For nearly 50 years, Air Force Veteran Ryan Castleberry lived by one rule: work harder, push through, and solve every problem on his own. He never asked for help. He never wanted to. He believed he could outwork any crisis. But today, after decades of trauma, economic devastation, bureaucratic failures, and a cascade of crises hitting all at once, Ryan has reached a point he never imagined.

And the breaking point wasn’t his own suffering; it was his service dog, Nodens.

Nodens is injured. He needs urgent veterinary care. And Ryan, a Veteran who has spent his entire adult life fighting to stand back up, is now asking for help, not because he wants charity, but because he genuinely doesn’t know what else to do.

** Please help Ryan and Nodens by donating here.

(This campaign is strictly for Nodens’ care and the immediate stability Ryan needs to get through this stretch — not for business, politics, or legal fees.)

A Drunk Driver, a Shattered Face, and a Young Father Who Refused to Quit

In June 2004, when Ryan’s daughter Madison was only nine months old, his life changed in an instant. He was hit head-on by a drunk driver. The crash nearly killed him. He suffered a traumatic brain injury. His front teeth were knocked out. His face was shattered and rebuilt with five plates and roughly thirty screws.

Because the accident happened over a holiday weekend, he slipped through the cracks of the normal support systems. Recovery wasn’t just physical; it was learning how to rebuild a life from the ground up. As soon as he was able, Ryan went back to work while still attending brain injury rehabilitation.

Later, he became a speaker for Mothers Against Drunk Driving and was determined to turn his suffering into something that could save others. He rebuilt his life. He found success in real estate. For the first time, he believed he had figured life out.

Then the mortgage crisis hit. The market collapsed. His career unraveled. The financial pressure contributed to the end of his marriage.

So, he started over again.

The oilfield gave Ryan a second chance.

For fifteen years, he worked long hours in one of the toughest industries in America. He wasn’t looking for sympathy. He was simply trying to build a future.

When he was laid off in 2019, he made what he believed was a smart, responsible decision: he used his retirement savings to purchase properties near Lawton, Oklahoma, planning to provide short-term rentals for military families attending basic training graduations. Then COVID shut down the graduations. Almost overnight, the business model disappeared.

Ryan sold the properties to survive until he could return to the oilfield, but the tax consequences from those sales created a debt that eventually grew to more than $70,000. He hired professionals, hoping they would fight for him. Instead, he felt like he was left alone in a system he didn’t understand. Months ago, the IRS levied nearly all of his income. For two months, he survived on about $600 total.

He kept working. He kept trying. He kept believing he could outwork the crisis, until he couldn’t.

** Please help Ryan and Nodens by donating here.

A Housing Crisis on Top of Everything Else

To keep his home from foreclosure, Ryan rented it to someone he believed he could trust. Instead of becoming the lifeline he hoped for, it became another crisis.

The tenant alleged toxic black mold after obtaining laboratory testing, even though the report itself indicated the living areas had clean air, with both indoor air samples classified as “not elevated.”

The inspection did identify growth on an HVAC swab and noted high humidity and condensation that needed professional attention, issues Ryan is taking seriously.

But now he faces:

• Potential repair costs
• A tenant dispute
• Ongoing house expenses
• Legal uncertainty
• And still not having access to his own home

Ryan is not asking anyone to decide who is right in the housing dispute. He can provide the reports privately. He is simply trying to survive the reality of yet another crisis hitting at the worst possible time.

The VA, the Crisis Line, and a System That Buried Him Instead of Helping

When everything finally caught up with him, Ryan reached out to the Veterans Crisis Line because he knew he couldn’t keep carrying everything alone. He was looking for help.

Instead, he found himself buried in paperwork, referrals, conflicting systems, and even more problems he didn’t have the strength to navigate. His FMLA and leave situation remain on hold. He has no stable income. He is trying to navigate VA disability, appointments, forms, and red tape. He is considering applying for Chapter 31 Veteran Readiness and Employment to pursue college and a new career in artificial intelligence and business, work his body can sustain as he gets older.

