Slighted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is withholding oil production because Biden won’t meet with him.
By Ryan Grim and Ken Klippenstein, The Intercept
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is enacting revenge on Democrats in general and President Joe Biden specifically for the party’s increasingly standoffish attitude toward the kingdom — by driving up energy prices and fueling global inflation.
Biden himself seemed to allude to this at a town hall event with CNN last month, during which he attributed high gas prices to a certain “foreign policy initiative” of his, adding, “There’s a lot of Middle Eastern folks who want to talk to me. I’m not sure I’m going to talk to them.”

Biden was making a not-so-veiled reference to his refusal to meet with the crown prince and acknowledge him as Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler due to his role in the grisly murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October of 2018. The move came after Biden vowed during a debate with President Donald Trump to make MBS, as he’s known, “a pariah” and represented a stark departure from Trump’s warm relations with the desert kingdom and the crown prince.
Recent Posts
An Important But Limited Win Against Data Centers in Pennsylvania
August 24, 2026
Take Action Now The order removes all AI data center proposals from the state’s fast-track permitting process and prohibits the use of nondisclosure…
‘Lawless Killing Spree at Sea Resumes’ as U.S. Announces Fresh Boat Bombings
August 24, 2026
Take Action Now With the latest two casualties, the Trump administration’s boat bombing spree has now claimed the lives of at least 223 people.…
How Jared Kushner Snookered Hakeem Jeffries
August 24, 2026
Take Action Now Democrats need a fighter, but the congressional leader is addicted to illusory comity.Jeet Heer, The Nation On Sunday, The New…
DOJ Whistleblower Confirms “Antisemitism” Probes Against Universities Were Sham Investigations
August 23, 2026
Take Action NowBy Democracy Now! Haley Van Erem, a former career attorney in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, has filed a…




