If Donald Trump were president today, I don’t think the Saudis and OPEC+ would’ve just announced a more than a million barrel per day production cut. That’s right: I don’t believe they would’ve done it.

That production cut, which follows a half a million barrel cut last November, is aimed at $100 oil and $5 gasoline. In other words, punish the U.S., punish the American economy, line the pockets of the Russians and the Saudis who are each pledging to cut oil production by 500,000 barrels to line their pockets.

Do you think Alvin Bragg and his left-wing progressive friends ever considered that? You think they ever considered that in their baloney sandwich — what a former attorney general, William Barr, called the “epitome of prosecutorial abuse,” “a pathetically weak legal theory,” and “a crossing of the Rubicon” that not only will invite Republican retaliation, but internationally makes the U.S. look like a weak-kneed banana republic.

In fact, was it a complete coincidence that the Saudi announcement aimed at damaging the American economy came just a couple days after Alvin Bragg’s indictment announcement? I don’t think so. 

In global politics, A leads to B in speed-of-light fashion. Some of you may completely disagree with my view, and as always I respect your disagreement, but if Mr. Trump were president he wouldn’t be attacking Saudi Arabia as a pariah state and then running across the world to Riyadh for a fist bump that would make him look even worse to the Arab Gulf States. That group respects strength, not weakness. President Biden exudes weakness.

It was  Mr. Trump who put together the Abraham Accords and in all likelihood would’ve brought Saudi Arabia into that path-breaking agreement. Actually, even worse, Mr. Biden has insulted Israel and Saudi Arabia. Mr. Trump’s successful diplomacy brought those two countries together.

I think Mr. Trump understood that it’s better to be feared than loved. If you are feared, then you earn respect, which then leads to compromise, which then leads to diplomatic breakthroughs nobody dreamed possible.

As for Russia, I still don’t believe it would have ever invaded Ukraine if Mr. Trump were still president. Oil prices during the Trump years averaged about $60 a barrel pre-Covid. That’s not enough war finance for Vladimir Putin. 

Recent history shows that when oil gets to $100 or more, Mr. Putin invades. Crimea, Georgia, and most recently Ukraine. At $60 a barrel, there’s no Putin invasion. He doesn’t have the money. Also, he feared Mr. Trump but he does not fear Mr. Biden.

Strong at home means strong abroad. “Peace through strength,” as President Reagan taught us.

Mr. Trump’s energy independence policies, which House Republicans are valiantly trying to restore through their H.R. 1 “Lower Energy Costs Act,” kept energy prices low in order to stimulate the economy and hold down inflation. 

Mr. Biden’s crazy climate obsessions have throttled production, kept energy prices high, and rendered the economy low through his war against fossil fuels.

Alvin Bragg and his left-wing ilk are doing the best they can to damage this country at home and abroad. Like I said, it’s baloney.

From Mr. Kudlow’s broadcast on Fox Business News.