Judging Freedom - Larry Johnson : Trump Has Lost the Energy War

Episode Date: October 12, 2026

Larry Johnson : Trump Has Lost the Energy WarSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Undeclared wars are commonplace. Fragically, our government engages in preemptive war, otherwise known as aggression with no complaints from the American people. Sadly, we have become accustomed to living with the illegitimate use of force by government. To develop a truly free society, the issue of initiating force must be understood and rejected. What if sometimes to love your country you had to alter or abolish the government? Jefferson was right? What if that government is best which governs least? What if it is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong? What if it is better to perish

fighting for freedom than to live as a slave? What if freedom's greatest hour of danger is now? Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for judging freedom. Today is Monday, October 12, 2026. Larry Johnson will be with us in just a minute on why and how Donald Trump has lost the energy war. But first this. Winter storms have a way of exposing how quickly normal life can stop. The power goes out, the furnace stops, roads become dangerous, stores get picked over, and once the storm is already on top of you, your options shrink pretty fast. My friends at my Patriot Supply told me they saw this firsthand last winter. When major storms threatened, their Vesta outdoor heater and stove became one of the hottest preparedness items of the season. It sold out again and again as people rushed to prepare at the last minute. That's exactly why they've created the winter prep bundle to help you get ahead of the storm this time. It includes 114 servings of emergency food with real meals you can count on. The Vesta heater and stove that's safe to use indoors, backup power with solar charging, emergency lighting, and thermal blanket.

In other words, food, heat, power, and light already in your home before you need them. And when you go to Preparewiththejudge.com, you can save almost $300 on the complete bundle. Don't wait until the forecast sends everyone scrambling again. Go to preparewithachdge.com to get your winter prep bundle while still available. That's Preparewithachadge.com. Larry, good day to you and welcome here, my friend. From your research, how badly. have energy prices in the U.S.

gone up since February 28? Yeah, no, they're up dramatically. You know, the Republican talking point, if you watched any of the news shows over the weekend, you know, the Sunday shows, is that, oh, it's not as bad as it was under Biden. Well, actually, that's not true. In fact, since the start of the war, it's far worse.

If you go search online, you'll find that the number of days under Biden, the gas was above $4 a gallon, was 160 days. Under Donald Trump, that number, as of today, is 200. And it doesn't seem to be going away any worse anytime soon. So right there, he's established the record. But the other one that's more important is the gap between the prices, of gasoline and the price of diesel. Now, you know, during Donald Trump's first term, the gap was like 36 cents.

Under Biden, it went up to 60 cents. Right now, under Trump, it's about a buck 99. Or it's, I take it's a buck 69. But the worst has been, it's almost a $2. gap. That is what's driving the decline of support for Republicans that's reflected in the polls. As those numbers go up, there's support goes down. And it is affecting everything. It affects the price of food. It's affecting the price of goods that people are buying for, you know, the home repairs. So this is, you know, Donald

Trump has got himself in a pickle because this shortage of diesel in particular, it is not confined to the United States. He has created a global shortage, and that global shortage is structural. And what I mean by structural, it is a combination of the fact that, one, you've got to cut off of the supply of oil that was coming out of the Persian Gulf that was used. primarily to produce diesel and aviation fuel. Then on top of that, you've had the destruction of the tankers that carry said oil as a result of Iran's efforts to shut down the Strader-Fermuz,

and the U.S. efforts to try to interfere with Iranian efforts to export oil, as well as even in the past some of the sanctions that were applied against Russia. They've now created a structural problem. And we almost, we may have dodged a bullet last week when this Hurricane East Aeus came through the Gulf of Mexico slash Gulf of America. Excuse me. Because there are a couple of refineries that, they were actually shut down for about a day out of precaution. So when you add all this up, there's a global shortage and it's not going to be fixed, according to the head of a romco, for at least two years. So does anybody take seriously?

Is there any merit whatsoever to Trump's argument that the global shortage of fuel is caused by Ukraine attacking Russian? refineries? No, none at all. The Russians at the peak, before the war even started, well, while the war with Ukraine was underway, but their refineries were not being regularly attacked, last December, Russia was producing around 900,000 barrels of diesel a day that was available for export. Well, the amount that's on the global market for export is over $8 million. So, you know, Russia at that time accounted for about 13 percent. But over since February, that number has come down to about $155,000. So they were doing a little. But the amount of diesel that's consumed globally on a daily basis is around 29 million barrels.

per day. And so that Russia was not the, it wasn't Russia that caused the disruption in that system. The disruption came out of the Persian Gulf. The deal that the president says he made with President Putin over the weekend,

which has not been commented on at all as far as I know yet by the Kremlin, even if this deal is true, and notwithstanding the fact that it is clearly illegal under American law, including a law President Trump just signed into existence named after the late Senator Lindsey Graham, how will that affect the price of diesel in the United States?

