The media will never give President Trump credit for the strategic masterstroke he has orchestrated, robbing power from OPEC, Russia, and Venezuela while enriching the United States and creating countless high paying jobs. So he is slated this week to call for an attention-grabbing goal, using the vocabulary of power, not diplomacy: “dominance.” Jennifer A Dlouhy of Bloomberg reports:
Donald Trump will tout surging U.S. exports of oil and natural gas during a week of events aimed at highlighting the country’s growing energy dominance.
The president also plans to emphasize that after decades of relying on foreign energy supplies, the U.S. is on the brink of becoming a net exporter of oil, gas, coal and other energy resources. (snip)
Trump’s theme of “energy dominance” marks an evolution. For years, the catch phrase of choice has been “energy independence,” as politicians and industry officials sought to highlight how a new era of abundance was helping the U.S. wean itself from foreign sources of oil and natural gas.
That was in turn a dramatic change from the 1970s, when former President Jimmy Carter turned down the White House thermostats and used a televised address in February 1977 to urge consumers to conserve energy amid a permanent “shortage.” After that, federal energy policy became rooted in the view that oil and gas were in short supply.
“Trump is reorienting our national rhetoric toward ‘dominance,’” said Kevin Book, analyst with ClearView Energy Partners LLC. “Captives crave independence; competitors strive to dominate. It’s a shift from getting by to getting ahead.”
That “dominance” is both real and long-lasting. Another Bloomberg article by Julian Lee presents a good account of OPEC’s struggle to remain alive. Its members have cut production, but still cannot raise prices because frackers have so rapidly increased production.
