REPUBLICAN SENATORS JOIN DEMOCRATS, INCREASE PUSHBACK ON PUTIN DEAL

Trump posted on Oct. 9 that a talk with Putin had gone great and Russian diesel was coming back to the world market. Three weeks earlier he had signed a Russia sanctions bill built to do the exact opposite, a law named for the late Lindsey Graham. Senate Republicans found out about the deal the same way you did, by checking their phones. On Tuesday a dozen senators, six from each party, signed a letter telling him to tear it up. The Republicans are not backbenchers: Mitch McConnell, John Cornyn, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Thom Tillis and Oklahoma's Alan Armstrong. The deal "will not achieve just ends, nor will it benefit Americans," they wrote, calling it a gift to an adversary and a betrayal of allies that should be rescinded. The White House is not budging, and this is where the stories split. Trump told a crowd in Wasilla that fuel prices are already coming down. The senators, his own party included, say Russian diesel will deliver "limited to no relief" to Americans. Oil analysts land closer to the senators. CNBC pegs the arrangement at up to 4.8 million metric tons through mid-April, nearly 36 million barrels, and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak has already said Russia can ship more than Trump laid out.

Why you should give a shit: Diesel averaged $6.27 a gallon Monday against $3.67 a year ago, with the midterms coming up it seems a desperate play to lower gas in the short run.