Not at all. It's the equivalent, the total amount that he announced is the equivalent of nine days of consumption in the United States. right now the United States refineries they produce about 5 million barrels of diesel per day. The United States our consumption is around 3.5

3.7 million barrels per day. This first delivery from Russia is 2.7 million barrels. You know, they described it in terms of metric tons. Oh, it's a million tons. You know, it sounds like a lot, but it's not really a lot.

So 2.0.2. 7 million barrels is the equivalent of about 65, 70% of what the U.S. consumes on a daily basis. The total amount that is pledged under Putin is nine days' worth of consumption. Okay, that's not a game changer. What it is, the deal is great for Russia because, one, it lifts all the sanctions on their oil for almost seven months, which means, you know, they're going to be shipping oil,

or they're going to be getting the foreign exchange comes out of that. It's going to be reducing their budget deficit. They have a very, very, very small one compared to ours. But it is, this is political gesture. That's all it was. It was to create the illusion that Trump is doing something to try to bring the price.

of diesel down but in practical effect nothing is uh trump's demand for the resignation removal i don't think he was clear in what word he was using uh of president selinsky from office part of the so-called deal i have to call it so-called because until we hear something from russia who knows if it's true was a part of the so-called deal with Putin? Well, maybe. I mean, because Trump clearly pulled the rug out from under the Ukrainian, not just Zelensky, the Ukrainian delegation. Remember, they were, the Ukrainians were meeting in Miami with Whitkoff and Kushner. And when word of this came, boy, it's like they got hit upside to head with a two-by-four.

Meaning Wyckleff and Kushner themselves didn't know about this. Well, they were the ones that sort of announced it to the Ukrainian delegation. And then the Ukrainian said, well, hell with you, we're not going to continue these meetings. And they left in a, you know, in a huff. They were, you know, all offended. Well, they can't do anything about it. Now, I did hear out of a contact in the Balkans, who is plugged in with the Kremlin, that he said, actually,

This was a genuine deal that Trump made with Putin and that there's some more things to come that Trump really is dealing with Putin. From Putin's standpoint, you know, he made it clear even after this deal was announced. He's not negotiating at all with Ukraine. There's nothing to negotiate. So Russia continues to turn off the lights, shut off the power, destroy the factories, and it's gotten to the point that Mayor Klitschko of Kiev has told the people,

get out. You need to go find someplace else to stay. This city is going to be uninhabitable. So there is no energy ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia, as Trump also announced. Right. Zolensky immediately said, no, we're not doing that.

No sign that, you know, Russia is continuing to go after the infrastructure across the board in not just Kiev, but also the other key cities. In fact, just, I guess, two nights ago, they turned off the lights in Nipro,

So, you know, Russia is pressing ahead with this offensive, and they're not slowing down. I mean, they continue to launch missiles and drones on a daily basis, and they're hitting critical targets. And Ukraine, frankly, doesn't have an answer for it. Here is President Putin, excuse me, President Zelenskyy, yesterday on the energy ceasefire, Chris Cutt, number six. The first step is ceasefire, energy ceasefire. Okay, if they want energy ceasefire. We are open for this.

Don't attack us. Don't kill our children. We will stop attack your diesel. And I think it's fair, fair deal. In fact, there's no deal. Right. Yeah. Wow.

I mean, Putin's made it clear. he's not dealing with the Ukrainian. He's made a clear he's not going to negotiate with him now. And, you know, Trump sort of gave the game away when he said, you know, they need elections in Ukraine. They try to present Zelensky as this embodiment of Ukrainian democracy. He's held office now for two years illegally. I mean, he just declared himself, hey, I'm sort of president for life, and here I am. Wow. So the CIA is helping Ukrainians kill Russians,

and big oil in America is buying Russian fuel and helping to fill Russian government coffers with the taxes on the fuel. Do I have that right? Well, yeah, but it gets even better. We then resell some of that diesel, some of that oil to the Europeans. at a markup, mind you. So while Germany is deindustrializing and their economies are being ravaged with inflation and fuel shortages, they get, and I think Alistair mentioned it earlier with you, the ultimate irony is that the Europeans may be buying Russian oil courtesy of the United States.

