Idaho’s Sen. Risch could lead the effort to stop Trump’s Russian diesel policies. But will he?

After President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Thursday lifting new stiff sanctions on Russia, one of Vladimir Putin’s closest advisers issued a glowing statement praising the president.

“The suspension of some provisions of the Graham Act marks an important and historic moment,” Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s economic adviser, said. Dmitriev probably does not realize how right he is. Trump’s executive order is historic, but for all the wrong reasons.

Trump’s decision to buy diesel fuel from Russia and now his decision to lift the Lindsey Graham Act sanctions that were just approved by Congress in September, makes the United States a Russian ally in its unlawful invasion and war against Ukraine.

The Wall Street Journal editorial board, which no one can accuse of being liberal, called Trump’s decision to buy diesel from Putin both a “moral and strategic mistake” that will “directly finance Mr. Putin’s bloody war.” Meanwhile, the Journal concluded that the deal with Russia will do nothing to reduce the price of diesel for Americans.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who wrote the sanctions bill that honors GOP U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham who worked on sanctions for a year before dying in July, said lifting the sanctions shows that Trump “stands on the side of a bloodthirsty thug and enablers of Russia’s war machine” against the wishes of the American people, Congress and our European allies.

Lindsey Graham’s sister, U.S. Sen. Darline Graham, who was appointed to replace her brother and now faces her own election campaign, issued a mild rebuke of the president’s executive order. “Personally, I would choose to put the pressure on Russia to end the war and get gas prices down,” she said. “Because I don’t trust Putin and I don’t trust Russia.”

The sanctions, which passed the U.S. Senate and U.S. House with overwhelming bipartisan support, were intended to target Russian officials and oligarchs and institutions doing business with Russia, all to put pressure on Putin to end the war in Ukraine.

In effect, these twin executive orders by Trump reverses 80 years of American history in which presidents of both parties – including Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Reagan – did all they could to stop Russia’s expansionist ambitions and its authoritarian leaders.

It is the first time in history that an American president has parted from America’s closest democratic allies to support a Russian dictator and his unlawful war against a sovereign nation. A war which is killing hundreds of Ukraine civilians every single day.

By now Idahoans must realize the direct connection between their daily lives and events thousands of miles away. Thanks to Trump’s unnecessary war with Iran prices are soaring for the American people. Last week it was announced that Consumer Price Index is up 3.7 percent from last September. The cost of fuel oil for homes is up 74 percent, gas for cars 34 percent, airline fares 22 percent, and fruits and vegetables nearly 4 percent.

The average price of diesel in the United States was $6.32 per gallon last weekend, according to the AAA. Trump has tried to blame the soaring diesel prices on the war in Ukraine, but that is just a smokescreen to cover his own mistake in launching a war of choice against Iran.

“The main issue is still the Strait of Hormuz – that there is not enough diesel coming out of the Strait of Hormuz,” Sarah Raffoul, an oil product analyst for Argus Media, told The New York Times.

As Idahoans suffer this economic malaise, they may not realize that their own United States senator, Jim Risch, has the power to help end their suffering. As chair of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which helps set policies for our country’s foreign affairs, Risch is one of the most powerful figures in Washington.

Risch could lead the effort in the Senate to stop Trump from buying Russian diesel and from lifting the Lindsey Graham sanctions if he had the courage and will to do so.

So far Risch has not whispered a word on Trump acting to shift the country’s support from the democratic Ukraine to the authoritarian Russia. He has not criticized Trump’s decision to buy Russian diesel which will only help finance Putin’s war, and he has not issued a statement condemning Trump’s lifting of the Lindsey Graham sanctions, even though he was one of 86 senators who voted for the bill on Aug. 7.

Risch’s silence is shameful, but not surprising. In March 2025, Risch did not criticize Trump’s decision to suspend military aid to Ukraine, even though on a trip to Ukraine in June 2022, Risch said the most important thing the U.S. could do is give Ukraine all the military resources it needs to win the war. Of course, in June 2022 a Democrat, Joe Biden, was in the White House.

If Ukraine loses this war because Trump is not stopped in his quest to support Putin, this betrayal by the United States will go down in history right along with Neville Chamberlain’s Munich Agreement which allowed Hitler to annex part of Czechoslovakia in September 1938 – an appeasement which emboldened Hitler and led to World War II a year later.

Trump has finally shown his real colors. He is demonstrating that his allegiance is with the authoritarian Putin. He has finally tipped the scales against democratic Ukraine. There is no longer room for Republicans who love democracy, freedom, and peace to hide or remain silent.

It is time for them to show the same courage that Winston Churchill displayed when he told Chamberlain after he signed the Munich Agreement: “You had the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor, yet you will have war.”

It is time for Jim Risch, as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, to speak up, become the leader that this dangerous period in history demands, and stop Trump’s betrayal of the Ukrainians, our closest allies, Congress, and the American people who are paying the price for Trump’s moral and strategic mistakes.

If Risch cannot do this, if he cannot be the statesman we need at this dangerous hour, then one wonders why he even wants to serve another six-year term in the Senate.

Rod Gramer is an Idaho native, a longtime journalist, and co-author of “Fighting the Odds, The Life of Senator Frank Church,” the last Idahoan before Risch to chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.