This week, the Sunday shows decided to max out on Trump’s (low) Energy Secretary Chris Wright. Appearing on CNN’s State Of The Union, CBS’s Face the Nation, ABC’s This Week, and Fox News Sunday, Wright brought his trademark lack of charisma as he stumbled through basic questions on every channel.
On CNN, after Dana Bash asked whether the US Navy's indefinite deployment to the Strait of Hormuz is the new normal, Wright tried to victim-blame the oil shippers for their pesky fear of being sunk.
BASH: So, sort of what’s unsaid in this discussion so far is that it’s just — it’s not safe. […] August was the deadliest month for merchants in the Strait of Hormuz since March. Can you unequivocally say that ships that want to transit through the Strait of Hormuz can do so safely?
WRIGHT: We’re working cooperatively with fleets that do want to transit. Some ships aren’t transiting, and, of course, that’s their choice.
Bash pushed on this more, and Wright trotted out the old failed talking points from the beginning of this clusterfuck.
BASH: But you're not saying that it's currently safe?
WRIGHT: We're getting a lot of ships through, but, of course, it requires the US military to do that. […]BASH: [B]ottom line, if a country or a company wants to send its tanker through the Strait of Hormuz, can they do so safely?
WRIGHT: Well, if they want to work with the United States Navy, I think they can.
But, look, we're trying to end a 47-year conflict as Iran …
How’s that “end” coming along, Chris? Also, didn’t your boss declare this already “mission accomplished” once?
Bash then asked Wright about the high fuel prices, ones he promised would decrease five months ago, during the busy Labor Day travel weekend. Wright, in a moment of accidental honesty, gave the type of answer you wouldn’t expect the Energy secretary to give and caught even Bash by surprise.
WRIGHT: Well, if you look at — I look — I don't want to have an opinion on that […] But the Trump administration is doing everything we can to drive energy prices down, as we have since the day we arrived in office.
BASH: Respectfully, as the Energy secretary, shouldn't you have an opinion on where gas prices are and where they're going?WRIGHT: […] So, if I had to guess, they're more likely to go — to go down than go up.
If you had to guess?! You’re the Energy Secretary, not a sentient magic 8-ball! You should have concrete plans to tackle this that are better than hopes, wishes, and unicorn kisses!!
On ABC, Martha Raddatz inquired about one of the plans to bring down oil prices and the inherent hypocrisy in it.
RADDATZ: You negotiated this Venezuelan deal with Delcy Rodriguez, who was vice president under the Maduro regime, the regime that the Trump administration attacked as a “socialist dictatorship.” Why do you trust her?
WRIGHT: […] We have a lot of leverage over Venezuela. We control the sale of oil outside of their country. Right now they are forced to work in partnership with us.
That’s bullshit. That’s plundering and hostage taking, Chris. It’s so bad even Fox News’s Shannon Bream confronted you about it.
But that is the truth, Chris. How do we know this? Because on CBS, you made it clear to Margaret Brennan that this whole “liberation” of the Venezuelan people is taking a back seat to looting their resources.
Overthrowing their government, stealing their resources, and making them effectively a colony of the US?! Venezuela is a Jones Act and crypto bros invasion away from becoming Puerto Rico in all the worst ways. Venezuela is no more “partnering” with us than the Nakatomi employees and John McClain were partnering with Hans Gruber in Die Hard.
Speaking of John McClain … Chris Wright was not the worst person to appear on Bari Weiss’s CBS on Sunday. That dubious honor goes to Republican Representative and Chair of the House Republican Conference Lisa McClain.
McClain was unbothered by Trump’s low approval ratings affecting the midterms and praised Dear Leader for his courage in facing our greatest geopolitical foe.
MCCLAIN: I've had the opportunity to be in the district and talk to the rural voters. Farmers are excited about and actually applaud the president for is actually standing up to Canada and try and level the playing field with the tariffs.
Sorry, we meant our neighbors and allies who generously gave us John Candy and Catherine O’Hara.
Brennan, however, pointed out that this unnecessary tariff war would cause financial pain to average Americans. McClain retorted by showing Republicans’ true sense of empathy.
BRENNAN: But — but it comes with a bit of pain, and you think voters will understand that?
MCCLAIN: It does. It absolutely does. But at the end of the day, I trust that President Trump is not going to do anything to hurt the American people long term.
But the pièce de résistance came at the very end of this interview, when Brennan asked about the National Republican Congressional Committee announcement last week that it intends to spend nearly half a million dollars boosting domestic abuser Max Miller.
MCCLAIN: Listen, divorces are ugly, and I'm glad I'm not — I'm not in his shoes right now. I support anybody with an R behind their name. I hope when all of this comes — comes out that it's not true. But at the end of the day, we got to let the process play out. I'm focused on winning the House back, taking the House back, keeping the House. […] Max Miller has been a good advocate for his constituents doing that.
Can’t think of a better example of the fecklessness, cynicism, hunger for power, and lack of moral courage of the GOP.
Have a week.
Follow Michael Mora on Threads, occasionally on Bluesky (and if you are still on Twitter, I’m also HERE).
You can subscribe to Michael Mora’s Substack, The Diasporican Writer, for additional thoughts and topics!
You’re the Energy Secretary, not a sentient magic 8-ball!
“Sentient” is doing some heavy lifting in that sentence.
>>I support anybody with an R behind their name<<
Honey, it's just pedophiles and domestic abusers all the way down, amirite?