Biden Tries to Command the Tides. Now, as Then, His Subjects Laugh at Him

What’s the quickest way to create a fuel shortage? Tell gas companies they can’t raise prices on their products.

Hurricane Ian is plowing through Florida, wreaking havoc on the power grid and disrupting life for millions of people. Fuel trucks are unable to maneuver through roads with trees strewn everywhere, and with no power, the pumps don’t work anyway.

Here comes Joe Biden to the rescue.

“I want to add one more warning … to the oil and gas industry executives. Do not — let me repeat, do not — use this as an excuse to raise gasoline prices or gouge the American people,” Biden said in a speech as the eyewall of the storm moved onshore in Florida on Wednesday morning.

Okay, jawboning is part of a president’s job. But what he said next was positively mystifying.

“My experts informed me the production of only about 190,000 barrels a day have been impacted by the storm thus far,” Biden said. “That’s less than 2% of the United States’ daily production impacted for a very short period of time.”