Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) spent Monday doing what Bernie Sanders does: yelling about oil companies. This time the target was President Donald Trump, whom he accused of handing favors to fossil fuel producers despite the planet quietly catching fire in the background.

The Handout Argument

In a post on X, Sanders took aim at the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to repeal President Joe Biden-era greenhouse gas standards on power plants. EPA administrator Lee Zeldin pitched the move as a way to keep energy prices affordable, which is one way to describe it.

Sanders opened with the weather report. "We just saw the hottest summer in US recorded history," the Vermont Independent said. "August tied for the hottest global month in recorded history." Then came the punchline: "Trump's response is more handouts for Big Oil."

He added that Trump cannot be allowed to "trade" the future of the planet in exchange for the "short-term profits of his Big Oil billionaire friends."

Why Oil Is Suddenly So Profitable

Context matters here. Oil producers have been recording windfall profits amid the ongoing war with Iran, which has pushed fuel costs higher across the U.S. Sanders had already been hammering the industry, saying oil companies were "ripping off" Americans through elevated prices.

The numbers back up the frustration. The national average price of a gallon of gas on Sunday exceeded the $4.3 mark. In August, Gov. Jay Robert 'JB' Pritzker (D-IL) demanded that oil companies refund people their money, noting they could return it through "price reductions at the pump, direct refunds, or other means."

Newsom Joins The Chorus

Meanwhile, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) accused Trump and Energy Secretary Chris Wright of engaging in the war with Iran despite knowing the impact it would have on U.S. energy costs. Newsom questioned why the administration had not shielded Americans from energy shocks.

So that's three elected officials, one EPA rollback, and a summer for the record books. Sanders' core complaint is simple: the policy response to record heat is apparently to make it easier to keep polluting, while the companies doing the polluting cash checks. Whether you call that energy affordability or a handout depends on where you sit, but Sanders has clearly picked his seat.