it ran on the front

Diesel hit $5.85 a gallon on September 4th, a record, and the war that set it was the one the president started in Iran without asking Congress. By September 11th the price was $6.06, a 14 percent jump in a month, a 64 percent jump in a year, and petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan told his followers it was "not slowing down." Economist Dean Baker, watching the same tape, wrote sardonically online: "Trump did it! Diesel hits a new record high!" He was being sardonic. He was also being accurate.

By September 13th the price had become a political problem, so the president found something else to point at: he demanded Volodymyr Zelensky stop striking Russian oil refineries, the drone campaign Ukraine has run against Russia's oil infrastructure. The demand ran in the Washington Examiner under a headline that put the diesel spike and the refinery strikes in the same sentence, which is one way to make two facts look like one cause.…

…(cont) On September 17th, Moody's put a number on the eight months since the war began: $121 billion in extra energy spending, $1,760 per household, a bill that went out without a vote in either chamber.

This week the number moved again. Diesel is over $6.50 a gallon, a fresh record, and the Daily Caller is reporting that construction firms are canceling projects because the fuel that runs the trucks now costs what it costs. CBS is asking whether an export ban would help; experts told CBS it would not, not cleanly. Some things do not have clean levers.

Zelensky, asked at the UN whether Washington had pressured him to stop hitting the refineries, said the quiet part in public: "Our lives are more important than the price of energy." That is a defense. It is also, read straight, an admission that the price of energy is now a bargaining chip in someone else's war.

And this week Energy Secretary Chris Wright was on the road selling what the New York Times called his "energy dominance" vision — fossil fuel abundance, pitched while the price of the fuel he is supposedly dominating sets a record every ten days. Dominance, defined downward, now means the freight costs more and the person who caused it isn't on the invoice.

“Diesel hit its record on September 4th; Trump didn't get around to blaming Zelensky's refinery strikes until the 13th. Contractors are canceling jobs because the truck that hauls the gravel costs a house payment to fill now. That's not foreign policy, that's a bar tab with somebody else's name written on it.”
Sal
“Look, energy dominance is a vision, it's forward-looking, you can't judge a vision by a price at the pump — okay, you can, that's literally what the pump does. The refinery strikes are destabilizing global supply, that's just economics, Zelensky needs to think about coordination — did I just blame a bombed country for our gas prices? That's not — that's not what I meant.”
Chip

Earlier in this story

The receipts

US Energy Consumers Have Spent $121 Billion Extra Since Trump Launched Iran War: Moody's Trump launched an unauthorized war. Families are paying $1,760 for it.
Common Dreams§

A recently published economic analysis estimates that President Donald Trump’s illegal war with Iran has cost US consumers an average of $1,760 per household—including a total of $121 billion in extra spending on energy alone—since the conflict began less than 8 months ago. The war, which Trump launched without congressional…

· 'Trump Did It!': At $5.85 a Gallon, Diesel Price Hits All-Time High in US Thanks to War on Iran from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026

· Inflation Could Soon ‘Get a Lot More Painful’ as Trump’s Iran War Drives Diesel Over $6 a Gallon from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026

· Trump demands Zelensky stop striking Russian oil refineries as diesel prices spike from the morgue, 13 Sep 2026

· Trump admin's list of US-designated 'foreign terrorist' groups in Latin America expands to 21 from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026

· Top Trump official reveals how 30-minute military op unlocked Venezuela oil windfall for US buyers from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026

· Ex-Venezuelan first lady Cilia Flores seeks release from NYC jail, citing heart ailment from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026

· New York City protest once again demands release of Maduro and Flores from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026

· Trump Official Denies Stealing Venezuela's Oil One Hour After Boasting Country is 'Forced to Work' With US from the morgue, 6 Sep 2026

· 'Mobster Language': Trump Says Venezuelan Oil Will Replenish US Reserves from the morgue, 30 Aug 2026

· 'Yet Another Trump Grift': Congress Called to Stop US Takeover of Venezuelan Oil Fields from the morgue, 28 Aug 2026

· The Biggest Oil Deal or Theft at Gunpoint? U.S. Claims Majority Control of Venezuela's Oil Reserves from the morgue, 1 Sep 2026

