According to MSNBC’s 11th Hour host Stephanie Ruhle and Washington correspondent Yamiche Alcindor, President Biden took a huge risk on Tuesday when he announced that the U.S. would ban the importation of Russian oil. The risk being that Republicans will say they support the move while also blaming him for high gas prices.
Ruhle explained, “Yamiche, Biden is taking a huge domestic political risk with this Russian oil ban, even though right now, he's getting support from Democrats and Republicans. You know as well as I do, as soon as gas prices go up, and inflation gets worse as a result, you are going to see those same Republicans blame Biden and use it in the midterms.”
For Alcindor, this was “a smart point” because even though both parties agree, “there is really this political risk…Senator Chris Murphy, he has said, the moment that he be -- the moment that gas prices start to surge even more, he believes that Republicans are going to be using this against the president.”
Trying to prove Murphy right, Alcindor cited House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), “who has said that while President Biden is trying to blame Russia and world events for the historic gas prices this is really, he said, bad policies.”
Of course, McCarthy is correct. Gas prices were steadily going up well before the Russian invasion of Ukraine and before Biden made his announcement, but Alcindor didn’t see it that way and echoed Biden’s claim this is solely about Vladimir Putin:
So you're already hear Republicans doing what Democrats fear they're doing, which is that they're just blaming Democratic policies, blaming President Biden himself. Saying that he’s the reason why all of this is happening. Of course, President Biden had been warning Americans now for weeks that the cost of defending Ukrainian sovereignty and the cost of defending freedom was going to hit Americans in their pocketbooks. And it's clear and important to note that President Biden was saying that he's taking the step because Russia's actions are already hurting American families.
If only the President had the ability to implement policies that could help.
This segment was sponsored by Chase. Their contact information is linked.
Here is a transcript of the March 8 show:
MSNBC's The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle
March 8, 2022
11:10 PM ETSTEPHANIE RUHLE: Yamiche, Biden is taking a huge domestic political risk with this Russian oil ban, even though right now, he's getting support from Democrats and Republicans. You know as well as I do, as soon as gas prices go up, and inflation gets worse as a result, you are going to see those same Republicans blame Biden and use it in the midterms.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Well, Stephanie, you make such a smart point there, because, though President Biden, after a ground swell of bipartisan pressure took the historic step of banning Russian oil imports into the United States, there is really this political risk that he was taking because right now, as you said Republicans and Democrats, they got on the same page, they were even talking about a framework for doing this through Congress to ban oil imports. But Democratic—Democratic-- Senator Chris Murphy, he has said, the moment that he be-- the moment that gas prices start to surge even more, he believes that Republicans are going to be using this against the president.
And I should tell you already, we’ve heard from House Speaker Kevin or House Minority Leader rather Kevin McCarthy, who has said that while President Biden is trying to blame Russia and world events for the historic gas prices this is really, he said, bad policies.
So you're already hear Republicans doing what Democrats fear they're doing, which is that they're just blaming Democratic policies, blaming President Biden himself. Saying that he’s the reason why all of this is happening. Of course, President Biden had been warning Americans now for weeks that the cost of defending Ukrainian sovereignty and the cost of defending freedom was going to hit Americans in their pocketbooks. And it's clear and important to note that President Biden was saying that he's taking the step because Russia's actions are already hurting American families he said. So, this is really the president saying it's gonna get even worse here, domestically, but in the midterms, when you think about what people are really thinking about as they go to their ballot boxes, it's going to be every day issues, the cost of living, trying to survive, that's going to be top of my mind for people based on my reporting.
