Republicans are closer to the truth than Democrats. Democrats are willfully wrong, and in their new socialist-Communist form, ruthlessly evil. Yet in the long run (and often in the short-run, too) Democrats keep winning.

Case in point: The absurd contest to fill the late Lindsey Graham’s U.S. Senate seat in South Carolina.

Corey Allen reports on Facebook, “The YMCA in Berkeley [South Carolina] has cancelled an event being held for Ralph Norman [running against Lindsey Graham’s Democrat-favored sister, Darline Graham for the GOP nominaton) after a ton of phone calls, including violent threats were made against the venue. According to sources.”

We’re talking South Carolina, not New York or California or Seattle or Chicago. The malignancy that is leftism is violent, and it’s spreading everywhere.

Democrats rush to support Darline Graham for U.S. Senate in the GOP primary. They believe their child predator Communist pediatrician, Annie Andrews, can possibly beat her for filling Lindsey Graham’s seat for the next six years; and, if not, they believe Darline Graham is the next best thing. Ralph Norman has a nearly perfect conservative/pro-liberty voting record and in Congress has pushed for even more spending cuts than President Trump. Darline Graham has no record or stance on positions that I can discern. It’s a sad situation for a state like South Carolina which voted for Trump in a landslide three times.

You don’t find these lapses and inconsistencies on the Democratic side. Leftists are ruthlessly, shamelessly and unblinkingly totalitarian. The Democratic Party is a morbidly toxic hybrid of fascism, Communism, involuntary servitude for the capable and medieval savagery and barbarism. Defeating them should be the easiest thing in the world, even in today’s intellectually polluted era. Yet even in hard core red states like South Carolina the Republicans wobble, apologize and wallow in moral hollowness. Just pitiful.

Michael J. Hurd, Daily Dose of Reason

What do most schools really teach? Only conformity and indoctrination?

It depends on the school. However, most schools fit this description.

100 percent of government-run schools fit this description. American public schools and universities dug in hard with the leftist ideology starting in the 1980s and 1990s.

Now look at the results: A majority of 40 and under believe they want Communism. And that unlimited free rein for Islam is an example of “liberalism” and tolerance.

The more educated these pro-totalitarian voters are — the more they believe it.

Education in America may be responsible for the collapse of the greatest nation in human history, and the death of millions yet to come as unprecedented impoverishment sets in. Watch the big cities like New York: They are falling, right before your eyes.

Michael J. Hurd,  Daily Dose of Reason

Thornton McEnery

President Trump announced Friday that the U.S. will wave through 300,000 metric tons of imported ground beef over the next three months with the out-of-quota tariff switched off, and that “this beef will be sold at 25 percent below current market prices.”

Sold by whom went unmentioned. Shipped from where, likewise. Which foreign exporters agreed to any of this is a question the announcement left for later, along with the executive order itself, which the White House says arrives within 2 weeks.

Ground beef hit $6.885 a pound in July, an all-time high and 83% above where it sat in 2017. Take a quarter off and you are at $5.16, which is a genuine improvement and also the going rate in 2023. Relief has become relative.

The cattlemen (who are ostensibly the point of all this) made it to lunchtime before turning on him. National Cattlemen’s Beef Association chief Colin Woodall pronounced himself “disappointed,” warned against “flooding the market with government-subsidized, below-market beef,” and pointed out that cattle prices had already fallen sharply that morning. They had. The Great American Beef Herd, so capitalized by the president, took a loss before the announcement finished circulating.

Beef costs what it costs because there are very few cows. Drought, feed bills that would trouble a hedge fund, and a decade of ranchers cashing out breeding stock have left the American herd at its smallest since the Eisenhower administration. A waiver does not restock a pasture because cattle take years to reach a grill and ranchers expand only when they trust that prices will hold, so cheap imported trimmings arriving 10 weeks before an election is a strange way to build that trust. Groceries are on the ballot in November. The cows are incidental.

An arrest warrant has been issued for 22-year-old Zymire Hughes, police announced on Thursday.

