WASHINGTON -- With gas prices rising above $3.50 a gallon in all but one state, Americans are getting hit hard at the pump. But billionaire and presidential aspirant Donald Trump thinks he has the solution: Simply tell OPEC to cut prices. Trump blamed gas costs on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), a conglomerate of developing nations responsible for 40 percent of global oil supplies. He said on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday that lowering the price of gas is as easy as telling OPEC's members to do so -- something he believes President Obama is incapable of. When host Candy Crowley argued that the United States can't control OPEC, Trump disagreed, saying our country only needs "brain power." "Candy, it's the messenger," said Trump. "You know, I can send two executives into a room. They can say the same thing. One guy comes home with the bacon and the other one doesn't. And I've seen it a thousand times. It's the messenger." "We don't have the right messenger. Obama is not the right messenger," he continued. "We are not a respected nation anymore. The world is laughing at us. ... Let me tell you, it'll go down if you say it properly." Trump also criticized Obama's handling of the conflict in Libya, saying the United States should just go in there and take the country's oil. "Either I'd go in and take the oil or I don't go in at all," he said. "We can't be the policeman for the world." He added that he would leave Libya "plenty" of oil so that "they can live very happily" as well. Other Republican presidential aspirants have more directly blamed the Obama administration for rising gas prices. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, for example, has suggested the White House deliberately drives up prices. "This administration's policies have been designed to drive up the cost of energy in the name of reducing pollution, in the name of making very expensive alternative fuels more economically competitive," said Barbour in a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, DC last month. On NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner cited tensions in the Middle East and North Africa along with the nuclear situation in Japan for impacting gas costs. He said that high gas prices have a "measurable impact on the economy" by slowing the recovery process "moderately."
Trump also criticized Obama's handling of the conflict in Libya, saying the United States should just go in there and take the country's oil. "Either I'd go in and take the oil or I don't go in at all," he said. "We can't be the policeman for the world." He added that he would leave Libya "plenty" of oil so that "they can live very happily" as well.
Obama is a weakling and these guys see it. His administration should be run out of DC. The "Great Society" is over. Now is the time for bold measures.
So you think if Trump were president, oil would be cheaper because Trump is a "tough guy?" Bush projected "tough guy" and oil went to $150.00... Guys like Trump think that our military is for the purpose of securing oil for our own needs in other countries? How Roman of Trump, who wants to be Caesar...
It will probably go higher in the short term. The only thing the world respects is leadership and a "kick-ass" mentality. US is being laughed at, he is right. Time to turn that around. Oh, and neither Bushes were "tough guys". I agree that we need to secure supply as it is in the national interest. Then work on alternative fuel supply.
The real stupidity of Trump and his butt sniffers is the price of oil is set these days by speculators and large hedge funds.
Trump the imperialist: âSo I said very simply that if itâs me, we take the oil. âIn the old days when you win a country, you win a country. Now with our stupid people we win a country and we lose money, we lose soldiers, and then we leave. âAt a minimum they [should] pay us back the $1.5 trillion. Thatâs a minimum.â