Big Oil
The Trump campaign (or the Trump bank account) benefits from gold sneakers, Bibles, and trading cards sold to the common folk, but the Big Bucks come from Big Oil. Those Big Bucks amounted to a reported $20.3 million so far this year. The actual number is much higher since contributors to certain PACs remain anonymous. There’s always some corporate gadfly at the Shareholders Annual Meeting asking, “Why does our CEO need a $10 million raise when he contributed $15 million to the Trump campaign?”
Why is Big Oil concerned about a Harris presidency? As California Attorney General, Kamala prosecuted oil companies for pipeline and tank leaks that polluted groundwater. What nerve! She even sued the Obama administration for allowing fracking off the California coast. How could anything go wrong injecting high pressure sand/chemicals/water into the unchartered sea bed? “Drill Baby Drill.”
When the Pandemic struck in March, 2020, Big Oil faced a Big Problem. As the economy pretty much shut down, so did oil demand. People weren’t driving to work any more and trucks weren’t delivering goods to stores and factories that were shut down. But Russia and OPEC were still pumping crude oil. The price of crude tumbled to nearly zero. Exxon lost nearly $3 billion in a month.
Big Oil’s contributions to Trump’s 2016 campaign paid off when his administration pressured OPEC and Russia to cut production by 10 million barrels per day. Crude oil prices stabilized. As the economy recovered, so did Big Oil’s profits. Exxon and the others had all-time record profits as the economy recovered.
That $20.3 million contribution to Donnie’s campaign may seem like a lot of money to us, but it is less than a drop in the bucket to Big Oil. Exxon’s gross profits averaged nearly $90 billion (with a b) over the past three years. If your job paid you $90,000, would you cough up $20 to keep that paycheck rolling in?
Gold sneakers, Bibles, and Trump trading cards may not be much of a bargain, but Big Oil’s “campaign contributions” certainly are.
By Ed Dufton
