Biden is Putin's best buddy.

We are now dealing from a position of extreme weakness where both Maduro and Iran can extract the most favorable deals that won't benefit American interests at all, essentially creating new threats to replace old threats.

we should just cut back and relieve some of the burden of foreign entanglements.

So what you’re really saying is that Biden should have initiated these talks well before there was any chance of an invasion, which I’m sure would have gone over like a lead balloon.

most countries could see the writing on the wall, so they would always have us over a barrel. 

Again, though, you’re talking about a strategy that would have very clearly weakened his political position in the US and abroad with no obvious reason for doing it. It’s unpopular now when we have an obvious benefit for doing it. I don’t know how he could possibly have rallied support for it several months ago with no obvious benefit in pursuing it.

most countries could see the writing on the wall, so they would always have us over a barrel. 

I see what you did there...

If they had done this under the radar without consulting Congress, there would have been hell to pay over it, and I’m not convinced he could because this is economic policy. You can pursue an agreement only if the investment is clearly there to be spent. Congress holds the purse strings.

Alright, at least this is a clear stance on what the US should do. Given that producing more oil domestically would obviously come with delays in the process of ramping up production (usually in the timeline of at least several months), this isn't really a short term solution to the problem of limited resources. It indicates that he should have pushed for more drilling early in his administration, which I'll grant you would have been beneficial, but it's not a solution to rising gas prices now. I have my issues with trying to get oil from Iran or Venezuela as well, though at this point, addressing the short-term pain of limited oil supplies while keeping up the ban on Russian oil requires either getting it from another country or waiting out the delay. I see problems with both, though refusing to ban Russian oil would have incurred its own problems.

The problem isn’t that he could buy Venezuelan/Iranian oil in the short term. The problem is he has to do it in the long term. Why? Because he refuses to produce domestically. He believes that Americans should shell out 56,000 to buy an electric car. You don’t pick and choose with radical dictators.

Essentially he’s he’s either facing off against a lion or cliff even though there’s a helicopter with a rope right above him.

if the public found out.

They won't. In fact they could spin it as a humanitarian effort. Lord knows how much spin got traction with Obama's policies in Ukraine.

Not going to disagree that refusing to increase domestic production contributed to this problem, though I think claiming that his doing so would have solved for this entirely is a different story. Biden would have had to find means to either bring down oil usage in this country or obtain oil from external sources regardless, so I think the long-term issue is non-unique. The only difference is degree.

...They would spin... a very large-scale purchase of oil... from Iran and Venezuela... as a humanitarian effort? And you honestly think people would buy that shit, especially given that half the country was already actively opposed to Biden shortly after he was elected? Can't help but notice that you ignored the rest of the absurdities inherent to your scenario, but this takes the cake. 

I disagree. Under Trump, the price would never have gone above 3 bucks as a national average even with this supply shock. In fact, from a business perspective, it would increase investments in oil production domestically because of the massive profits involved. It would be relatively easy to control the price under Trump. But Biden as he stated, abolished new permits for fracking and drilling. Zero investments from a business perspective. 

There’s a massive difference between being reliant on a nation for a few months compared to practically forever. 

Also you’re not accounting for the fact that Americans are still going to be suffering for a few months, while the negotiations take place. It’s not like the deal will be done in a day.

The media has peddled worse and the people have believed worse. Remember when they said a Russian prostitute peed on Trump lol.

And that’s the problem. The media is willing to go to any level to defend Biden. All their owners are Democrats or literally in bed with Democrats. It’s actually atrocious. Media talks about fake news, well they’re the ones who started it. They only have themselves to blame.

 a very large-scale purchase of oil... from Iran and Venezuela...

The media has peddled worse and the people have believed worse. Remember when they said a Russian prostitute peed on Trump lol.

 it didn't involve a massive investment on the part of the US government in a hostile foreign source of oil for no obvious reason. 

You can claim that the media would cover for him, but the evidence would necessarily be available to every member of Congress, many of whom would have every incentive to leak it. If you honestly believe that the media could give him sufficient cover for this, then I'm just baffled.

To support that argument, I'd like to see some evidence that the amount of drilling would have increased to levels near or over the amount we took in from Russia. Again, I'm not arguing that Biden's decision to stop issuing permits for fracking or drilling was beneficial for oil prices. I'm arguing that there was always going to be a substantial gap between the increase we could feasibly achieve within the US and the amount we take in from Russia. Saying that it would eventually increase investments in oil production domestically doesn't modify that - you're still talking about months or years for those new investments to bear fruit, and it's unclear that any amount of investment in domestic production would entirely cover for Russian oil.

about a relatively new news story