A cross-country manhunt is underway for a man accused of terrorizing people in Center City Philadelphia.

“Who’s scared now? Who’s running now?” District Attorney Larry Krasner asked during a news conference on Thursday.

Investigators say 22-year-old Zymire Hughes is the man who was allegedly chasing people around City Hall in the early morning hours, while wearing a Chucky-style Halloween mask.

“He’s a punk. I mean, that’s the bottom line. He’s a punk who scared a lot of people for no good reason, and we’re not going to tolerate it,” Krasner said.

Now, police are working with the U.S. Marshals Service to track down and capture Hughes, officials said.

Officials said they’ve received information that Hughes packed his bags and “left approximately two nights ago,” leading them to believe Hughes may have fled Pennsylvania.

They pointed out that he has ties to California and Las Vegas, Nevada.

“He has a tendency to travel back and forth to the West Coast — California, the L.A. area — but also Las Vegas. And he would be for employment reasons,” said Philadelphia Police Capt. Jason Smith.

He is also currently on probation for a crime he committed in Montgomery County, with that probation being supervised in Philadelphia, Kranser added, saying that these incidents are a potential violation of that probation.

“You think it’s funny to scare people? Well, get ready to get scared by us because we got the handcuffs, we got the jail cell, we got the Philly jury that’s going to tell you it’s not funny at all,” Krasner said. “You think it’s funny to make people run, get your sneaks, because that’s what Zamir Hughes is doing right now. Mr. Big and Bad is on the run.”

Officials say he was likely doing it for social media fame.

Kranser said investigators have identified three social media accounts associated with Hughes; two are TikTok accounts and the other is an Instagram account.

“So, think twice, young people who are on social media who want to get some kind of following, some kind of clout, whatever it may be,” Krasner said.

In one instance, police say he allegedly asked a woman, “Are you ready to die?”

That victim severely injured her leg during the ordeal as she ran away, screaming for help.

Surveillance cameras caught another encounter.

“It’s readily apparent that this individual is certainly in fear of their life,” Krasner said.

Kranser did emphasize that, at no point, did Hughes attempt to lay hands on anyone or furnish a weapon.

Police are also asking anyone else who may have been victimized by Hughes to come forward.

“We will catch you. The police will catch you. The federal marshal will catch you. Even if you run, we will hold you accountable,” Krasner warned Hughes.

Hughes could be facing charges including terroristic threats, harassment, simple assault and intimidation.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Philadelphia police by calling 215-686-TIPS (8477).

Because Donald Trump comes from the business world, unlike his predecessors in office, he has made it clear he prefers negotiating with adversaries to war, and economic strangulation when negotiating with them fails. 

Clarice Feldman | August 23, 2026

From Genesis on, the naming of things has been deemed significant. Leftist pols know this and are careful how they label what they are doing. The right, not so much. Earlier this month I wrote about the ridiculous D.C. federal courts’ efforts to halt construction of what has been called the “Trump Ballroom.” I think it’s time to call this what it really is: the renovation of the East Wing. The ballroom, the much-needed official reception space, is a significant shelter against attack and sits atop a critical national security complex.

CBS said plans include drone-proof ceilings, walls, windows, and roofs; a rooftop drone base designed for large numbers of drones (intended to help protect the broader Washington area); bullet-, ballistic-, and blast-proof glass (described as several inches thick and ‘highly transparent,’ transparency being important for windows); missile-resistant columns, roofs, and beams; hardened concrete/steel construction claimed capable of withstanding extreme threats like nuclear blasts; titanium fencing; sniper nests; biodefense elements; and secure comms. For ballroom dancing.

Underneath will be “up to six stories” of subterranean complex including bomb shelters, a high-tech hospital, research areas, enhanced ventilation filters, and ‘top-secret military features.’

Friday was the last day the stay of the district Court order halting construction (which was almost 65% completed) was in effect. That afternoon Chief Justice Roberts extended the stay “pending further order of the chief Justice or the Court.”

The moronic press suggested that the project could still be halted — that the stay was just for now.

