David Pakman questions the timing of Trump's Russian diesel deal
Drawing on a Telegraph column, Pakman argues that an energy announcement and lower prices at the pump are not the same thing.
David Pakman
Story of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 1,182,332 views a day, 6.4 times a normal first day on this channel (184,570).
Trump has made a catastrophic miscalculation
Things we can learn from the video
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- 0:00Pakman introduces Con Coughlin's Telegraph column, the source of the video's title.
- 0:36He describes Trump's Russian diesel plan as an effort to lower energy prices ahead of the midterms.
- 2:06Citing the column, he argues that conflict with Iran, rather than Ukraine, explains the energy-price spike.
- 3:27Pakman argues that any price relief will arrive too late to influence midterm voters.
- 4:53He distinguishes announcing a deal from solving a problem, then calls for stronger political literacy.
David Pakman puts a practical question to Trump's Russian diesel strategy: even if additional supply lowers energy prices, will voters feel the difference before casting their ballots?
His commentary, titled "Trump has made a catastrophic miscalculation", drew nearly half a million views in seven hours, already well beyond the channel's usual full-day audience for a regular video.
The title comes from a Telegraph article by Con Coughlin, which Pakman uses to examine both the foreign-policy consequences and the electoral timing. He describes Trump's plan as an attempt to bring Russian diesel onto the global market to lower energy costs ahead of the midterms, while arguing that doing more business with Moscow undermines Western efforts to isolate Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
Citing Coughlin's column, Pakman also argues that the energy-price spike stems from conflict with Iran rather than Ukraine. His central objection is the gap between announcing a deal and delivering a noticeable change in household costs: he does not expect the diesel arrangement to lower gas prices quickly enough to sway voters.
"We are watching Trump sort of confusing making an announcement with solving a problem," Pakman says. The closing stretch broadens that criticism into a call for greater political literacy and more scrutiny of what political announcements actually accomplish.
Published on Trari
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- Channel
- David Pakman
- Subscribers
- 3,680,000 ▲ 10,000 this week
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 18,630,850
- Channel views, pace per day
- 2,975,564 (on a normal day: 2,504,363)
- Video published
- October 18, 2026
- Video views so far
- 493,333 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 1,182,332
The numbers
The diesel commentary passed the channel's usual first-day views within its opening seven hours. Its comment section was also already more than three times as busy as a typical full first day.
💡 Test your knowledge
Which British newspaper published the column Pakman examines?
Pakman introduces Con Coughlin's Telegraph column, which shares the video's title.