President Donald Trump is scrambling to bring down gas prices, as his war with Iran continues to upend global energy markets. On “The 11th Hour,” MS NOW’s Stephanie Ruhle explained why the president’s attempts to increase oil supply would do little to solve the reality that everyday Americans are facing at the pump.
The Trump administration announced Wednesday it would temporarily waive the Jones Act, a more than a century-old shipping law, to help speed up the transport of oil through U.S. ports. That move came shortly after Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to reopen a pipeline in California that had been kept offline since 2015 due to an oil spill.
“This administration has a pattern — other administrations have as well — but this one loves to use emergency powers to move forward whatever their priorities are,” Ruhle said, noting that the president used a similar approach to impose his widespread tariffs.
The “11th Hour” host said she wondered if Trump, moving forward, would simply “use emergency powers for just about everything he wants to do” and questioned whether Congress would step in to rein in his unilateral moves.
“Are they going to do anything about this?” she asked.
While Trump officials have promised that gas prices will soon return to normal, the California pipeline is only expected to produce 1.5 million barrels a month — a drop in the bucket compared to the more than 600 million barrels per month that Americans typically consume.
The MS NOW host labeled the administration’s efforts as “Band-Aids” that would, at most, offer only temporary relief to struggling Americans. “They’re going to give the president a daily headline that the likes of my mother can say, ‘Look, they’re opening a pipeline in California. We’re going to be fine,’” she said. “But according to The New York Times, the average American driver — even just up to this point — is going to be paying an extra 50 bucks a month to fill their tank.” Ruhle warned that with prices like that, Americans would “move past those Band-Aid headlines quick.” You can watch Ruhle’s full analysis in the clip at the top of the page.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW. She was previously a segment producer for “AYMAN” and “The Mehdi Hasan Show.”
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