 Jeff Childers poked fun at that reading:

This “for now” framing is a mendacious rhetorical device architected to minimize the legal loss. The resistance continues! He shall never have his ballroom! (Ballroom construction is ahead of schedule.) From the Declaration of Independence until Trump 2.0, no court has ever before tried to stop a White House renovation project. No court issued a “stop work” order when Teddy Roosevelt built the West Wing, Truman gutted the mansion down to the studs, or FDR put up the East Wing that everyone is suddenly so fond of.

Chief Justice John Roberts’ terse order, [snip] said nothing like “for now” or “temporary.” It said, until I say so.

Bill Shipley also posts that this media interpretation is nonsense.

The President is a builder, and the tidying up of a capital which had fallen into disrepair is a tribute to his construction experience and his understanding that appearance matters. If the fountains are covered in graffiti and choked with debris, the heroic statues covered in grime, national monuments crumbling, you send a message of neglect and disregard as dispiriting as widespread crime in the capital has been.

Apart from the fact that they generally are slobs with no respect for aesthetics, the left hates everything the president is doing in D.C. to build and to tidy up, for they despise the idea that he will leave behind a permanent physical legacy.

Because he comes from the business world, unlike his predecessors in office, he has made it clear he prefers negotiating with adversaries to war, and economic strangulation when negotiating with them fails. If you are a close observer of our actions in Iran, you will note that the military assets of that country were destroyed, and now, without having to put boots on the ground, he is laying siege to it.

WOW! 16 MILLION BARRELS of oil just moved out of the Strait of Hormuz overnight — Axios That is nearly MATCHING pre-war oil flows…🔥 Keep building the new pipelines and make the future even more grim for Iran! President Trump and SecWar Pete Hegseth have Iran in a state of shock. He’s gaining total control over the Strait and the oil problem is being resolved All while Iran can NEVER have a nuclear weapon, and devastation will be announced by Scott Bessent on Monday THIS IS HUGE! 

Rod D. Martin compares this low-risk siege of Iran with Abraham Lincoln’s Anaconda Plan, which starved the Confederacy of trade and resources.

Iran’s oil terminals are empty, and the daily revenue losses are in the millions, trade is halted, factories closing, inflation mounting. Martin sees the comparison:

Trump’s Iranian Anaconda

Trump already delivered the blows. The blockade is making them permanent.

American and Israeli forces have demolished Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, shredded most of its missile force and drone production, sunk its Navy, and decapitated its command structure. The U.S. Navy fully controls Iran’s access to the sea: today’s fleet is smaller than Lincoln’s, but radically more effective. Scott Bessent’s Treasury is dismantling the banks and front companies that turn smuggled oil into spendable money.

Oil can’t get out of Iran. Weapons and money can’t reliably get in.

The pressure is the strategy.

Iran’s Empire is gone and cannot return, making peace in the Mideast more likely than ever.

America’s enemies spent twenty years studying Iraq and Afghanistan, certain they could lure us into an occupation, survive until the next election, and bleed us for a generation. Whether they realize it yet or not, Trump is teaching them that America can destroy an enemy’s military, seal its ports, cut off its money, dismantle its proxies, and wreck its ability to rebuild, all without occupying its capital or fighting a war of attrition.

That’s a rude awakening for much of the world.

Indeed, history will confirm we have had the most consequential president of our lifetime, and soon we will see permanent structures in the capital memorializing his mark on the country and the world.

Clarice Feldman

AMERICAN THINKER

President Trump’s announcement on Wednesday that he was launching an “Economic D-Day” on Iran has been met with a combination of bluster and panic in Tehran. 

Kenneth R. Timmerman | August 22, 2026 Scroll down

President Trump’s announcement on Wednesday that he was launching an “Economic D-Day” on Iran has been met with a combination of bluster and panic in Tehran. 

The IRGC is huffing and puffing as usual, claiming they will cut undersea cables and isolate the Arab Gulf states from the Internet, shutting down the banking system in the region.

One wag even suggested that brave Revolutionary Guards soldiers, whose claim to battlefield glory is to slaughter innocent children in the streets of Iranian cities, would invade Kuwait to seize U.S. bases there.