But none of that matters if he can’t survive long enough to rebuild.

And Somewhere in All of This… Is Nodens

Years ago, during one of the darkest periods of Ryan’s life, he acquired Nodens.

Nodens became much more than a dog. His steady presence grounded Ryan when very little else could. Eventually, Ryan had him professionally trained as his psychiatric service dog.

Working in the oilfield meant Ryan couldn’t safely take him with him, so friends cared for Nodens while Ryan was away earning a living. During his most recent stay, Nodens suffered a serious leg injury.

CLICK HERE TO HELP RYAN AND NODENS

Weeks later, he still struggles to put weight on it. Ryan hasn’t had the financial ability to get him all the care he deserves, and that reality weighs on him every single day.

This is the moment that finally broke him.

Not the IRS. Not the VA. Not the housing dispute. Not the years of trauma, injury, and rebuilding.

It was looking at his injured service dog, the one being who has never left his side, and realizing he couldn’t help him.

“I’m Not Telling This to you Because I Believe I’m Entitled to Anyone’s Help. I’m Telling You This Because I Honestly Don’t Know What Else to Do.”

Ryan is an Air Force Veteran. A father. A traumatic brain injury survivor. A man who has spent his life believing hard work could overcome almost anything.

Today, despite everything he has tried, he finds himself standing at the edge of losing the home he worked for, trying to care for an injured service dog, navigating overwhelming financial and legal problems, and simply hoping for a chance to get back on his feet.

He has poured countless hours into building systems and ideas he believes could help Veterans, small businesses, and people trying to rebuild their own lives. He has a book, Mountains, Monsters & Mercy. He has a business system called SAGE. He has skills, experience, and the willingness to work.

But none of that matters if he can’t survive long enough to finish what he started.

 How Can You Help?

Help could mean:

• A donation toward Nodens’ veterinary care
• Sharing Ryan’s story
• Buying or sharing his book
• Legal guidance
• Support navigating the VA or IRS
• A business project or job opportunity
• Educational support
• An introduction to someone who needs the work he can do

** Please help Ryan and Nodens by donating here.

(Again: this campaign is strictly for Nodens’ care and the immediate stability Ryan needs — not for business, politics, or legal fees.)

Stand With Ryan. Stand With Nodens. Stand With Our Veterans. America is strongest when we show up for the people who have carried the load alone for far too long.

Ryan has spent his life working, surviving, and refusing to quit. Now he needs us.

Let’s help him save Nodens. Let’s help him get through the next few months. Let’s help him rebuild the future he’s still fighting for.

Because no Veteran should have to fight this battle alone.

The post The Dog that Carried a Suffering Veteran Through Trauma Is Injured — Saving His Service Dog Is the One Thing He Needs Today – How You Can Help appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Shasta County Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis has released explosive security footage that he says shows longtime Elections Office employees deliberately bypassing badge readers to enter secure election rooms without leaving their names in the official access logs.

Now, instead of aggressively investigating the alleged security breaches, county bureaucrats have publicly rebuked Curtis, employee unions have issued votes of no confidence, and the embattled election official is facing demands that he resign.

According to reporting by Elisa Ballard of Shasta Unfiltered, the footage, presented by Curtis during an August 19 appearance on Catherine Engelbrecht’s True the Vote podcast, shows one employee sliding a card through a double-door entry to unlock a secure room while another stands guard.

Employees are reportedly required to enter using their individual security badges, creating a record containing the employee’s name and the time of entry.

Curtis said that after taking over as Registrar of Voters in 2025, he reviewed the electronic access logs and discovered hundreds of entries in which no employee name appeared.

He now believes the video explains the disturbing gaps.

Employees, Curtis alleges, were intentionally bypassing the badge readers so their identities would not appear in the official room-entry records.

Curtis described the conduct as a form of “breaking and entering” into a secure election area.

The footage alone does not establish why the employees entered the rooms or whether any ballots or election results were affected. However, Curtis argues that deliberately defeating an election office’s access-control system presents an obvious and serious chain-of-custody concern that demands an independent investigation.

