“Drill, baby, drill” has become something of a liturgical expression on the right since its introduction at the Republican National Convention by Michael Steele (remember him?) in 2008, with Sarah Palin playing the Pauline role in the slogan’s rapid absorption into the American political lexicon.
While it is a trite platitude, the phrase has the benefit of being a good policy.
Unshackling America’s oil and gas industries from the fetters placed upon them by bad and hostile governmental policies and boosting fossil fuel production will make Americans wealthier, will make it cheaper to raise a family, and will probably do more to make the country greener than “renewables” like wind and solar ever could.
President Donald Trump has been right to adopt “drill, baby, drill” as a slogan and to proselytize the deeper message behind it. In a second term, he has enacted many policies to ensure that rhetoric matches reality.
Unfortunately, the man responsible for trying to unleash domestic energy production is the same man whose trade policies are most likely to retard that effort. Trump’s tariff policies are at odds with his administration’s stated energy goals. They will have deleterious consequences for America’s fossil fuel producers.