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- [00:00]
A
I often like to say the numbers don't lie. Check out these numbers. Chevron made $12 billion with a B billion dollars in profits in second quarter 2026, up nearly 300% since just last year. Exxon doubled their profits since last year, bringing in $14.7 billion, all thanks to Trump's illegal war of choice against Iran. Now Trump himself has as much as $12 million in ExxonMobil stock and as much as $6 million in Chevron stock. Now, the reason why I highlight those numbers is we spend time here at Katie Fang News talking about the impact of climate change. Just had Professor Michael Mann on a few days ago to talk about why the world is burning. But here's the thing. How about the people that are profiting? How about the profits over people, Companies like oil, fossil fuels and gas industries that with this, as my guest calls it, this unholy alliance that those companies have with convicted felon Donald Trump in his Trump regime, they're able to make money on the pain and suffering of people. Pain at the pumps, pain in your pocketbook. Think about the costs to be able to go, go to the grocery store and buy even basic necessities. It costs money to get the food and the produce and the goods and the materials from point A to point B, it's gas and diesel. Think about the cost of losing your home and your business. Think about the lost lives, thinking about the animals. I mean, all of this is intertwined inextricably. And that's the reason why I wanted to make sure that we had a blunt conversation with former Governor Jay Inslee, somebody who has experienced that type of loss firsthand as the governor of a state of Washington, which right now is burning. These are the conversations we need to have where we tie it all together so that people understand that we're not living in a silo, that the conduct and the actions we take now are going to impact us in the present and our children and future generations of our families in the future. Take a listen to how that unholy alliance, which I think is the most accurate way to describe this relationship between the fossil fuels, oil and gas industries and Trump has destroyed and continues to destroy Americans lives. Joining me now is Governor Jay Inslee. Governor, it's so good to see you always. Look, man, you were sounding the alarm before. I think anybody else kind of figured out what was really at stake here. And I really couldn't think of a better person to have this conversation with because the numbers don't lie, right? So let's Start with the latest. They are appalling. Chevron announcing that in just Q2, $26 billion in profits, up 300% since 2025, and it's technically more than $9.6 billion more in profit. Exxon doubling its profits since 2025, declaring a $14.7 billion profit. Even Shell doubling its profits, while Americans spending more than 76.5 billion in energy costs. That scale seems tipped, not even vaguely in favor of regular Americans.
- [03:23]
B
Well, while the oil company's profits have doubled and tripled, the anger of Americans at this ripoff that's going on, which is a self inflicted wound, has doubled and tripled as well. And people are irate about this. And the reason is that these are unnecessary events and they are caused by an unholy alliance of Donald Trump with the oil and gas industry. They put him to work for them. They made a billion dollar deal at Mar a Lago that if they give him a billion dollars, he said, I'll do whatever you want me to do. And he has caused multiple decisions which have now gouged Americans over something like $26 billion of additional costs. Every time you go to the grocery store, you're paying more for gas. You're also paying more for groceries because diesel fuel has gone up and that affects the price of fuel as well. And the thing that is so insidious about this, and I think the reason people's anger is justified, is that he's got you coming and going because he started this war, which is now one of the reasons for these obscene prophets of war profiteering. But he's also trying to prevent Americans from getting access to cheaper sources of energy. You know, the fossil fuel industry, they compete with cleaner and cheaper sources of energy, solar, wind, batteries. And Americans are paying 16% plus inflation, electricity as well. And he's trying to get you to stop you. It's like a blockade. He's blockading your access to cheaper sources of energy because the oil and gas guys, they don't want to compete in the coal industry. They don't have to compete with solar, wind and batteries and EVs. So he's got you coming and going. Americans are irate and justifiably so.