And that is not all.

Curtis has also accused another employee of potentially issuing more ballots over the Elections Office counter than were documented in official reports.

According to Shasta Unfiltered, Curtis alleges the employee would report that only six ballots had been issued when as many as 12 had actually gone out.

Curtis further alleged that ballots and reports necessary for balancing the election were concealed. Shasta Unfiltered published a photograph purportedly showing ballots discovered underneath a cart used to transport unused ballots inside the ballot-balancing room.

He also claims that two workers intentionally shredded election-related documents after he specifically instructed employees not to destroy anything.

The interview begins around the 38-minute mark, while Curtis begins presenting the security footage at approximately 50:00.

WATCH:

Curtis Says Entrenched Staff Worked to Sabotage His Office

Curtis was appointed Shasta County clerk and registrar of voters by the Board of Supervisors in April 2025, taking office the following month.

His appointment came after the board passed over former Assistant Registrar Joanna Francescut, a longtime Elections Office employee. Some employees reportedly threatened to resign if Francescut was not selected.

They did not resign.

Instead, according to Curtis, certain longtime employees remained inside the department and began working to undermine his authority and sabotage election operations.

Two personnel investigations—one conducted internally under Support Services Director Monica Fugitt and another by the outside Oppenheimer Investigations Group—subsequently substantiated allegations of abusive and retaliatory conduct made against Curtis.

Curtis has consistently denied the accusations, while some newer Elections Office employees have reportedly disputed claims made by the longtime staff.

On August 11, the Shasta County Board of Supervisors voted 3-1 to censure Curtis over the workplace-misconduct findings.

Supervisors Matt Plummer, Chris Kelstrom, and Allen Long voted for the censure. Supervisor Corkey Harmon voted against it. Supervisor Kevin Crye was absent for medical reasons but later told Shasta Unfiltered that he would have opposed the resolution.

The censure amounts to a formal public reprimand and does not remove Curtis from office. Local station KRCR reported that 23 of the 35 speakers who addressed supervisors before the vote defended Curtis.

Immediately after the censure, Curtis invited reporters to the Elections Office and showed them the security footage allegedly depicting the improper room entries.

Shasta County responded by attacking Curtis.

In an August 14 statement, county officials said they “disavow and denounce” what they called Curtis’s “ongoing and flagrant violations” of county personnel rules.

Officials accused Curtis of disregarding confidentiality procedures and the due-process rights of employees accused of misconduct.

In other words, the county’s immediate public focus was not on why employees appeared to be bypassing security controls in an Elections Office. It was on Curtis’s decision to expose them.

The pressure campaign intensified when unions representing Elections Office employees issued votes of no confidence and demanded Curtis’s resignation.

Teamsters Local 137, representing four mid-level managers and supervisors, said its members had “no confidence” in Curtis’s ability to lead the department.

Another 12 Elections Office employees are represented by LiUNA Local 792 UPEC, which also reportedly voted no confidence.

Union representatives cited the county’s personnel investigations and alleged mistreatment of employees. They also expressed concern that Curtis publicly identified employees before the completion of another investigation.

Shasta Scout reported that Teamsters representative Heather McFall called the censure a “reprimand not a remedy” and demanded Curtis immediately step down.

Curtis has refused. His term expires in January 2027 after he lost the June primary to Francescut.

Suspicious Ballots Secured as Curtis Calls for Federal Intervention

Curtis has also raised questions about ballots from the June 2026 primary.

According to Shasta Unfiltered, citizens who participated in the machine and manual tallies reported encountering ballots that appeared unusual. Witnesses reportedly described ballots with different paper texture, thickness, weight, ink coloration, and smell.

Others claimed some ballot selections appeared to have been filled in with mechanical precision.

Those witness accounts have not yet resulted in a public finding that any ballots were counterfeit or that election results were changed.

Nevertheless, Shasta Unfiltered reported that FBI agents have interviewed approximately a dozen people concerning the allegations. Curtis has also contacted the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security.

