More Dem duplicity as gas prices soar

National Democrats, ostensibly worried about the toll rising gas prices are taking on everyday Americans, have introduced a bill to suspend the federal gas tax through the end of the year. Among the bill’s co-sponsors are both of Nevada’s U.S. Senators, Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen.

If you see a major disconnect here, you’re not alone.

High gas prices are indeed a problem. But to hear Democrats tell it, the environmental risk that comes with using gasoline (and many other traditional, non-green energy sources) is more than a problem; it’s a catastrophic threat to humanity itself. Higher prices tend to deter people from using more gas than necessary, which, in theory, should be a win for the planet. And they’re also the entirely predictable result of Democrats’ energy policies.

It follows, then, that Democrats should be celebrating higher gas prices — not taking steps, such as the bill co-sponsored by Cortez Masto and Rosen, to mitigate them.

So what gives?

The explanation for all this, of course, is raw political calculation. And in an excellent column for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Victor Joecks adds it all up:

The average price per gallon in Nevada is up more than $1 compared with a year ago.

That’s a major political problem, especially for Cortez Masto, who’s running for re-election this year. Rosen is up in 2024. Rising gasoline prices have a long history of hurting incumbent presidents. The lower President Joe Biden’s approval rating sinks, the less likely Cortez Masto is to win in November. If voters start to pin the blame on her specifically, her chances sink even further.

Many of the bill’s sponsors are facing tough re-election campaigns this year. They want to be able to run campaign ads saying that they fought for lower gasoline prices.

It’s the same old story, isn’t it? Democrats create a problem, then claim they’re the only ones with the solution. But as Joecks notes: “Tellingly, this tax holiday lasts only until shortly after the election. That’s a gimmick, not a solution.”

Democrats tell us constantly how concerned they are over the health of the planet — but it’s clear that the climate they care about most is the political one.

Morning morsels …

SPYGATE

Special Counsel: Democrats Framed And Spied On Trump While He Was President (Margot Cleveland, The Federalist): Enemies of Donald Trump surveilled the internet traffic at Trump Tower, at his New York City apartment building, and later at the executive office of the president of the United States, then fed disinformation about that traffic to intelligence agencies hoping to frame Trump as a Russia-connected stooge. A tangential filing on Friday in the criminal case against former Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann revealed these new details uncovered by Special Counsel John Durham’s investigation. Read more >

The Media’s Blackout on Durham Revelations (David Harsanyi, National Review): They finally have something potentially worse than Watergate, but this time around they’re content helping Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell, and Colson get away with it. That’s if you accept the most generous interpretation of the media’s near-total blackout of revelations from Special Counsel John Durham’s probe into Democrats’ misconduct. Read more >

EDUCATION

San Francisco school board recall should leave conservatives optimistic in the education fight (Frederick Hess, Fox News): In a closely watched recall election, San Francisco voters decisively ousted three school board members who had spent the pandemic engaging in woke theater while the city’s schools remained shuttered. With over 100,000 votes cast, 79 percent of voters opted to recall board member Alison Collins, 75 percent to recall board president Gabriela López, and 73 percent to boot board member Faauuga Moliga.  Read more >

ELECTION POLICY

Electronic Voting Undermines Trust, Election Integrity (Kevin Dietrich, Nevada Policy Research Institute): State leaders did their utmost last year to ensure Nevada’s voting laws are among the laxest in the nation. In addition to codifying a law that guarantees all active, registered voters will receive an unsolicited ballot in the mail and ensures most residents can cast a ballot without identification, the legislature passed a bill that expands electronic voting. Read more >

TAXES

EDITORIAL: High-tax states paying the price as residents leave (Las Vegas Review-Journal): Americans are voting with their feet when it comes to high state taxes. Nevada lawmakers and economic development advocates should take notice. According to a 2021 report by real estate broker Redfin, low-tax states attracted four new residents for every one who left, while high-tax states lost 2.5 residents for every newcomer. Read more >

THE BORDER

Democrats’ policies welcome illegal immigrants, weaken police force (Miranda Devine, New York Post): When Joe Biden dismantled Trump-era border protections on his first day in office, he created a slow-burning national security crisis. Murderers, pedophiles, rapists, gang members and terrorists — some previously deported — are among the 2 million illegal aliens who were apprehended crossing the wide-open southern border last year. That doesn’t count the untold number never detected. Read more >

THE OLYMPICS

China’s political Winter Olympics (Guy Farmer, Nevada Appeal): As a lifelong sports fan, I always looked forward to the competition and pageantry of the summer and winter Olympic Games, but not this year’s politicized version of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, China. Read more >

ENERGY

Green hypocrisy hurts the poorest (Joel Kotkin & Hügo Krüger, UnHerd): Roughly a half century ago, rising energy prices devastated Western economies, helping make the autocrats of the Middle East insanely rich while propping up the slowly disintegrating Soviet empire. Today the world is again reeling from soaring energy prices; but this time the wound is self-inflicted — a product of misguided policies meant to accelerate the transition to green energy. Read more >

NOTABLE QUOTE

“Trump was right. This isn't a conspiracy theory. His claims were true. Democrats were spying on Donald Trump, not just as a candidate, but as president of the United States in the White House, as well as in his own home.” ― Tucker Carlson