- [05:13]
A
It look, you don't have to be a lawyer to pick up on the nuances, which really aren't nuanced, right? This facts of pay to play to me, right? Because I got Trump spending, I got, excuse me, I got oil and gas lobbying those industries more than $450 million to lobby Trump, right? And Then at the same time, Trump owns 12 million in Exxon stock and 6 million in Chevron stock. Putting aside a whole of the conversation, you know, I could have about Venezuela, right, and who's truly benefiting and profiting from Venezuela now, taking out Maduro, bringing him here, using Delsey Rodriguez, trying to control oil and gas there. I mean, it's all so interrelated, right? And we now have 18 active service members dead as a result of this illegal war of choice. And it's important for people to understand that like you mentioned, gas is so expensive just to put it in your car or your vehicle. But that's how the fruit, the fruit, the produce and all your other goods are getting from point A to point B. So again, that cost has to trickle down and pass down to the consumer. And the only people that are making money off of this are the fat cats that are in oil, fossil fuels and gas.
- [06:27]
B
Well, the corruption, I call this the mugging at Mar a Lago. So Trump had these oil executives down to his little resort and told them, if you contribute a billion dollars to my campaign, I'll take care of you, I'll be your hand servant, I'll do whatever you want. Essentially, which he has done. And it has resulted in billions of dollars coming out of Americans pockets as a result. Now my thinking on this is corruption is always evil. It is frowned upon, it is angering, but it is more angering when it costs you money. It's one thing to sort of have an ethical violation. This is not just some ethical violation, you know, like Watergate. This is something that is, that has really gone deep into the pockets of Americans. Right. It's not just corruption offending you ethically, it's offending you financially. And you're, you're getting hammered by a guy who said he's going to be president and focus on reducing costs. And I swear he gets every, every morning up and figures, what can I do to increase costs for Americans? Oh, I know I can start a war that's illegal because it wasn't authorized by Congress.
- [07:36]
A
That's right.
- [07:36]
B
I can get rid of subsidies and ways to get cheaper energy. I can put tariffs, by the way, on a lot of the supply chains that feed these, these cheaper sources of energy. He's put tariffs on them. He's, it's like he designed, he went into a back room and designed the, the most expensive policies he could imagine for Americans. So this is not some kind of accident where we've been exposed by natural disaster like, like an earthquake. It was an intentional act to help the oil and gas industry. And we ought to be outraged about it. And we ought to also be outraged at the Republicans in Congress who are letting it happen, who are standing there watching a firestorm. And we've got firestorms in Washington State right now in part because of the fossil fuel industry. And they're watching these houses burn down financially and in reality burn down and do nothing about it because they're in this kind of cult and they're letting this unethical behavior continue.
- [08:40]
A
I'm gonna make a friendly amendment to what you said, cuz I don't really think this is happening in the back room anymore. It is so egregiously in your face. Corrupt. It's so egregiously in your face. Pay to play. It's like you scratch my back. I'll not only scratch your back, but I'll put it in a Mercedes and put you in a mansion. Right. Like that's kind of how this is all rolling. And the only people who are literally benefiting are Trump and his billionaire buddies. You know, I'm glad that you brought up. Not happy obviously, because it's tragic news, but I'm glad you brought up the fires in Washington. I had the privilege of spending time with Professor Michael Mann just a few days ago and we talked about the wildfires in Europe, in Canada, air quality, I mean, it's all, I think the thing that maybe, hopefully people are realizing, sadly, although we're pretty far, you know, late, we're fourth quarter on this. Right. Which is making me worried is it's all interrelated people, you know, what we're seeing happening with our wildfires, our air quality, our heat waves is completely related to the fossil fuels. And simultaneously it's not just let me, you know, realize profits off of this, it's let me destroy the epa. Right. Let's make sure that we withdraw from the Paris Accords. Let's make sure that we're not participating in any of the environmental moves that we could be doing on a domestic, international level. Because that would really piss off our fossil fuel and oil and gas buddies.
