The 2026 Diesel Wars

“To vote for the party that is temporarily making your diesel fuel more expensive, or to vote for the party that wants to lock you up for wanting diesel that works? Not quite Shakespeare, but for millions of blue-collar Americans, that is the 2026 question. Welcome to the diesel wars, which show the limits of modern-day populism.

 

As both parties chase working-class voters, diesel prices are proving a made-for-politics moment. Which party can better address voters' pain?

 

The average price of diesel is now $6.51 a gallon, near double its January figure.

 

It's killing the farmers who fill combines and irrigation pumps.

 

Truckers on long hauls. Construction workers on excavators and cranes. Loggers running fellers, and captains piloting tender boats.

 

 Also, millions of Americans who drive diesel pickups.

 

Republicans are shaking so hard they could mix redneck martinis. This was supposed to be the election in which they solidified Donald Trump's blue-collar gains, after two years backing the White House's worst vote-buying impulses. Only it turns out phony populist pitches don't translate into broad economic gain, and voters have short memories. Where's the love for "no tax on tips" or prescription-drug price controls? Can't Iowa farmers trust that tariffs are creating jobs instead of obsessing over fertilizer prices? Did nobody hear the president promise $5,000 checks?

 

Add in soaring diesel costs, the temporary consequence of a policy with actual principle -- denying Iran its nuclear-terror threat. The president, to his credit, so far isn't wilting under political pressure, rushing to cut a bad deal to open the Strait of Hormuz. But he's done no job of explaining his strategy for ending the war, and his candidates are panicking. Thus the sight of the GOP pandering even harder, racing to back a diesel-fuel "export ban." Such a plan would trade (possible) slight decreases in diesel prices for longer-term industry problems, even as it hikes gasoline and jet-fuel costs.

 

It seems not to have occurred to Republicans that the way to address the diesel question is to point to the bigger picture: The real choice blue-collar voters face in November is between short-term price hikes for a good cause and the eventual death of diesel.

 

That's the fatal flaw of the left's own new populist chase for the working class: They don't mean it. They've recruited candidates who look and walk like the real working deal: Graham Platner the oysterman, Troy Jackson the "fifth-generation logger," Dan Osborn the mechanic, Dave Cantrell the electrician. But they belong to a party that is as wedded to as radical a climate agenda as ever, with the prime goal of eliminating fossil fuels. Moreover, to a party that remains resolutely on the wrong side of the other diesel question raging below an out-of-touch media's notice: the DEF war.

 

Diesel owners remain furious over a Clinton-era mandate that inflicts diesel rigs with the dumbest equipment invented by man: diesel exhaust fluid, or DEF, systems. These unnecessary "emissions" controls are pure, money-sucking junk. They spiral up initial costs, then require the regular purchase of pricey DEF. The filters clog at low speeds or cold temperatures; burner units pack up; the sensors break constantly. Failure rates are extreme. Big Brother fits all DEF rigs (including pickups, tractors and construction equipment) with kill switches. If you fail to add DEF or -- more likely -- your subpar equipment malfunctions, the computer limits the rig to 5 miles an hour ("limp mode") -- rendering it useless until you shell out thousands for repairs.

 

This Orwellian system has created a nationwide backlash and a thriving underground economy that quietly "deletes" DEF controls. One party remains outraged that Americans want drivable equipment. The Biden administration went to war against "deleters," bringing a torrent of civil cases, even sending men to prison. Federal prosecutors in 2023 brought the largest "diesel tampering" case in history, flinging around felonies and landing $1.8 million in fines. Democrats continue en masse to support the DEF regime, railing against reform efforts. This is the party that wants to kill fossil fuels, but also wants Americans to believe it cares about their diesel costs?

 

The other party is trying to rein in this failure. The Environmental Protection Agency this summer proposed revisions to DEF rules, which could end limp mode. Republican lawmakers have bills to roll back or eliminate DEF requirements. The Justice Department has ended criminal prosecutions. Most striking, Mr. Trump in July pardoned nine men convicted of "disabling" DEF systems. The New York Times, voice of Democrats, railed that Mr. Trump was undermining "laws intended to fight climate change." A climate agenda that won't rest until "diesel" is an unspeakable slur.

 

Lesson for Republicans: Limited-government policies still resonate with voters. Lesson for Democrats: It's the policy, not the spin, that matters. Lesson for both parties: Most "populist" pitches amount to phony pandering. And voters will at some point realize it.” [1]

 

1. The 2026 Diesel Wars. Strassel, Kimberley A.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 25 Sep 2026: A13.