We will confess it up front: We voted for Donald Trump in the primary. We think he stands the best chance of defeating Hillary Clinton. Clinton would, in our opinion, be very bad for the oil and gas industry (as well as bad for the country in general). To each his own, right? We will not extensively cover the election–that’s already being done everywhere else. Most everyone has a strong opinion one way or the other. Trump has given some bang-up speeches supporting the fossil fuel industry (see Trump’s Energy Speech Hits a Home Run: Regulate Less, Drill More). There’s even talk that a President Trump would nominate fracker Harold Hamm as his Secretary of Energy (see Fracking Legend Harold Hamm – Next Secretary of Energy?). All very positive signs. But then he goes and puts both of his feet in a big pile of doo-doo. Last week Trump was interviewed by a Denver television station (watch it below). It was a brief 45 seconds of that interview that we take issue with. In it, the reporter asks Trump about fracking–whether towns and states should be able to ban it. Trump said “Yes.” He said he supports fracking–but that “if the voters” want to ban it, they should have that right. Which is, quite frankly, mob rule. Voters should not have the right to trample on other voters’ Constitutional rights. That is what is at stake here–whether or not a simple majority (mob rule) will take away the property rights of other citizens. Trump has failed to grasp that–and we sincerely hope he gets his head right on the issue before the election…