- [09:59]
B
Yeah, let me center the comments, by the way. We're receiving a lot of help from around the country. These fires. Right now we have over a dozen fires burning in Washington State. You've heard about the fires that ripped into Spokane, you know, already burned down 700 structures. Over 400 square miles of my state are on fire right now over that because of the fact that our whole state is just parched. It's dry. It's a tinder box. It's hot. We get these huge winds and these fires are unstoppable. There's no human intervention that can stop them because climate change, which has been caused by the pollution of this very industry that has now turned around and made these obscene profits because they have a president who is stopping any activity that would rein them in in a variety of ways. First, to rein in the pollution that they are causing. Second, there's another, there's another effort to give them immunity so they're not accountable to the laws. They're trying to get immunity from Congress so that there's no accountability for the damage that they are causing. And it is horrendous. And as we talked about just before the show, everybody in the planet is now a victim of this phenomena. It's Spain and France are, you know, absolutely hammered. Landslides are happening around the world because of the collapse of glaciers. Rainstorms are unbelievable. It's not just fire, it's floods. I talked to a woman 2 days ago who's an oceanographer in Hawaii and they had 23 inches of rain in like two and a half days there. Two of her friends homes washed down Diamond Head on Oahu and the millipedes are coming out. She said the millipedes came out because there was so much water in the ground. The millipedes, they had nowhere to go.
- [11:43]
A
Yeah, they had nowhere to go.
- [11:45]
B
You know, a walk through the Bible in the explosive horrendous things that have happened because this industry, which now is in a corrupt bargain with the President, United States, and he's trying to eliminate our ability to get cleaner energy, can solve this problem. And the thing that I always emphasize is that this can be solved. We can build a clean energy economy. We have the capability of doing it right now with the new technologies that we have, solar, wind, batteries, EVs, efficiency, heat pumps, you name it, we have the capability to solve this problem. We are not helpless. We have agency here. But we've got a drag in the White House because of his corruption, stopping Americans from doing what we really need right now. And when you look at people whose homes have burned down and they're standing in the ashes, and I've done this as governor to meet these families. It is enraging to know that they have a president who's working against them just to help the oil and gas industry. That's what's happening.
- [12:51]
A
Well, let's, let's share a little bit more doom and gloom, shall we then, Governor? Because it's not. Look, I mean, like this is this really. I mean, we always speak the truth here. So let's speak the truth. It's not just let's screw you on the way in, let's screw you on the way out. When these disasters happen, which I can't even say they're almost natural anymore, right? Because let's talk about Genesis. You just spoke about it, right? The cause, the root cause of this is climate change, which is man made, right? So let's be clear. But when you do have a disaster happen, now we have the following kind of reporting, right? We have Trump overruling experts, I'll say quotes because I'm not quite sure who's an expert anymore in this administration, but you got people at FEMA and Homeland Security that are saying, hey, these states, for example, they were hammered by snowstorms in February of this year and they need disaster relief and they approve it. And these are people who should know because they've actually evaluated it. And you got petty Trump saying, nah, I'm not going to give you the money. Why? Because you didn't help me. You're a, quote, blue state or you have a blue governor or you're not doing it. And then we also see that you had 25 states, plus the District of Columbia having to file a lawsuit because once again, disaster relief or disaster preparedness money was conditioned on those states agreeing to do voter registration verification through a federal database and to cooperate with federal immigration agents. There's a word for it, it's called extortion. They're trying to extort these states into agreeing into these absurd voter integrity or voter verification issues to get money to help the people. So you got profits over people when it comes to fossil fuels, oil and gas. And they got profits over people because you just got a petty, pardon my French, asshole who wants to sit there and punish people for just not agreeing with him.
