‘DIESEL INSULT’

Murdoch Paper Torches Trump Over Desperate Putin Deal

The president’s diesel deal will help finance Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.

Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal has torn into Donald Trump for his sanctions-busting deal to buy diesel from Russia.

The 80-year-old president announced last week a deal to buy millions of barrels of diesel from Vladimir Putin’s Russia in a bid to bring down prices before midterm elections on Nov. 3.

But in an editorial published Sunday titled “Trump’s Diesel Insult to Lindsey Graham,” the Journal’s Editorial Board said the amounts involved would be too small to affect global prices and any money raised would simply fund Putin’s aggression against Ukraine.

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“Thirty-six million barrels of Russian diesel won’t move prices much. The world consumed 28 million barrels of diesel and other distillates daily in 2025, according to OPIS, which is part of Dow Jones Energy,” the Journal wrote in its op-ed.

“What the deal will do is directly finance Mr. Putin’s bloody war in Ukraine.”

The U.S. has been plunged into an energy crisis following its war in Iran, which closed the Strait of Hormuz and caused prices at the pump to soar for everyday Americans.

That’s bad news for Trump and the GOP ahead of the midterms, with the Democrats widely expected to capture the House of Representatives and increasingly likely to control the Senate.

Trump’s route out of the woods is to blame the drone blitz Ukraine has carried out on Russian oil and gas infrastructure over the summer and declare a so-called “energy ceasefire” in which both sides would stop targeting each other’s energy sector.

Both Kyiv and Moscow have been carrying out far-reaching strikes on one another’s vital infrastructure, with the former particularly successful in hitting the latter’s huge oil and gas refineries. Russia is generally regarded as the world’s third-largest exporter of refined fuel products.

It has been so successful that Ukraine’s Defense Ministry claimed in early October that it had disabled 51 percent of Russia’s refining capacity, while the International Energy Agency reports that some refineries have been hit 15 times.

The octogenarian president went on Truth Social on Sunday to proclaim “an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed.”

Zelensky said that the agreement was news to him but that Ukraine would honor it if Russia did too. It is understood that the agreement would have no bearing on attacks on Ukrainian cities, which claim the lives of dozens of civilians every week.

“In September Mr. Trump blamed Ukraine for causing diesel-fuel shortages with its long-range strikes on Russian refineries,” the Journal wrote. “Never mind Iranian and Houthi strikes on Middle Eastern energy production and transport. Russia helps Iran with intelligence and weapons.”

The agreement and Trump’s softening on Russia, however, represent a significant shift in U.S. government policy.

“The strategic turn here is hard to understand,” added the board, which has been fiercely critical of many of Trump’s policies, especially on tariffs and trade. “Only last month Mr. Trump signed the late Lindsey Graham’s bill to allow new sanctions and tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil and gas.

“Now Mr. Trump has decided to buy Russian diesel and lift some current U.S. sanctions. The U.S. has been browbeating Europe, India and China not to buy Russian oil, and so much for all that diplomatic effort.”

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Graham died in July, but had gained a reputation as a hawkish advocate for Ukraine who took a hard line on Russia that clashed with Trump’s.

Still, Trump was bullish in his announcement.

“Between our TOTAL CONTROL of the Strait of Hormuz, and this great announcement on Russian Energy, Diesel Prices for Americans and, indeed, the World, will be COMING DOWN, IN RECORD NUMBERS, AND FAST!” he said on Truth Social.

But despite any progress the president may perceive, he has still blamed Ukraine for a war it didn’t start.

Last week he said it was “time for Ukraine to get a new president,” telling Zelensky to “damn well stop” attacking Russian oil and gas infrastructure. He also claimed Ukraine should “get a new leader who can make a deal.”

“Eyeing a Nobel peace prize, Mr. Trump wants to broker a Russia-Ukraine peace, but the only pressure he ever applies is on Ukraine,” the Journal’s Editorial Board said. “His multiple attempts at appeasing Mr. Putin with summitry, flattery, offers of new investment, and more haven’t moved the Russian.

“On the weekend a Russian official said the diesel deal doesn’t change Mr. Putin’s determination to achieve his war aim, which is to turn Ukraine into a Kremlin satrapy. Until that changes, Mr. Trump’s diesel deal helps Russia and not the cause of peace.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

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Harry ThompsonNews Reporter

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