Tuesday on Newsmax TV’s “National Report,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) slammed President Joe Biden as the president weighs a gas tax holiday.

Cruz called the move a “gimmick” because the Biden White House was “scared” of the upcoming “bloodbath in November.” He called on the president to “get the hell off the backs of the American people.”

Partial transcript as follows:

CRUZ: Of course, it’s a gimmick. Joe Biden and the Biden White House, they’re scared. They recognize they’re headed to a bloodbath in November because the American people don’t like the direction we’re on. Every single policy of this administration has been wrong. In many ways, it’s remarkable. They’ve gotten wrong on so many things.

When it comes to inflation, the price of everything is going up — especially gas. And the thing to understand on gas prices — this is not an accident. This is not an unintended side effect. This is what Joe Biden campaigned on. He told the American people when he was campaigning for president, “If you elect me, I will shut down drilling. I’ll shut down drilling on federal lands, I’ll shut down onshore drilling, I’ll shut down offshore drilling,” and that’s what he’s done. He’s followed through on his promise.

You know, in 2019, under President Trump, America was producing 13 million barrels a day of oil. Today, under Joe Biden, we’re producing 11.5. That’s a 1.5 million barrel a day decrease. And as the little stickers say on the gas pump, Joe Biden — he did that. He knows that, so this holiday, maybe they’ll do the tax holiday. It is directed at one day, Election Day in November, and as soon as Election Day is over, they want your gas to go not just a $5 a gallon. They want it to go to $6, $7, $8 — they’re aiming for $10 a gallon. And Biden has also said — he’s been very candid — if you drive a pickup truck, if you drive a minivan, if you don’t drive what they want, they want to make your life miserable. They want to make it so you can’t pay your bills because they want to force you to sell your pickup truck and buy a little Prius and obey their demands.

And Joe Biden, get the hell off the backs of the American people. Stop playing games. If Biden wanted gas prices to go down, he could approve the Keystone pipeline. If he wanted to gas prices to go down, he could open up drilling onshore and offshore. If he wanted gas prices to go down, he could open up ANWR for drilling. If he wanted gas prices to go down, he could approve permits to build pipelines because right now out in West Texas, you can’t get a pipeline built to engage in new exploration.

Joe Biden doesn’t want to do that because he’s in hock to the Green New Deal radicals, and this is a sign of desperation for the election in November.

Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent