GAS: Blaming wrong administration

Dick Gardner’s letter to the editor on July 20 is disingenuous, inaccurate, and casts blame for gas price inflation on the wrong administration.

Donald Trump pressured Saudi Arabia to end its oil price war with Russia and gave them an ultimatum in the spring of 2020 or else he would withdrawal all troops and military aid from the country.

Trump also pressured OPEC to cut oil production at the height of the pandemic when prices started to fall precipitously. It was Trump’s effort to protect Russia and the oil industry from a price meltdown that ultimately hurt the average consumer when the pandemic eased.

The deal with Russia, Saudi Arabia and OPEC to cut oil supply would eventually boost prices and well, here we are. It was a calculated Trumpian effort to save Russia all the way at the expense of the American consumer.

DAVID M. COHEN

Coeur d’Alene