You know those conservatives that have been “we are so back” since Donald Trump’s November win? Maybe you can count the Keystone XL pipeline supporters among them, soon enough.
Because, at least according to his social media account, President Trump wants the pipeline project back — even more bigly than before.
In a post to Truth Social on Monday, Trump announced that he wanted to resurrect the pipeline project that former President Joe Biden killed via executive fiat on his first day in office after pressure from environmental activist groups.
The project was designed to extend the Keystone Pipeline System, which carries crude oil from Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast of the United States.
However, spurred on by a more general animus toward anything that involved oil — which they blame for climate change — and a more specific, if even more specious, claim that the project might pose a threat to the Ogallala aquifer, progressive groups and Native American tribes teamed up for protests in South Dakota, which went viral on social media, making killing off the project a cause célèbre on the left.
Biden’s order killed off roughly 11,000 jobs that would have been associated with the pipeline, although other estimates have pegged the number at more or less.
(At almost the same time, it’s worth noting Biden encouraged the Europeans to go forward with the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project with Russia, which would have made the continent even more dependent on Moscow than it already was for its energy needs. Nothing bad ever came of that. Nosiree.)
Anyway, on Monday, Trump — making it sound like he was just spitballing here — thought, hey, why not resurrect the Keystone XL pipeline while we’re on a winning streak?
“Our Country’s doing really well, and today, I was just thinking, that the company building the Keystone XL Pipeline that was viciously jettisoned by the incompetent Biden Administration should come back to America, and get it built — NOW!” Trump posted to Truth Social.
“I know they were treated very badly by Sleepy Joe Biden, but the Trump Administration is very different — Easy approvals, almost immediate start!
“If not them, perhaps another Pipeline Company. We want the Keystone XL Pipeline built!”
Our Country’s doing really well, and today, I was just thinking, that the company building the Keystone XL Pipeline that was viciously jettisoned by the incompetent Biden Administration should come back to America, and get it built — NOW! I know they were treated very badly by…
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) February 25, 2025
The move was popular on social media for various reasons. Some, obviously, lauded any move toward greater energy independence for the United States and our allies over the objections of a vociferous, extremist pro-degrowth minority:
BREAKING: Karoline Leavitt just revealed that Trump is planning to reach out to the company that was responsible for the Keystone XL Pipeline!
This is how you start energy independence! It will also bring back THOUSANDS of jobs.
Thank you Trump! pic.twitter.com/vfP7WlKiNc
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) February 25, 2025
I’m right there with you—let’s bring the Keystone XL pipeline back. It would create thousands of high-paying jobs, give our economy a major boost, and restore American energy dominance.???????? https://t.co/TsxT7lSr8v
— Randy Weber (@TXRandy14) February 25, 2025
???? #BREAKING: President Donald Trump calls on the company that was building the Keystone XL Pipeline to “come back to America, and get it built – NOW!”
“I know they were treated very badly by Sleepy Joe Biden, but the Trump Administration is very different — Easy approvals,… pic.twitter.com/GWVHolGFrL
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) February 25, 2025
Others over the past few days — not just Monday — noted the rash of government bureaucrats splashed all over our TV screens these past few weeks whining that cuts at USAID and the IRS, among others, had left them jobless, even though their jobs were essentially valueless. Meanwhile, Biden killed numerous jobs with Keystone XL and basically told everyone out of work to learn to code, or make wind turbines, or whatever.
The 60,000 people who got cut loose when the Keystone XL pipeline extension was canceled after Biden took office know the feeling. Except they weren’t bureaucrats. They were skilled construction workers and engineers. https://t.co/5Xv18C84u9
— Joel Engel (@joelengel) February 17, 2025
6,000 IRS agents will be laid off tomorrow.
Democrats and the mainstream media will pretend to be outraged by this.
These are the same people who showed zero sympathy to the 14,000 Keystone XL pipeline workers Joe Biden laid off. pic.twitter.com/akYNpoUHzY
— Daniel Turner (@DanielTurnerPTF) February 19, 2025
Remember when ole Joe canceled the Keystone XL Pipeline on his first day in office and then told workers “Deal with it” and recommended they get “Green Jobs”. Bureaucrats can look into the same career field. pic.twitter.com/DBzQAFn1gu
— Gene Mundy (@GeneMundy65) February 24, 2025
Naturally, a post on Truth Social does not an energy policy make, but when Trump vocalizes support for something the GOP can get behind, the GOP usually gets behind it quickly — and given the need for energy independence from Russia and other less-than-friendly countries, you might even see Democrats offer only token opposition.
“Kill Keystone XL!” has ceased to be a shibboleth of the activist left, which has moved onto fresher controversies in places like Israel and the social media sphere, where Democrats don’t really have the power to deliver results.
If there was ever a time to get the Keystone XL pipeline off the ground again — and build it even “yuger” than before, even — this is it, in other words. Trump wants to get it done. Let’s see if the rest of Washington does, as well.
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