Energy Secretary Chris Wright has shown himself to be a complete sellout to Donald Trump, a man that Wright called “terrible and truly awful” in 2016.
Everything Trump touches dies.
A series of political missteps and policy disputes has strained Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s relationship with the White House, 10 people familiar with the dynamic told POLITICO — causing some to question how much longer he can last in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet.
The friction, these people said, includes complaints that Wright was too slow to loop in the White House on his plans to kill tens of billions of dollars in Biden-era clean energy grants — and too willing to defend the interests of industries that want some of that funding preserved. Decisions on revoking those grants brought him into conflict with White House staff, POLITICO reported last week.
One industry executive and two other people familiar with the tensions also pointed to what they called a delay in DOE’s approval of natural gas export projects that Trump had campaigned on green-lighting. Meanwhile, rifts between factions in the Energy Department’s upper ranks have led to at least three senior staff members being removed from their posts in the past week, four people said.
The people who spoke to POLITICO include administration officials and others who interact closely with senior officials in the White House and DOE. POLITICO granted them anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
None of the people said Wright, a former Colorado fracking executive and outspoken advocate for Trump’s pro-fossil-fuel policies, is in immediate danger of losing his job. But they said relations have clearly soured between Trump’s inner circle and Wright, who arrived in D.C. with a senior team similarly drawn from the private sector instead of MAGA politics.
“It just seems so messy right now,” said one person familiar with the dynamic between Wright and the White House. “I don’t know how much longer he’s got.”
In response to questions, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said Wright is delivering on Trump’s goals. “Secretary Wright has been working lockstep with President Trump since day one to restore America’s energy dominance and safeguard our economic and national security,” she said.
Heatmap (via email):
When I reached out to an insider with knowledge of the agency, the source told me the story was months behind and no longer reflected the current relationship between Wright and the White House. Other Republicans certainly don’t see Wright’s approach to cutting clean energy programs as too cautious. In an interview with another Politico reporter, Josh Siegel, Utah Senator John Curtis said Wright “does have concerns about too many renewables going onto the market. I don’t. With time my approach has proven right and it will again, in that the government needs to play a productive role in providing affordable, reliable, clean energy.” Meanwhile, more than a third of Americans say their electricity bills are a “major” source of stress, according to a new Associated Press poll.
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This, from my speech to the No King’s Day rally in deep red Chesanning, Michigan on Saturday:
In 2016, Mr Wright, called Donald Trump a “terrible and truly awful” choice, swore he would never give financial support.
Which was a principled stand to take.
But as time went on, Mr Wright realized that principles and ethics, and conscience are really, dangerously woke, left wing ideas.
So in 2024, after Trump secured the GOP nomination, Mr Wright and his wife contributed approximately $458,000 to the Trump 47 Committee, plus $289,000 to the RNC.
I’m sure Mr Wright was completely surprised to be named Head of the Department that regulates the industry that made him wealthy.