Video taking off 10x its usual first day

'Not exactly a game changer': Planet America on Trump's Putin diesel deal

John Barron and Chas Licciardello follow the fuel story from a red-dye tax break to Republican unease, then to tight Senate races in Maine and Kansas.

Channel:

ABC News In-depth Story of October 13, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 185,120 views a day, 10 times a normal first day on this channel (18,416).

Republicans turn on Trump over shock diesel deal with Putin | Planet America

Sixteen hours after it went up, the latest Planet America had passed 150,000 views, roughly ten times what a regular video on ABC News In-depth usually gathers in a full first day. It is also arriving on a slower stretch for the channel as a whole, whose daily views are below their usual level.

The episode opens on fuel. Donald Trump is shown announcing an executive order that lets anyone buy tax-free red-dye diesel, normally reserved for off-road use. Chas Licciardello runs the numbers on what that does at the pump and concludes, "So not exactly a game changer, John." He also points to a pattern: the higher diesel prices climb, the more Republicans sour on Trump's handling of prices.

Then comes the deal with Vladimir Putin to import Russian diesel, which drew criticism from Volodymyr Zelenskyy and doubts from experts about whether it is workable or legal. The channel covered the same news in a 7.30 report by Norman Hermant, but it is the Planet America take that has drawn the bigger crowd. A shorter segment turns to Pete Hegseth's push to livestream the firing-squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan.

The second half is about the midterms. In Maine, Susan Collins trails Democrat Troy Jackson in the poll on screen, with a defense-contractor corruption scandal complicating her campaign. Kansas is the bigger surprise: Adam Hamilton, the Methodist pastor who founded the Church of the Resurrection near Kansas City, is shown running almost level with Republican Roger Marshall, and Mike Hayden, once the state's Republican governor, appears in an ad endorsing him.

Journalist Natalie Fertig, author of Out of State, closes the episode with the question in its chapter title: are rural voters turning on MAGA?

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