Well, we have a statement from President Zelensky just a few minutes ago. Go ahead, Chris. Let's hear it. Today there is a statement from the President of the United States that an energy ceasefire has been reached. This is good news for everyone. It is important that this becomes a part of reality. Ukraine supports all real and reliable formats for a ceasefire and ending the war. Ukraine is ready not to strike Russian energy infrastructure, and we count on a similar readiness from Russia and on the agreement of the President of the United States of America regarding

this. We welcome such an agreement. Unfortunately, throughout the entire day to day, there were Russian Shah heads in the sky. Right now there are also Shah heads in the sky. And there were strikes, unfortunately, by aerial bombs, and there were strikes on our energy infrastructure. proposed many de-escalation steps. Putin said only one thing to everything. It was his no. We very much hope that he will finally say something else to America, Ukraine and the whole world, something other than killings and deception, something that will lead to a real and worthy peace.

Ukraine wants peace. The question is, does Russia? What do you think, Larry? Yeah, he's desperate. I mean, the fact that Harry said, Oh, this is a great idea. Let's do the ceasefire. Putin says he's not doing a ceasefire. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. They trusted the United States repeatedly and Ukraine. One wonders why Trump doesn't know this and why Trump repeatedly says that he has negotiated a ceasefire. He hasn't negotiated anything because the Russians won't negotiate with the Ukrainians directly or indirectly.

Yeah, right now, no. Now, could that change? Potentially, but it's going to require, you know, at this point, Ukraine withdrawing its forces from the Donbos. You know, Russia is not going to halt its offensive military operations. They've got the wind is at their back, as they say, and they can see that the government of, Olensky is going to crumble.

They're going to be forced to vacate Kiev and move to Leviv, which is out near the Polish border. So this, you know, I think that that April 7th extension, you know, say no sanction will lift the oil sanctions on Russia until April 7th. I think that coincides with what the, what Russia is told Trump. that now we're going to end this thing with ukraine by by the next spring wow uh let me uh switch gears for a minute how unstable is uh mohammed bin salman's uh government in briad as we speak consider this you know the last from 2015 to 2022 that seven-year war uh between Saudi and

and Yemen, and not, it was on Sarahala. That was a ceasefire was declared. That ceasefire was broken on July 13th by the Saudis, who somebody came up with a grand idea of,

hey, let's go attack the airport in Sanar and let's try to kill the delegation returning from the funeral of the Iranian leader Ali Harmony. In the last

three weeks, the Ansar Allah has inflicted more physical damage on Saudi Arabia than it did in that entire seven-year war from 2015 to 2022. In fact, the damage

that's been done is to the oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia is catastrophic. The Houthis have The Houthis have inflicted more damage on Saudi Arabia

than they suffered during the first 40 days of the U.S. Israeli war against Iran. The wellhead for the Yanbu pipeline that runs east to west, the eastern terminal of that, that's

been destroyed. One of the major oil fields, They've had a huge fire. Gas fields, disrupted. The pipeline itself has 13 pumping stations along it. Four of those have been taken out. They've hit the airports in Riyadh, in Jeddah, and Damam. And, you know, they've already taken out and caused significant damage to one of the major refiner.

Well, it was the world's most sophisticated refinery in Jaze. So this is Having received this amount of damage And we learned last night That an Israeli major general is in Saudi Arabia We're trying to help MBS

This is going to further Enrage The conservative clergy Within Saudi Arabia Who's already They don't think highly of MBS. to start with. We also learned

Pepe and I that the Pakistanis have reiterated. They're not going to be attacking Ansar al-A, despite claims from the Saudis to the contrary. So MBS is in, he is in desperation mode. Isn't there a defense

pact, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan? Yeah, yeah, but the, the, I got that clause about pre-existing conditions, you know. Like an insurance policy in the U.S. Yeah, medical insurance policy. Go, oh, sorry, we don't cover huthiitis.

You know, sorry, you know, infections caused by the huthies. That's outside our bailiware. Both Turkey and Pakistan, they are pledged to defend Mecca and Medina, the two holy sites. They're going to defend those. And Ansarala is not going to attack those. You know, they're focused upon now destroying the Saudi infrastructure. And, you know, throughout this right now, actually, and I'll do some more breaking news.