- [14:52]
B
Well, there's a really interesting thing that's happened. I don't think it's happened before in American political history, and that is throughout time when politicians have been corrupt. They've tried to hide it, they've denied it, they put it under a blanket so that nobody will know about it. In this case, Donald Trump has admitted it and is almost proud of his corrupt extortion schemes to punish his political adversaries. And we know that because his attorney general filed briefs in lawsuits where we have sued Trump and we sued him, you know, hundreds of times. We've won about 85% of the lawsuits. So a lawsuit was fired about, filed about the denial of these benefits. In response, his attorneys wrote a pleading, and this is incredible. Usually in a bank robbery case, you don't have the defense lawyer file a plea saying, yeah, we robbed the bank. What are you going to do about it? In this case, his attorney filed a pleading saying, of course we denied blue states, of course we did. That's what we do. In the Trump administration, they filed a pleading and admitted to doing this. So this is the kind of crime that maybe is the worst kind of crime. It's one where they're almost proud of it and don't even try to hide it. And that's what's going on. And I suffered this. Now, if a little anger creeps into my voice, it's because what I feel I represented the state when the little town of Malden burned down. It's a town of several hundred people. 80% of the buildings were destroyed, including the fire department. Absolutely devastated. We went to the Trump administration. We clearly were entitled to the emergency relief, both for the community assets and for loans for people to rebuild their homes. And Trump denied it on absolutely no reason whatsoever except that he didn't like the state of Washington and, or the governor and even the Republican congresswoman at the time, Kathy McMorris Rogers, tried to get the president to help and he refused to do so. Even the Republican governor or congress people, staff said, yeah, because we just, he just doesn't like the governor of the state, Washington, so we're not helping. And when, you know, and the thing that's so galling about this is when Trump says, well, I'm going to punish blue states or I'm going to publish, punish governors that I don't like. What he doesn't understand, he's not just hitting the governor, he's, he's hitting his own voters. The people in Malden, Washington, voted for him, 70%. These are his people, and he wouldn't help them out of this sense of peak of just juvenile delinquent behavior as President of the United States. So right now, 100% of Americans are paying taxes that go to provide this FEMA relief, but only 50% of Americans are getting the relief that they've paid for. So this is an absolute abuse of your taxpayer dollars as well. Now, I'm hoping he does better on the Spokane fires. I'm hoping that he learns his lessons, because there's going to be huge need for assistance in Spokane, Washington. But, you know, that'll be a good day to see if he changes his spots on this. But so far it's been such an abusive thing and it hurts real people. I mean, I remember I was standing, I went down participating in a movie being made about the Altadena fires in Los Angeles.
- [18:12]
A
Yes.
- [18:12]
B
And I was just standing on a burnt lot with a couple who built this bakery cafeteria. Their life, dreams, they put everything they had into this cafeteria. They were just starting to swing. It came through and then burned down. And just watching that couple embrace, just talking about how their dreams had been at least put on great hold right now and can't get the federal government to really do the job to help out, it's just, it's just heartbreaking to see what his callous indifference as a result of corruption has done. So. But listen, here's my good note. We can do something about this, right? There's an election here, less than 100 days, and there's races all over the United States. And anybody that is wise enough to listen to your show, Katie, I hope we'll find a race to get involved in because if things can change in the House of Representatives, we can rein in some of this madness and this abuse of the emergency response program. If we get a Democratic House, we can reign some of these abusive behaviors in. And so I encourage people to get active. We're not helpless here.
- [19:24]
A
No, we're not. And I want to remind people, because sometimes I need to be reminded. So FEMA is a part of dhs. And DHS got another huge influx of money through not only the big bullshit bill last year. There's no lack of money. They're slashing FEMA budget. Right. They're slashing everything from Noah to, you know, nhs to, to, to, to fema. But they're certainly being able to pump money into ICE and CBP and all that other stuff. Right. So there's no shortage of money for them to help Americans. And you know, I, I would love in, in just the, the time that we have left. Governor, I'd love you to, to share a little bit more information about the clean energy, because I do think that people need to realize, to your point a few minutes ago, this is not one of those George Jetson future kind of things. Right. This is not one of those flying car moments. This is like, hey, we have the technology and the assets available now to pivot to clean energy. And that could really help on so many different fronts. So just share some thoughts about that because I think people always need to know more about that.
