'Who cares?' MSNBC expert exposes Trump boast as 'cover for failure'
Donald Trump’s boast that he has used his influence to convince India to stop buying oil from Russia was ridiculed on MSNBC on Monday as a big deal about a topic of little importance at the moment.
Incorporating both his trade war with his attempts to get Russia to end its war on Ukraine, the president boasted, “I spoke with Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi of India, and he said he's not going to be doing the Russian oil thing.”
Appearing on “Morning Joe,“ Yale School of Management Professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a former adviser to Trump as wall as Presidents Joe Biden, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, claimed oil prices are nothing special at the moment — and that Russian President Vladamir Putin is likely not interested in selling right now.
Speaking with the hosts, Sonnenfeld said that Trump was using the announcement to cover for his administration’s bumbling.
“Frankly, what's happening with India, finally, is that Trump's providing a cover basically for failure, getting trade talks with India” he remarked
“India says, ‘Oh, we're going to stop buying Russian oil.’ Who cares? Who cares?” he exclaimed. “Russian oil, and the price was called Urals oil is the same price right now as WTI [West Texas Intermediate}, the rest of the world's oil. They're not making any sacrifice.”
“It's they're acting like they're giving something up and in fact, Putin would like to produce less oil because it's so cheap right now. He's not making money on it,” he pointed out.
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