Why Putin invaded Ukraine, why Rick Perry is calling it a gas station

Permit me to expand on an energy story that we talked about last night. We have great Rick Perry to make a statement about it tonight. It makes no sense at all, unbelievable hypocrisy.

Europe is paying Russia just short of 30 billion euros, and the EU sends 29 billion dollars in military and financial assistance to Ukraine. Because of the radical green decisions made by Germany not to build their own liquid natural gas terminals and blindly rely on Russian energy.

Now let me expand on this thought. Putin doesn't invade any place when his main cash crop is cheap. In August of 2008, Putin invaded Georgia when the price of oil was about $125 a barrel. Now hang on a minute. In February 2014, Putin invaded Crimea when oil was $103 a barrel. Then go back to last February 2022, when oil was $92 a barrel, just short of the century mark. The Russian dictator invaded Ukraine. Now remember the late John McCain's economic analysis that Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country. It was Sen. McCain's finest moment. Putin grasped McCain's analysis with great clarity.

Let's switch gears. The average price range pre-COVID was $40 to $60 a barrel between January 2017 and January 2021 during the Trump administration. Putin's gas station wasn't turning a big enough profit to launch any new invasions.

Why did Trump have to go to war with Putin to stop the Russians? He was completely open the spigots for U.S. oil and gas production. Trump granted permits for fracking, pipelining, refining and all the rest of it. All Trump did was to make efficient use of America's greatest natural resource, perhaps its absolute greatest natural resource, which powers 80% of the best economy in history, with the largest decline of carbon emissions in the world, and all that kept Vladimir Putin at home, riding his old brown horse without a shirt on his back. Is it a coincidence? This whole mess — the Ukraine war, American inflation, the recession, the hardships, everything. This whole mess needs not have happened — and that is my riff tonight.