- [20:28]
B
Well, I think that it's sometimes hard to see the light through the smoke but the light is impressive because we can solve this problem. This is up to us. It's just a matter of will. We have the technology, we have the science, we have the industry, we have all of these things available to us. All we have to do is put the shovel in the dirt to build the systems. We have to do clean energy. Because today, not tomorrow, not 10 years from now, not 50 years from now, today we are fully capable of decarbonizing our economy. And the reason I know that is 92% of all of the energy, new energy that was brought online in the last year was low and zero. Carbon, carbon, carbon based systems. There was solar power and wind power and battery power. We can do this. It's the cheapest source of energy. We just have to put our minds to it that we're going to use these existing technologies. And it is thrilling to people when we do this. I remember talking to a woman, she's an apple harvester in Toppenish, Washington. She got up at 3 o' clock in the morning to pick apples. Hard working person. And she says, you know, I just love it when I get to run out to my mailbox once a month and tear open my utility bill because it's zero. Because we got her some solar panels which are now are producing electricity cheaper than coal and so we have ability to have heat pumps. I remember talking to a woman who ran a hospice facility in Walla Walla, Washington and when she was talking about we got her some heat pumps using a state based climate commitment act and she started crying talking about those heat pumps. I said, why are you so emotionally riven about this? She said, because my patients now in their last days can be comfortable and it's cheaper. And so the capabilities we have now are really extraordinary. It is only a matter of will. And states can act too, by the way. I hope people would be involved in governor's races and state legislative races. States can act. I'm involved in a thing called the State Power Project and we help governors have more ambitious actions where states can take action. So we have, in my state, I helped pass the Climate Commitment act and 100% Clean Electricity Bill and a low carbon fuel standard. And all these things together are getting Washingtonians cheaper, cleaner energy to fight climate change. And by the way, anybody tells you voters don't like this, that's a bunch of baloney. We had a vote on this. We had a vote on this a year and a half ago and voters confirmed our clean energy work. 62 to 38. It was a smashing victory. People want cleaner, cheaper energy. They know data centers are sucking up huge amounts of energy. They don't want to have to pay for that and they don't want it to be dirty, polluting fossil fuel based energy. So the point is this is a good news story about the capability we have today to also grow our economy at the same time to also have cleaner air so we have less asthma, also have forests that don't burn down, also not have floods and have jobs by the bucket force. So it's just sitting there, right there. All we got to do is grasp it, take it in our hands.
- [23:48]
A
This is our destiny and there is urgency. But as you and also Professor Mann say, we have agency and that's important agency to change, to change the path in November. Because as we started today's conversation, Governor Inslee, it's all about profits over people. That is the agenda and that is most certainly the corrupt agenda that is happening with this administration. So thank you, Governor Jay Inslee, always. I always love hanging out with you. I always like our conversations. I will say I'm sending my support and best wishes to the state of Washington to be able to get through this. I know it's a very difficult times for so many Washingtonians. So, you know, I'm sending my I
- [24:32]
B
appreciate that we're sensing this from around the country. I'm talking to people. We've got firefighters from all over the world essentially working on this. One closing note I want to share with you if I can on this, of course. I think it's really important for us to understand as we're fighting this pollution that's causing this climate change. At the same time, we are reducing people's costs. And this is very important because every person running for office in America today will tell you that the first order of business is to reduce the inflation rate that Americans are suffering, including for their energy costs. And we always lead our discussion about getting people cheaper, more affordable energy. But it's important to note that is exactly parallel to our interest in getting clean energy as well, because cheap energy is clean energy now because clean energy is the cheapest energy you can get, including in EVs. So this is a great time to to be involved in elections coming up, November. I hope people will show their agency and get involved.
- [25:37]
A
Absolutely. And they will because they hear it from you and you explain it in a way for people to understand the importance of it and how easy it is. Again, it's not a George Jetson moment, although I guess I'm showing my age when I say George Jetson, but it's not the futuristic moment, Right? Like, it's now.
- [25:54]
B
You watched the reruns of Georgia Jetson? I saw the original one.
- [25:58]
A
Okay, I got those originals, my friend. Trust me, I got the originals, the whole flying car and the. All that other good stuff. But anyway, Governor Jay Inslee, always good to see you. Thank you so much for taking the time to join us here. Katie Fang here. We launched the Katie Fang News Channel in partnership with the Midas Touch Network, so we could bring you the latest in legal and political news. Straight, no chaser. So if you're a fellow truth teller, hit that subscribe button and share the word about this channel so we can build a high information America together.