I know a few former specops guys who are licking their chops. Count me in! 

On Friday, Iran’s lead negotiator, former IRGC Air Force Commander Mohammad Baqr Qalibaf, told an audience at the Iranian embassy in Baghdad that the regime would go down if it couldn’t get the economy back on its feet. “No matter how much military power we have, if people are hungry and we don’t have financial circulation, economic growth, and domestic production, we will not endure,” he said.

The economic desperation is hard to hide. Ordinary Iranians gave up meat months ago, and now they are also giving up poultry and eggs, which are up 130%. Inflation reached 66% for the month of July.

The semi-official Iran Labor News Agency (ILNA), calls it a “survival economy,” with people renting out their laptops and even selling their hair and personal belongings to make ends meet.

The U.S. naval blockade is working. No new Iranian oil is exiting the Strait of Hormuz to international markets, leading the regime to cut back production to just above domestic consumption.

As I have remarked before, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has turned out to be the Trump Administration’s secret weapon. He has unleashed Treasury’s vast but little-known intelligence networks to identify Iranian regime money-laundering networks and shut them down.

Already on March 6, the tenth day of the war, he got the UAE to shut down the Iranian offshore banking system in Dubai, freezing $350 billion in assets controlled by regime insiders and the IRGC.

Last week, someone drained the cryptocurrency wallets the regime had been using to collect billions of dollars in tolls from ships transiting the Iranian route through the Strait of Hormuz.

On Thursday, Bessent identified an Iranian money-laundering network in Turkey that was bringing hundreds of millions of dollars in cash on international flights to Hezb’allah in Lebanon. He named the couriers and their controllers. I don’t think they will be flying internationally any time soon.

That’s how Scotty does it.

“We are going to squash the economy of this murderous regime,” he told CNBC on Thursday. Even when he talks tough, he talks softly, with his pinky in the air. Give that man a glass of rosé!

The IRGC loves to talk tough. And to brutalize unarmed Iranian civilians. But when you go after their money, they take notice.

So in late May, when the Steve Witkoff-Jared Kushner negotiations with the Iranians were going squirrely, Tulsi Gabbard — still Director of National Intelligence — called in a chit from Iraqi Kurdistan President Nichervan Barzani.

Hey Nichervan, she said. Can you get me Ahmad Vahidi on the line? Vahidi being, of course, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards, who was telling everyone how the IRGC would never negotiate with the United States.

Nichervan makes a call. Vahidi sends a gopher with an encrypted phone, and the two talk. So Ahmad, my friend, are you really serious when you say you will sabotage these negotiations being led by Qalibaf? And Vahidi says — get this – No. We are fully behind the negotiations with the Americans. We just can’t say it.

Well, that story came out this week, and it only added to the turmoil in Tehran. The commander of the IRGC had secret back-channel talks with the Director of National Intelligence in Washington?

Soon, the spotlight will shift to China for Trump’s state visit at the end of September.

Just for the record, I don’t believe the Iranians are going to succeed in blowing up the world economy in time to sabotage the Republicans in the midterms. (The Republicans often seem capable of sabotaging themselves, so let’s hope that doesn’t happen!)

I have heard the panics and the lefties argue non-stop that we have no influence over the Chinese, and that there’s nothing Trump can do to get the Chinese to cut off their military assistance to Iran.

I beg to differ. Trump doesn’t need to do much publicly. It’s all happening behind the scenes.

The head of the Iran-China Chamber of Commerce revealed recently that the U.S. blockade on the Strait of Hormuz will add $18 billion in shipping costs on containers coming from China to Iran, since they are now being brought overland by truck and rail.

And what about China’s tin pot refiners? They were the buyers of 80% of Iran’s sanctions-busting oil, at steep discounts. Now they are running on empty.

We don’t need China to cooperate with us on Iran. They just need to get out of the way so they don’t get hurt.

The UAE just announced a total trade embargo on Iran. This, too, will hurt China, since many of its exports to Iran were disguised as re-exports from Dubai.