Curtis secured ballots from the June 2026 primary and November 2024 general election inside a locked room, reportedly adding a padlock and destroying its key.

He is urging federal authorities to obtain a court order and secure the materials before September 11, when the 2024 ballots are reportedly scheduled for destruction under the records-retention timetable.

Election-integrity attorney David Clements weighed in on X, calling for prayers and immediate federal intervention.

“Pray for Clint Curtis in Shasta County, California. He is one of the few honest election supervisors in the county. It appears his hand count team found fake and fraudulent ballots submitted in the last election.

“There still appears to be a level of infiltration from election staff holdovers, bypassing security protocols, in an attempt to be around the ballots and machines when no else is present.

“He has notified and cooperated with the FBI, but expressed a need for the DOJ/FBI to secure what amounts to a crime scene before the risk of foul play continues.”

Pray for Clint Curtis in Shasta County, California.

He is one of the few honest election supervisors in the county. It appears his hand count team found fake and fraudulent ballots submitted in the last election.

There still appears to be a level of infiltration from election…

— David Clements (@theprofsrecord) August 24, 2026

The Gateway Pundit has followed Shasta County’s election-integrity battles for years.

In January 2023, The Gateway Pundit reported that the Shasta County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to terminate its contract with Dominion Voting Systems.

Two months later, the board voted to move toward hand-counted paper ballots. Curtis traveled from Florida to address supervisors during that debate.

The Gateway Pundit also previously covered Curtis’s testimony before the Arizona Senate Elections Committee concerning vulnerabilities in electronic voting systems.

Curtis testified before members of Congress in 2004 that he had been asked to develop a prototype program capable of secretly altering election results. He said such manipulation could be detected only by inspecting the program’s source code or comparing electronic totals against voter-verified paper records.

Curtis, a former computer programmer who later became an attorney, has since positioned himself as an election-integrity whistleblower.

The post Shasta County Election Chief Exposes Employees Allegedly Bypassing Security to Enter Restricted Rooms Without Leaving a Log — FBI Asked to Seize Ballots Before They Are Destroyed (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

The party of tolerance and inclusion strikes again.

DSA Democrat William Lawrence is under fire for demeaning older black political leaders.

New video has surfaced of Democratic DSA candidate William Lawrence, a convicted felon and defund the police protester, being confronted after he said that older Black political leaders “defang the white left.”

Lawrence is very popular on the far left and with the communist faction taking control of the Democrat Party. William Lawrence was arrested and found guilty in 2013 during a protest against a Michigan gas pipeline.

Lawrence was so impressed with his activism that he posted a picture of the protest on his Instagram page.

Lawrence also spoke out publicly about defunding the police although he now is attempting to distance himself from those comments.

And William Lawrence also has been very public in his hatred of Israel and support for Palestinians.

Lawrence worked in climate change activism for 12 years before running for Congress. His parents were professors. Good grief.

He checks off on all of the boxes on the radical communist left.

William Lawrence made the controversial comments about blacks during an interview on the Hegemonicon featuring Khury Petersen-Smith on the September 10, 2024 episode of :Hegemonicon — An Investigation Into the Workings of Power.”

This is what William Lawrence said during his discussion on the Hegemonicon, via Rolan Martin:

William Lawrence: What do you think is the trajectory as a millennial Black leftist? It’s not something I can talk too much about because I’m white and it’s not my struggle. That being said, the extent to which the older generation of Black political leadership are such a pillar, frankly, for establishment capitalist imperialist American power through their role as this kind of traditionalist establishmentist pillar of the Democratic Party. It’s a big problem.

It’s a big problem for left politics in this country. It gets us every single time. It really defangs the white left and puts us in impossible positions, really. It’s very effective politically. I don’t know. I’m curious, but we’re also seeing now that— Unfortunately, don’t want anyone to vote for Trump, but like young Black people are falling away from the Democratic Party and the support is not showing up in the same way. We’ll see what happens in November.

Lawrence’s comments were so outrageous that the Black Congressional Caucus released a statement blasting the far left radical.

