Joe Biden's Request To The Saudis Ahead Of The Midterms Has Twitter Seeing Red

The Russian invasion of Ukraine that started in February 2022 has had repercussions around the world, particularly causing oil and gas prices to rise, according to The Wall Street Journal. The European Union, which relies heavily on oil and natural gas from Russia and has sided against Russia over the Ukraine conflict, has been working to reduce its reliance on energy sources from the country, per AP News. In what some see as a counter to that, the 13 countries of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and 10 additional countries that are allied with OPEC — and together are known as OPEC Plus — have decided to cut oil production for the first time in more than two years, per The New York Times. Saudi Arabia and Russia are the largest oil producers in OPEC Plus.

This is not the response that President Joe Biden wanted: Before the announcement, the White House asked Saudi Arabia and other countries for the decision about oil production to be delayed by a month, per The Wall Street Journal. In an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper after the OPEC Plus announcement was made, Biden said about Saudi Arabia that "there's going to be some consequences for what they've done" in siding with Russia. Saudi Arabia has said their oil production decision wasn't a political one, but instead a move to "maintain stability in the oil markets," per CNN. And here's what social media thinks.

On Twitter, some people think that President Joe Biden's threat of consequences for Saudi Arabia siding with Russia is comparable to former president Donald Trump's first impeachment — Trump is the first president to have been impeached twice. One tweeted: "Trump was impeached over an alleged quid pro quo threat to Ukraine over weapons transfers before an election[.] Biden just admitted to CNN he is threatening Saudi Arabia if they don't agree to his quid pro quo for oil transfers before an election."

Others think it's clear that the timing is suspect. "Biden is 'vows' to PUNISH the Saudis.....Really? He begs them to delay the production cuts for one month? Curious, no? One month? In time for the midterms?" tweeted one. Some feel that a continued raising of gas prices could have an impact on Democrats' chances in the midterm elections, per Politico. Here are the 2024 midterm campaigns getting attention.

Another perspective brought up was why the U.S. thought it would be listened to. One tweeted, "I don't understand why Americans are complaining about Saudis not doing what is good for us. When did we as Americans have ever done what's good for others without any self interest."