Trump doesn’t need to wield the big stick with China. He’s already stuck them with a thousand toothpicks.

We live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning.”

I agree with this quote, if by “meaning” he’s referring to concepts. Humans are conceptual animals. We don’t simply look at facts. We integrate the facts we see into generalizations, or concepts. “Table” is a concept. “Freedom” is a concept. Rational concepts arise from facts; concepts are the whole point of gathering facts.

Increasingly, most of us have not learned the skills of thinking. We have not learned how to form and manage concepts. We are swimming in facts and data–without anything to bind all that data together. Without concepts, there would be no science, no technology, no world as we know it. Teachers have not merely failed at the job of teaching. They indoctrinate children with facts alone, and most of the “facts” taught are not even facts, but dogma and half truths or falsehoods designed to advance some ideological or political narrative.

Self-esteem, rationality, common decency and civilization itself are perishing from a lack of critical thinking. I am a psychotherapist and mental health professional of 38 years. If you ask me, THIS is at the root of the widespread and growing mental health crisis fostering the decline of reason and freedom. When your mind is starved of the use of its cognitive capacity, it’s left with nothing but paralysis, depression, anxiety and low self-esteem.

Michael J. Hurd, Daily Dose of Reason

If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.” — Albert Einstein

So true. Viktor Frankl, in “Man’s Search for Meaning,” also wrote of purpose and goals as central to a happy life. People will often let you down, and people are not under your control. Your goals are largely under control. Show me a person without goals or purpose, and you will be showing me an unhappy person. Relationships with people and material things can contribute to a meaningful life, for sure; but if you try to replace goals with other people or with things, you will be chronically disappointed.

Michael J. Hurd, Daily Dose of Reason

‘Sanctuary city’ secession is tearing the Union apart.

J.B. Shurk | August 22, 2026

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https://trinitymedia.ai/player/trinity-player.php?pageURL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.americanthinker.com%2Farticles%2F2026%2F08%2Fillegitimate-elections-will-destroy-the-united-states%2F&contentHash=bd116ed249ec54b1fe733f9e9594f63ce4cee0d20810b9b8f8370177eb4fddab&unitId=2900022523&userId=a2cf14f8-f2f9-4acf-9f31-42f2f76d9b74&isLegacyBrowser=false&version=20260820_da8db5f8a1f29bb67acb4e49724b17f25e1e0187&useBunnyCDN=0&themeId=477&isMobile=1&unitType=tts-player&integrationType=web

The American Center for Law and Justice recently submitted two California Public Records Act requests seeking information from the attorney general and secretary of state as to how California ensures that only lawful U.S. citizens are voting in elections.  In response, California authorities admitted that they do not track non-citizens on voter rolls as required by federal law.  Not only does the state have no idea how many non-citizen voters are registered to vote but also it has no formal procedure for investigating illegal voting.

California prohibits cities from requiring voter ID.  The state essentially has a “Trust me, bro” voting policy that allows anybody to send in a ballot.  Nobody has any idea how many foreigners vote in California elections.  California refuses to safeguard its elections.

It is appalling that California maintains such shoddy election records.  It is appalling that California makes it so easy for non-citizens to vote.  It is appalling that California requires weeks to count votes each election cycle.  

For citizens to have faith in the legitimacy of election outcomes, elections must be run with professionalism and integrity.  Instead, California’s elections are a global laughingstock.  On the other hand, if you were trying to design a system conducive to mass fraud, the California model is par excellence.  

Democrat-run states around the country emulate California’s untrustworthy elections as much as possible.  They vehemently oppose photo identification and citizenship verification requirements — falsely labeling such basic security measures as poll taxes and forms of racial discrimination and voter suppression.  Democrat secretaries of state routinely issue voting guidelines to election monitors that violate statutory law.  Democrat attorneys general and local prosecutors refuse to investigate allegations of election fraud, and when they do open up investigations, they rarely prosecute offenders.  Democrat politicians make it clear that they will not punish illegal immigrants for unlawfully voting.  