· Tehran threatens attacks after U.S. strikes Iranian tankers from the morgue, 7 Sep 2026

· US forces take out 3 Iranian oil tankers in retaliation from the morgue, 7 Sep 2026

· Oil prices up as Iran says it will expand control over Strait of Hormuz from the morgue, 8 Sep 2026

· Iran live updates: Trump speaks to MBS, says everything will 'work out fine' from the morgue, 13 Sep 2026

· Iran threatens retaliation against U.S. tanker strikes from the morgue, 7 Sep 2026

· U.S. gas prices hit record high for Labor Day from the morgue, 7 Sep 2026

· Ship tracking websites, including Kpler, MarineTraffic, and TankerTrackers, show that three Iranian oil tankers, including two from the National Iranian Tanker Company, have escaped the blockade that from the morgue, 17 Jun 2026

· Iranian state media reports that the United States Navy attempted to capture an Iranian oil tanker. The oil tanker was boarded, commandeered and then returned by Iranian NEDSA marines in a helicopter from the morgue, 3 Nov 2021

· US strikes Iranian rocket launchers in first attack since late July from the morgue, 30 Aug 2026

· An Iranian Navy commander claims on state television that the Iranian Navy forced a U.S. submarine to surface as it transited the Strait of Hormuz and that the submarine violated Iranian territorial w from the morgue, 20 Apr 2023

· Trump Threatens to Rename Strait of Hormuz for Himself as War Pushes Diesel Prices Toward Record High from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026

· Trump floats renaming Strait of Hormuz after himself from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026

· U.S. strikes targets in Iran near Strait of Hormuz as Iran says it is retaliating from the morgue, 1 Sep 2026

· Trump Hammered Over Iran War That Drove Gas Prices Above $4 Per Gallon Every Day in August for First Time Ever from the morgue, 31 Aug 2026

· Price of diesel in U.S. hits record as Vance downplays Iran war impact from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026

· Diesel prices hit record high as wars disrupt supply from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026

· Trump vows response to Iran's retaliatory strikes: 'We're going to hit them hard' from the morgue, 31 Aug 2026

· Trump threatens Iran against retaliation for latest U.S. strikes from the morgue, 1 Sep 2026

· Live updates: US, Iran ramp up strikes; incumbents hold on in Massachusetts from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026

· Trump calls Iran conflict "small potatoes" from the morgue, 7 Sep 2026

· Labor Day gas prices are highest ever for holiday from the morgue, 7 Sep 2026

· How ‘Hypermilers’ Are Trying to Beat High Gas Prices from the morgue, 7 Sep 2026

· Fuel prices at record Labor Day high in US thanks to Iran War and refinery issues from the morgue, 7 Sep 2026

· Oil Prices Rise Slightly After U.S. and Iran Trade Strikes from the morgue, 6 Sep 2026

· USS Lincoln heads home as war with Iran escalates from the morgue, 7 Sep 2026

· Lawler disagrees with Trump on Iran war: 'It is certainly not small potatoes' from the morgue, 6 Sep 2026

· OPEC Plus to Keep Oil Production Steady from the morgue, 6 Sep 2026

· Iran War Has Cost the Average American More Than $1,200 Over Six Months, Economist Estimates from the morgue, 1 Sep 2026

· Trump says military conflict in Iran is 'small potatoes for us' from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026

· Wright: US has 'a lot of leverage' in Venezuela after oil deal reached from the morgue, 6 Sep 2026

· White House unveils new details of Venezuela agreement from the morgue, 1 Sep 2026

· Chris Wright explains how Venezuelan crude will ‘fill’ the Strategic Petroleum Reserve from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026

· Energy Secretary Wright says Venezuela oil deal will bring down gas prices in a year or two from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026

· Chevron to expand in Venezuela, days after the U.S. and Venezuela strike oil deal from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026

· Venezuelan oil flows will lower gas prices in 12-24 months, Wright says in Caracas from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026

· Trump says Venezuelan oil will replenish Strategic Petroleum Reserves from the morgue, 31 Aug 2026

This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.