Leftist Senator Slams Joe Biden for Saudi Arabia Appeasement

Joe Biden recently embarked on a trip to the middle east, which ended in Saudi Arabia, where he met with Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders slammed the visit saying, “I just don’t believe we should be maintaining a warm relationship with a dictatorship like that.”

THE HILL: Bernie Sanders slams Biden visit to Saudi Arabia

Rachel Scully; July 17, 2022

You have a leader of that country who was involved in the murder of a Washington Post journalist,” he added. “I don’t think that that type of government should be rewarded with a visit by the president of the United States.”

Sanders said that while he understands oil and energy are the main reasons Biden went to the country, the bottom line is to focus on the companies, as their profits in the last quarter “have been extraordinarily high.”

“I happen to believe that we have to tell the oil companies to stop ripping off the American people, and if they don’t, we should impose a windfall profits tax on them,” he added.

Sanders said Saudi Arabia’s human rights violations, questions of democracy and violence against government dissidents show why the U.S. should not maintain a close relationship with the country.

“If this country believes in anything, we believe in human rights, we believe in democracy,” he said. “And I just don’t believe we should be maintaining a warm relationship with a dictatorship like that.”

Sanders’s call for a windfall tax echoes the bill he introduced with Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.). He has also pointed to Exxon’s reported plans to triple stock buybacks.

“Instead of increasing supply or expanding production, what did Exxon do? Triple its stock buyback program to $30 billion to enrich its wealthy shareholders,” he tweeted. “We need a windfall profits tax.”

The senator is one of many progressives and environmentalists in favor of a windfall profits tax on oil companies.

Photo: REUTERS

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