CBCPAC: Anyone supporting William Lawrence (@WeWill2026) should denounce his hateful remarks and withdraw their support. Michiganders deserve better.

Even Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries slammed the Michigan activist: “Those comments were brought to my attention and they were deeply disturbing.”

Here is Roland Martin’s full video slamming Michigan Democrat William Lawrence.

The post Another Winner: Radical DSA Candidate for US House, Defund the Police Advocate and Convicted Felon Trashed Black Leaders Last Year – Hakeem Jeffries Forced to Speak Out Against Him (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

By guest writer Jeff Rainforth

I’ve known my good friend Brian Kolfage for many years, and there is a side of Brian that most people who have only read headlines about him have probably never seen.

Brian is a triple-amputee Air Force veteran who nearly died serving our country in Iraq. He lost both of his legs and his right hand after a rocket exploded just feet away from him at Balad Air Base in 2004.

Now, after everything Brian himself has been through, he is trying to change the life of another disabled man halfway around the world.

Brian recently connected with a man in Africa who was born with severely deformed limbs and has spent his entire life unable to walk.

The man shares his story on Instagram under @hardlifefoundation, and when Brian saw his situation, he wanted to help.

Brian is now working to get him a wheelchair at no cost to him.

For most of us, a wheelchair might simply look like a piece of medical equipment.

For this man, it could mean freedom.

It could mean being able to move around without someone carrying him.

It could mean getting outside, interacting with his community, and having an independence he has never experienced before.

And Brian understands exactly how important that independence can be.

Brian Had to Learn How to Live All Over Again

When Brian was wounded in Iraq, his life changed in a matter of seconds.

He went from being a young Airman serving his country to waking up without both legs and his right hand.

Most people cannot even imagine what comes after something like that.

Brian had to learn how to walk again on prosthetic legs. He had to learn new ways of doing everyday things most of us perform without even thinking about them.

He had to rebuild his life.

I’ve watched Brian do things over the years that many able-bodied people would have difficulty doing.

His disability didn’t stop him from becoming a husband and father. It didn’t stop him from working, getting massive border wall projects built, or pursuing things people told him couldn’t be done.

And it hasn’t stopped him from helping other disabled people and being a motivational force.

This Isn’t The First Time Brian Has Done Something Like This

Years ago, Brian traveled to Montreal to meet a young Ukrainian boy named Mykola Nyzhnykovskyi.

Mykola had suffered horrific injuries in a grenade explosion.

He lost both of his legs and his right arm.

Sound familiar?

Brian could sit down with that young man and connect with him in a way that almost nobody else on Earth could.

Brian could show him his prosthetics.

He could show him what life could still look like.

He could demonstrate, simply by being there, that losing three limbs didn’t mean his dreams were over.

Sometimes the person best equipped to reach someone who is suffering is someone who has already traveled down that road.

And now Brian is doing it again.

This time, it’s a man in Africa who has never known what it’s like to simply stand up and walk somewhere.

Brian can’t change how he was born.

But he can help change what happens next.

A Wheelchair Can Change a Life

Think about how many times you move throughout an ordinary day.

You get out of bed.

You walk into another room.

You go outside.

You get into a vehicle.

You go to a store.

You visit friends.

Most of us never give any of it a second thought.

Now imagine having to rely on another human being every single time you wanted to move from one place to another.

That’s why this wheelchair matters.

This isn’t about giving someone a luxury.

It’s about giving someone mobility, dignity, and independence.

And after losing three limbs himself, Brian understands that better than almost anybody.

Brian Could Use Our Help Too

Brian has also been through an incredibly difficult period in his own life.

Following the politically motivated We Build the Wall case, which stemmed from him getting privately funded border wall sections built, Brian was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $2,877,414 in restitution.

That’s nearly $3 million.

Whatever people may think about the case, Brian is a triple-amputee combat-wounded veteran, a husband and father, who also sought to help secure our border and keep Americans safe.

Now he is trying to rebuild his own life while carrying an enormous financial burden—and, remarkably, he’s still looking for ways to help somebody else.

