LARRY KUDLOW: Alvin Bragg and his left-wing ilk are doing the best they can to damage this country

If Donald Trump were president today, I don't think the Saudis and OPEC+ and the Russians would've just announced over a million barrel per day production cut. That's right. I don't believe they would've done it. 

That production cut which follows a half a million cut last November is aimed at $100 oil and $5 gasoline. In other words, punish the U.S., punish the American economy, line the pockets of the Russians and the Saudis who are each pledging to cut oil production by 500,000 barrels in the latest announcement yesterday. Alright? Just line their pockets and damage the American economy. 

You think Alvin Bragg and his left-wing progressive friends ever considered that? You think they ever considered that in their baloney sandwich, what Former AG Bill Barr called the "epitome of prosecutorial abuse," "a pathetically weak legal theory" and "a crossing of the Rubicon," that not only will invite Republican retaliation, but internationally makes the U.S. look like a weak-kneed banana republic. 

In fact, was it a complete coincidence that the Saudi announcement aimed at damaging the American economy came just a couple days after Alvin Bragg's indictment announcement? I don't think so. In global politics, A leads to B in speed of light fashion.  

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Some of you listening to this may completely disagree with my view, as always, I respect your disagreement, but if Donald Trump were president, he wouldn't be attacking Saudi Arabia as a pariah state and then running across the world to Riyadh for a fist bump that made him look even worse to the Arab Gulf States. That group respects strength, not weakness. 

Mr. Biden exudes weakness. It was Donald Trump who put together the Abraham accords and, in all likelihood, would've brought Saudi Arabia into that path-breaking agreement. 

Actually, even worse, Joe Biden has insulted Israel and Saudi Arabia. Trump's successful diplomacy brought those two countries together. I think Mr. Trump understood that it's better to be feared than loved, but if you are feared, then you earn respect which then leads to compromise, which then leads to diplomatic breakthroughs nobody dreamed possible. 

As for Russia, I still don't believe they would have ever invaded Ukraine if Mr. Trump were still president. Oil prices during the Trump years averaged about $60 a barrel pre-COVID. That's not enough war finance for Vladimir Putin. Recent history shows that when oil gets to $100 or more, then Putin invades. He invades Crimea, Georgia and most recently Ukraine. 

At $60 a barrel, there's no Putin invasion. He doesn't have the money and Putin feared Trump, but he does not fear Biden. Remember: strong at home means strong abroad. "Peace through strength" as Reagan taught us. 

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Mr. Trump's energy independence policies, which House Republicans are valiantly trying to restore through their H. R. 1 "Lower Energy Costs Act," kept energy prices low in order to stimulate the economy and hold inflation down. Biden's crazy climate obsessions have throttled production, and through his war against fossil fuels, have kept energy prices high and the economy low. 

Alvin Bragg and his left-wing ilk are doing the best they can to damage this country at home and abroad. Like I said, it's a big baloney sandwich. 

This article is adapted from Larry Kudlow’s opening commentary on the April 3, 2023, edition of "Kudlow."