I got a note from one of my readers last night. He says, hey, my good friend's son. who's a Navy reservist, he just got notified. He's being activated and set to Riyadh. So that we may be in the process. Why would the Navy be in Riyadh? An intelligence officer.

You know, somebody works in intelligence. So they're trying to collect as much intelligence to locate so they can, quote, destroy Houthi targets. If this is, if this is true, You know, we've seen a lot of air activity of late. Some have assumed that that was in prep preparation for attacking Iran. Could be it's in preparation for U.S. launching military strikes against Ansar al-A, which will then, you know, further escalate this.

But going back to the original question about MBS, he's in trouble. He's in big trouble. Just to go back to where we started before we finished, Larry. Trump is threatening to block arms for Ukraine over its attacks on Russian refineries. Yeah, you know, when you look into the leverage in all of this, Trump also, I think, I heard yesterday, told the Europeans stop selling weapons to Ukraine. Stop it. Now, if the Brits, if the Europeans want to say, oh, you can't tell us what to do,

Trump can say, yeah, I can. You know, that diesel you need for me? We're going to stop selling that to you. So at that point, you know, he might get the Europeans' attention. And there's a similar, you know, leverage issue right now between the Saudis and Trump that, you know, the Saudis are pressing Trump for help. Trump's saying no. The Saudis can turn around and say, help us or else we're going to start dumping all of our

treasuries and we'll completely destroy your dollar. Wow. They may not be able to destroy it, but they could do some real damage to it. Yes, they could. There's some leverage, lots of leverage going around here. Right, right. The Pentagon over the weekend, Larry, raised the official toll of troops who have died to 21. It still refuses to allow members of Congress to visit or to see photos of the damaged U.S. bases.

Yeah, no, look, they're hiding the number that have actually been wounded as a result of these combat activities. and I think they've suppressed the number of dead. Some who have died have been just classified as all accidental or something else, not combat related. Again, it's all part of the Trump administration to hide the true scope of what this, you know, foolish effort in starting a war with Iran, what it's really costing America. And, you know, the stories are starting to treat.

trickle out. I think I may have mentioned to you on Friday, I can't recall about, you know, remember the ship, the aircraft that went overboard in the Red Sea during the Operation Rough Rider. Right, right, right.

Well, it turns out what happened on that is when the F-18 landed on the deck of the carrier, the cable snap that was supposed to, the arresting gear, I think they'd call it. that snapped plane went off

the deck when that cable snapped the line whipped around and amputated the legs of one of the crewmen on deck so yeah horrific now I guarantee you that didn't get counted as a combat

it's just an accident you know no this this was an accident cause because we were involved in combat activities Here's a very frustrated Senator Chris Murphy on all of this yesterday on one of the talk shows. Chris, cut number eight. Right now, members of Congress are being denied the ability to see the damage at these bases

because there's a cover-up underway. There is a cover-up underway to try to hide from the American public, the cost of this war, and the debacle that it has caused in the region. So how could we assess whether we want to rebuild these facilities if the administration is denying us the ability to see them or even to understand? the scope of the damage. I mean, the blockage of basic congressional oversight

responsibilities here is absolutely egregious. I think he's right, Larry. Oh, yeah, no, they're hiding it. They don't want, if the American public knew the truth, they'd be more outraged than they already are. I mean, let's face it. They are outraged right now.

And which I think explains while the Israelis are pressing for military action or the BB Netanyahu crowd is pressing for more military action against Iran, that Trump has been he's been reluctant to go down that road so far. Notice that over the past, now it's going on two weeks. Almost every day, the Iranians are hitting a ship, a very large crude carrier.

in the Strait of Hormuz with either cruise missiles or drones or mines or some combination of those. Two months ago, when Iran did that, the United States would immediately retaliate. U.S. has not been doing this normal retaliation on that front. So that tells me that right now Trump is, they recognize there's some political peril. in ramping the war back up with Iran. It's not going to create a rally around the flag sentiment. Just the opposite. It's going to stick in the craw of people as a reminder

that Trump has betrayed his promise to them. Right. Larry, thank you very much. Great conversation, as always. And look forward to seeing you at the end of the week unless something happens midweek, in which case we will need to, prevail on your expertise. All the best, my friend. Yes, sir. Thank you. Sure. And coming up

later today at 2 o'clock this afternoon on all of this, Scott Ritter, at 3.30 this afternoon on all of this, Professor Jeffrey Sachs. Judge Napolitano for judging freedom.