Here is a video of a young woman interviewing President Obama just days before the 2016 election contest between President Trump and Hillary Clinton.  In this video, the interviewer defends calling illegal aliens “citizens” because, according to her, “they contribute to this country.”  Then she informs Obama that these illegal aliens are “fearful of voting” and asks him whether immigration authorities will deport illegal alien voters and their families.  Obama replies, “Not true.”  While remaining rhetorically cagey, he strongly implies that there will be no repercussions for illegal aliens who fraudulently vote in American elections.  Since Democrat officials refuse to remove illegal aliens from state voter rolls or prosecute illegal aliens who vote in elections, Obama was telling the truth.  Democrats in positions of authority aid and abet non-citizens who commit election fraud.

Democrat-controlled states enable illegal aliens to influence the outcomes of elections.  Just by unlawfully residing in Democrat-run states, illegal aliens are counted in the U.S. Census, triggering the creation of additional Democrat congressional districts.  Additionally, every illegal alien who votes cancels a vote from a U.S. citizen.  How many state officeholders or members of the U.S. House or Senate hold their positions because of illegal alien vote fraud?  Because Democrat-controlled states refuse to turn over their election records, we simply don’t know

As awful as this Democrat-enabled electoral fraud already is, it will become much worse if Democrats get their way.  Up to now, our federal system has operated as a security mechanism that limits the damage Democrats can do to our elections.  They can use illegal alien voters to steal state offices and federal elections for Congress.  They can use the population of illegal alien residents to increase their share of representatives in the House.  But the Constitution’s requirement that an Electoral College vote for the president and vice president limits the extent to which one state’s unlawful votes can cancel out another state’s votes.  Since the number of each state’s presidential electors is equal to that state’s congressional delegation (House representatives plus two senators), that is the maximum influence a state has on the presidential election.  No matter how many illegal aliens fraudulently vote for a Democrat president and vice president every four years, each state’s vote share in the Electoral College is already predetermined.  

This is why Democrats are so desperate to eliminate the Electoral College.  This is why they insist that a workaround to the Constitution be enacted that would permit a so-called “national popular vote” to determine presidential elections.  If there is no Electoral College to limit the damage illegal alien voters do to the integrity of California’s elections, then California’s fraudulent voting system can be used to rig the entire nation’s presidential election.  Republican-led states can roll out photo ID laws and secure their own elections all they want, but their efforts will not matter if California and other fraud-filled states allow every foreign national to vote (often more than once).  

Every election season, Democrats become more vocal about finding a way — any way — to abolish the Electoral College.  The fever pitch to tear up part of the Constitution is not limited to the Marxist-socialists who openly fantasize about destroying the United States.  Even so-called Democrat “moderates,” such as Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, regularly appear on national news shows to demand an end to the Electoral College.  If Beshear and other “moderate” Democrats get their way, Democrat political operatives who run elections in Democrat-controlled cities will be able to aid and abet enough illegal alien vote fraud to determine every future presidential election.  California’s election fraud system will become the de facto system for the whole country.

These are the stakes before us: Democrat-enabled vote fraud combined with a “national popular vote” will end the United States.  Republican states would not remain part of the Union.  Because Senate Republicans have done nothing to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act and because the Supreme Court insists that foreign nationals can break into the United States to give birth to American “citizens,” the risk that Democrats will eventually succeed in destroying the Electoral College has never been higher.  

Given that this serious issue threatens to destroy the Union, shouldn’t we demand that our elected representatives answer important questions, such as: How are so-called “sanctuary” cities and states anything other than declarations of secession from the United States?  How is it possible for Democrat mayors, governors, judges, prosecutors, lawmakers, and state law enforcement agencies to subvert federal immigration law without any real consequences for their actions?  How are Democrat officials permitted to aid and abet human trafficking networks without being criminally charged as co-conspirators in Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act cases?  Why are Democrat officials not charged when illegal alien criminals whom they shield from deportation go on to rape, murder, or otherwise violently harm American citizens?  Why are Democrat officials not on trial today for conspiring with illegal aliens in the commission of massive welfare fraud schemes across the country?  Why are Democrat officials not on trial for inducing electoral fraud?  Why are Democrat officials not on trial for denying the civil rights of American citizens by stealing their votes?