That says something about a person.

I’ve worked alongside Brian. I’ve traveled with him. I’ve photographed and filmed the projects we worked on together. I’ve seen him when the cameras weren’t rolling, and there was no audience around. This is who he is.

That’s why I’m helping him now.

If you would like to help Brian and his family as he rebuilds his life, please consider making a donation to his fundraiser.

And please share his story.

Brian lost three limbs serving this country. He has lived through injuries most people couldn’t imagine, prison, public controversy, and an enormous financial judgment.

Yet here he is, looking across the world at another disabled man and asking:

How can I help him?

That’s Brian Kolfage.

And hopefully, very soon, a man in Africa who has spent his entire life struggling to move will have a wheelchair—and a little more freedom—because somebody who understood his struggle decided to help.

Please donate to Brian’s fundraiser and share this story. Every donation and every share helps.

Follow Brian on his Substack page here.
Follow Jeff Rainforth for his live border reporting on Substack.
Jeff can also be followed on Facebook here.
Jeff’s X account is here.
His YouTube account with in-depth border invasion videos is here.

The post Triple-Amputee Veteran Brian Kolfage Is Helping a Disabled Man in Africa Get the Wheelchair He Desperately Needs By guest writer Jeff Rainforth. appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Michigan voters received another disturbing preview Monday night of what far-left Democrat Abdul El-Sayed would bring to the United States Senate.

During an appearance on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime,” El-Sayed defended keeping the government out of transgender medical procedures involving children, and then bizarrely compared those procedures to circumcision.

In El-Sayed’s twisted logic, parents allowing their sons to be circumcised is somehow comparable to authorizing life-altering transgender procedures on children.

Watters immediately rejected the outrageous comparison.

El-Sayed then accused Watters and conservatives of being “selective” because they oppose transgender procedures for minors while not demanding a government ban on circumcision.

Jesse Watters: Sex changes for minors — do you support that?

Abdul El-Sayed: Look, you know, I remember having great conversations with my conservative friends about right-to-try legislation — the idea that the government shouldn’t tell you what kind of healthcare you should have. I just think the government shouldn’t tell you what kind of healthcare you should have. And if you’re a minor, it is between your doctor and your parents.

Jesse Watters: You want to try on kids?

Abdul El-Sayed: Now, if you disagree with that — if you disagree with that, if you disagree that healthcare decisions need to be made by a doctor, their parents, and a patient — then I just think we agree to disagree.

Abdul El-Sayed: But, you know, you want to put government inside a clinic or hospital selectively.

Jesse Watters: So, Abdul, you’re a doctor, right?

Abdul El-Sayed: I am.

Jesse Watters: So you think it’s okay for a parent to slash his kid’s genitalia? You think that’s okay?

Abdul El-Sayed: I mean, do you — so, do you really want to have this conversation? Are you circumcised?

Jesse Watters: Yeah, yeah. But, I mean, that’s a personal question, Doctor!

Abdul El-Sayed: You probably should want to move on. You probably should want to move on.

Jesse Watters: A circumcision is different than castration.

Abdul El-Sayed: I think it’s a problem. It’s a problem that you think that you get to decide what happens between a parent, a doctor, and a patient. And I’m just saying that, yes, circumcision is surgery on a kid’s dingaling. So, if you really want to bring that up, you can. I just think you guys are really selective about how you want to talk about these things.

Jesse Watters: That is wacky. Abdul, Michigan’s not going for that. That is sick stuff.

WATCH:

When Watters asked El-Sayed whether men should be allowed to compete in women’s sports, the radical Democrat once again refused to provide a direct answer.

“You have not asked me one time about the issues that people actually care about in Michigan,” El-Sayed complained.

Watters reminded him that men invading women’s sports is a major issue for parents and female athletes across the country.

“At the end of the day, the decision of who gets to play what sports ought to be decided by the people who govern sports,” El-Sayed responded.

He then called the question “insane.”

During the wide-ranging interview, El-Sayed also refused to say how much his socialist Medicare for All plan would cost and could not answer Watters when asked about the size of the federal budget.