If these questions aren’t stubbornly asked every single day, then we will continue sleepwalking toward a second civil war and the dissolution of the Union.  If elected officials continue to ignore these questions, then their disregard should be understood as support for secession.  Because there is no other way to describe our present situation in which Democrat officials are somehow permitted to undermine federal immigration law while suffering no consequences.  They have given de facto amnesty to foreign nationals residing here illegally, and they have received from federal authorities de facto amnesty for their criminal actions.  If this conspicuous lawlessness is not soon extinguished, California vote fraud will infect the federal system.  Illegitimate elections will destroy the United States.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright met with executives from refining companies on Monday to explore ways the Trump administration could help them boost throughput volumes to help keep America’s gasoline and diesel market fully supplied. The meeting took place in Midland, Texas during an industry conference Wright was attending.

Wright and the White House believe an increase in refined volumes could hold the key to lowering prices for gas and diesel at the pump. The administration’s concerns are not surprising given the fact that gasoline prices have stubbornly remained above $4.00/ gallon nationwide amid the ongoing Iran Conflict, a dollar higher than a year ago. Though still a dollar below the highs reached during the Biden autopen years, the current price paradigm could have a significant impact on November’s midterm elections.

Wright told reporters that the Department of Energy (DOE) would announce steps later this week it can take to help spur higher throughput even though his own Energy Information Administration reported last week that U.S. refineries have been sustaining unusually high activity levels for months now. Some companies have expressed concerns in recent weeks that the current 96.2% capacity level cannot be sustained for much longer as some refineries are already well past their regular periodic maintenance downtime schedules.

It’s hard to see how the feds can spur even higher output levels through this limited refining fleet. Secretary Wright will be looking for short-term measures, like possibly suspending fuel blending requirements under the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) haze reduction program. That move would have made even better sense to take in April when refiners are annually forced to switch over to costly summer blends that always raise gas prices at the pump just as summer driving season ramps up.

The real enduring problem related to America’s refining industry is that there isn’t enough of it: The U.S. industry hasn’t opened a single new major refinery in almost half a century now. The simple fact is that the United States needs more refineries if it is to keep more of its record, world-leading oil production at home for domestic use instead of having to export three million to five million barrels of the light, sweet crude produced from the Permian Basin every day because there isn’t enough domestic refining capacity to handle it.

A single new greenfield refinery is under construction today by America First Refining at the Port of Brownsville, Texas. Scheduled for completion in late 2027, the America First Refinery will have an initial capacity to process up to 168,000 barrels of light, sweet crude per day. As substantial as that is, it puts only a small dent in the overall magnitude of the capacity shortage.

Make no mistake about it, building new refineries is not remotely a short-term solution. In an interview in March, AFR CEO John Calce told me just obtaining the mandatory air quality permit under the Clean Air Act consumed a full seven years for a facility that will take less than 3 years to construct. That’s a regulatory roadblock which has discouraged many other potential refinery projects since 1979.

Wright’s push also comes amid a trend among big shale producers to trim back on drilling budgets in favor of allocating capital to stock buybacks and other returns to investors. That also is not surprising given that it has been the prevailing operational model for shale producers since at least 2019, as Irina Slav points out in a story at Oilprice.com.

No one should doubt Wright’s contention during a Monday interview that the Permian Basin and other shale basins are capable of further increasing production of both oil and natural gas. The main variable in that equation is the willingness of the companies doing most of the drilling to allocate capital to meet that goal.

Most big oil-producing countries source most of their oil through a national oil company like Saudi Arabia’s Aramco that is responsive to government edicts and needs. But in the United States, oil and gas are drilled, produced, and refined by hundreds of privately held companies executing on their own discreet business plans.

Thus, persuasive though Mr. Wright certainly is, persuasion is really the only tool he and the White House possess to wring more throughput out of America’s already stressed refining industry.

Daily Caller News Foundation ^ | August 21, 2026 | David Blackmon