El-Sayed also attempted to reconcile his support for arresting certain criminal illegal aliens with his demand to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Watters called the response another “dodge.”

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, El-Sayed defeated establishment-backed Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s Democrat Senate primary. He will face Republican former Congressman Mike Rogers in the November general election.

The Gateway Pundit also reported that El-Sayed deleted more than 100 YouTube videos before launching his Senate campaign.

Transcripts reportedly showed El-Sayed floating the idea of replacing the Second Amendment, demanding an end to Fourth of July fireworks, and attacking Republicans for focusing on the southern border.

His campaign later claimed that the old comments did not reflect his current beliefs.

The Gateway Pundit further reported that El-Sayed described football as a culture of “toxic masculinity” filled with racism, misogyny, and homophobia.

Now, the Democrat seeking to represent Michigan in the United States Senate is comparing transgender procedures on children to circumcision.

The post SICK: Radical Michigan Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed Justifies Transgender Mutilation of Kids by Comparing It to Circumcision — Asks Jesse Watters About His Private Part on National TV appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Most major US oil companies are now scaling back capital spending and US production while reaping the rewards of higher global oil prices resulting from the war in Iran, despite continued pressure from the White House to lower prices and give back to the country.

Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and other oil giant executives are taking windfall profits and “price-gouging” Americans while cutting capital expenditures across the US to enrich themselves and their shareholders, a move that a White House official says could jeopardize national security.

Meanwhile, Exxon Mobil has increased output by over 12% to 1.8 million barrels per day, with plans to increase US production by an additional 40% by 2030, Bloomberg reports. Likewise, Diamondback Energy Inc. plans to increase capital spending and output in response to higher oil prices.

Chevron and ConocoPhillips cut their US capital spending by 10%, and Occidental Petroleum Corp. cut spending in the Permian Basin of Texas by 20% in the first six months of the year. APA Corp., Matador Resources Co., and HighPeak Energy Inc. will also spend far less on drilling and fracking in the US than last year, Bloomberg notes.

“Chevron and Conoco are inflating their stock prices and price-gouging Americans. Iran is using energy prices as its sole point of leverage, and American oil companies are strengthening their hand,” the White House official told The Gateway Pundit.

“Exxon is taking the opposite approach and investing in production, which proves Chevron and Conoco are choosing to enrich themselves at the expense of American consumers and our national security.”

President Trump has weighed in numerous times. In June, Trump called on American oil companies and retailers to lower prices, even threatening a Department of Justice investigation into price gouging after the US–Iran memorandum of understanding was signed and oil prices hovered around $70/barrel, roughly the same price as before the war started in February.

“The Retailers must quickly react to this statement, and do what they know is right — DROP YOUR PRICE FOR OUR GREAT AMERICAN PEOPLE! There will be no gouging, which is totally illegal,” Trump said in a statement.

Trump also called out Chevron CEO Mike Wirth in a recent Truth Social post, slamming him for refusing to acknowledge that the Trump Administration’s energy policies have made the company “far bigger and stronger than ever before,” and again calling on oil companies to lower their prices for American consumers.

Mike Wirth, Chairman and CEO of Chevron, just gave, in an interview with the fabulous Maria Bartiromo, all of the reasons that his company is doing so well. The only thing he conveniently forgot to mention is that, without the genius, foresight, strength, and stability, of the TRUMP Administration, the Oil Industry, and our Country itself, would be DEAD! As an example, they threw Mike and Chevron out of Venezuela, but now they’re back, far bigger and stronger than ever before, expecting to make a fortune! That goes for other Oil Companies as well…and get your consumer (retail!) Oil Prices DOWN, NOW! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DJT

Trump told reporters at the White House earlier this month, “They’re making too much money based on a shortage.” He further called on the companies to “give some of that back to the public,” adding, “they better cut the retail price, the consumer price.”

The post US Oil Spending Sinks While Producers Take Profits From Iran War but Cut US Production as Trump Administration Accuses Companies of Price Gouging appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.